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Home , Colin Archer, Northbrook Island, Polar exploration

Stefan M. Matalewski XX Polar Symposium Club of Szczecin, Poland Lublin, 1993

CENTENNIAL OF THE NORWEGIAN POLAR EXPEDITION ON BOARD OF THE , 1893-1896

It was during a meeting of the Norwegian Geographical Society in Christiania on 18 February 1890 that presented, for the first tim e in public, his plan of arranging a pioneering voyage on board a pack ice-bound ship. The basic objective of the trip was to explore the so far unvisited central region of the Arctic; Nansen did not exclude a possibility of reaching the . The scientific aspects of the expedition included collecting meteorological, oceano- graphic, geophysical (atmospheric electricity and Earth magnetism), and marine biological data; additionally, it was hoped to check whether a vast land surrounded by ice-free water did really exist in the central , a hypothesis promoted with a particular vigour by the German geographer August Petermann. The expedition was to begin where, in June 1881, the Jeanette, a vessel belonging to an American North Pole expedition was crushed by ice NE of New Siberian Islands (77° 15' N, 154°59' E). Nansen planned to reach his starting point by travelling through Bering Strait. The expedition was to take 3 years, with the supplies allowing a 5-year duration. Nansen was to be the expedition leader, while Captain Otto N. Sverdrup was to command a crew of 11 and Sigurd Scott-Hansen was in charge of scientific data collection. The idea of a ship drifting with pack ice was nothing new; however, using a vessel specially designed for such a trip was a real breakthrough in the history of marine polar . For the expedition to succeed, the ship—propelled by sails and engine — had to be small, but having an extremely strong wooden hull, able to withstand the winter among the moving Arctic pack ice. The hull design was based on the coconut shell shape. Should the ice pressure be particularly forceful, such a hull was expected to pop the ship up above the water level instead of letting the ice crush it. The expedition had been conceived when young Nansen, while sailing on board the Viking, a hunting boat, observed numerous trunks of Siberian trees carried by the Arctic ice and realized the presence of a trans-Arctic current flowing from Bering Strait to Sea. The finding, in August 1884, of about 50 objects belonging to the Jeannette's crew on a floe off Julianehaab (SW Greenland) strengthened Nansen's

95 conviction that his plan was very sound. Mr Lytzen, the Danish administrator of Julianehaab who made an inventory of the objects found among other things a commissionary invoice, signed by George W. de Long, the expedition leader, and personal belongings of two crew members marked with their names: Louis Noros and F. C. Nindemann. Morgenbladet, a Norwegian newspaper, brought information about the Julianehaab finding in its Sunday, 30 November 1884, edition and published a commentary by Professor Henrik Mohn. The floe carrying the objects took 1100 days (3 years) to cover the distance from where Jeannette had sunk to Julianehaab (about 2900 nautical miles) and travelled with an average speed of 2.6 Nm per day. Assuming the shortest route, over the North Pole, the average speed would be 2.0 Nm per day. That last value would correspond to the velocity of Jeannette's drift in its final stage , that is from 1 January through 12 June 1881. The data referred to by Mohn allowed Nansen to calculate the duration of his planned trip. Nansen's project proved quite controversial. A particularly negative response came from the United States; General A. Greely referred to „a suicidal plan of Dr. Nansen" and considered the Julianehaab finding a fake. George Melville, de Long's deputy was of the opinion that no wooden boat was capable of withstanding the pressure of ice. On the other hand, Nansen's plan won a support of numerous prominent European scientists, including Professors Supan and Koldewey in Germany and J. Payer in Austria. The Russian Edward Toll provided Nansen with meteorological data collected at Station Sagastyr in the mouth of the Lena, supplied a team of Siberian sledge dogs, and persuaded Nansen to reach the New Siberian Island through Barents, Kara, and Laptyev Seas instead of taking the Bering Strait route. Admiral S. Makarov of St. Petersburg shared with Nansen his observations and practical knowledge of the area. Norwegians responded to Nansen's plan with enthusiasm. In June 1890, the parliament appropriated 200,000 kroner to support the expedition, the govern- ment presented 80,000 kroner and King Oskar the Second supported Nansen with 20,000 kroner. Funds were also raised by the Norwegian Geographical Society and individuals (for example, a Norwegian living in Riga donated 1000 rubles). The Royal Geographic Society in London presented the expedition with 300 pounds sterling. In December 1890, Nansen and Sverdrup went to to visit , a well known ship builder, and to secure his support. They placed an official order for the ship in Archer's shipyard in Rekvik. Although hesitant at first, Archer — who had so far built small boats only — eventually accepted the order and on 10 July 1891, following numerous meetings and discussions on models of different versions of a polar vessel, the construction of Nansen's new ship began. The construction materials included the Italian oak timber, used by Navy shipbuilders, seasoned during 30 years.

