THE Nansen Expedition

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 35, 25 November 1893, Page 12

THE Nansen Expedition

The loss of the Fram (Forward) the vessel in which Dr Fridtjof Nansen, th? Norwegian explorer, sailed from England a few months ago for the North Pole, was reported in a recent cable' message. We lately gave a summary of Dr Nansen’s theory, which was that previous expeditions have been, at a greater or less distance from the pole stopped by the drifting floe ice, which formed immense impenetrable masses, and in most cases was carried down against the ships by currents from the north. If currents ran from these regions, currents must also somewhere run into them, and as expeditions have been carried by the ice southwards.

others might be floated into unknown regions if they could only strike the currents on the r : ght side. It is in endeavouring to do this that his vessel has been lost in the Kara sea. This', however, does not necessarily mean that the crew have perished. They had (remarks a contemporary) a much better chance than the crew of the Jeanette, for in case the Framwas crushed by the ice Dr Nansen had arranged to use the ice as quarters instead of the ship, and to move all provisions, coal, boats, etc., to an ice floe and camp there. For this purpose two big boats were provided, 29ft long, 9ft broad, with flat bottoms, and so deep that the whole ship’s company could lie comfortably inside them. They have a deck, and are so big that the whole crew could live even in one of them. These boats could be placed side by side on the ice, covered with thick, warm teats and snow, and would give two good warm saloons. Thus,

the crew, though driven from the Fram v might be enabled to continue their journey, and they emerged into open water on the other side of the pole there would not be any great difficulty in returning home in their boats. The Fram was a wooden ship, as small and as strong as possible, just big enough to carry provisions for 12 men for five or six years, besides the necessary fuel ; her size was about 600 tons displacement with light cargo. She had an engine of 160 indicated horse power, which gave her a speed of six knots, with a consumption of tons coal in 24 hours. She was consequently neither a fast vessel nor a good sail er ; but this was of relatively little importance on such art expedition, where the paity had to depend principally on the speed of the current and. the ice movement and not that of the ship. The crew numbered 12 picke 1 men.