96 During a solemn launching ceremony on 26 October 1892, Eva Eva named the new ship Fram. At the end of that year, the ship was towed to Christiania to be provided with masts, sails, steam engine, and other parts of the rigging. The Fram was designed as a three-mast gaff schooner with two head yards. The technical details of the ship are as follows: total length 39.0 m length at water-line 36.25 m total width 11.0m width at water-line 10.4 m draught 4.75 m displacement 800.0 t gross tonnage 402.0 RT sail surface area 600.0 m2 steam engine power 220.0 HP crew 13 It is noteworthy that the sides in the lower part of the hull were built of several layers of timber with a total thickness of 70-80 cm. On 24 June 1893, the Fram left Piperviken Bay in Christiania and began her extraordinary voyage. The history of the expedition can be divided into four stages. STAGE 1. Navigation from Christiania to Laptyev Sea, 24 June — 22 September 1893 On 21 July, the Fram left Vardo, her last Norwegian port, steaming towards Yugorskiy Shar Strait where in the Russian village of Khabarovo the dogs purchased by Toll had been waiting. Having failed to meet the Urania, a coal supplying vessel, the Fram left Khabarovo a few days later, heading towards the New Siberian Islands. On 22 September, before the Islands could be reached, the ship was surrounded by compact pack ice and moored to a large thick floe (78°50'N, 133°30'E). STAGE 2. Drift of ice-bound Fram, 22 September 1893 — 16 July 1896 On 7 October 1893, the vessel experienced the first serious pressure of ice and, to quote Nansen, behaved in a wonderful way as was expected of her. As the sea currents in that area were weak, the ship was pushed by the wind to the south-east to reach, on 7 November, her southernmost position (77°43'N, 138°08'E). On 25 December, the temperature dropped to -38°C. Meteorological observations were being carried out every 4 hours; the ship's position was taken every other day. On 2 February 1894, the Fram crossed the 80° N parallel drifting slowly WNW, her stern turned north. On 12 March, the temperature dropped to -51.6°C, the lowest during the entire voyage. On 6 April, the crew witnessed the total solar eclipse the timing of which had been calculated by Scott-Hansen. On

97 7 August, the Arctic Ocean depth of 3850 m was measured, the largest throughout the trip. During sampling within 13-17 August, the following thermal stratification of the sea water, involving 3 layers, was revealed: 2-200 m layer with temperature of -1.32° to -0.03°C; 220-800 m layer with temperature of +0.19° to + 0.07°C; 900-3800 m layer with temperature of -0.04° to -0.64°C. In Nansen's opinion the middle layer was of Atlantic origin. On 5/6 January 1895, the ship experienced an exceptionally strong pressure of a moving, 2-3 m thick pack ice against her port side and the crew got ready to abandon ship; food supplies and life saving equipment had earlier been placed in a safe place on ice. The resultant deck damage was soon repaired; a thorough inspection of the Fram's interior revealed no leaks. On 14 March, Nansen and Lieutenant F. Johansen left the ship (84°04' N, 102°27' E) with the intention of reaching the North Pole. Captain Sverdrup took over the leader's position. On 15 November, the Fram attained her northernmost latitude of 85°55'30" N (lon- gitude 66°31' E) from where she drifted to the south-west. The drift was ended on 17 July at 82°30' N. STAGE 3. The North Pole party Having left the ship on 14 March 1895, Nansen and Johansen who had with them 3 sledges to carry about 800 kg of luggage (including 2 kayaks), pulled by 28 dogs, turned north and covered 120 km during the first week of their trek. Later on, however, the ice surface deteriorated markedly and turned into hummocked ice, which, coupled with a very low temperature (-46°C), significantly slowed the party's progress. On 7 April, the trekkers reached the latitude of 86°13'36" N and, seeing no chance of reaching the Pole, turned toward . On 26 August, after an adventurous trek, Nansen and Johansen arrived on F. and built a shelter in which they intended to spend the oncoming polar night. On 18 May 1896, they set forth south again. On 17 June, coming near the British Research Station Elmwood on Northbrook Island, Nansen accidentally met Frederick Jackson, the station commander, who invited the two Norwegians to stay at his station. Next month, Nansen and Johansen boarded the Windward, the British supply vessel and sailed to . On 13 August they landed in Vardo. STAGE 4. Fram's return journey to Norway, 17 July-9 September 1896 In mid-June, the ice surrounding the Fram started to crack and numerous leads emerged. On 14 June, for the first time for many months, the crew started the engine in an attempt to get out beyond the edge of pack ice. However, the ice conditions improved as late as on 17 July, whereby the Fram was able to resume navigation. On 13 August, the ship entered open water off the north-west coast of Spitsbergen. The crew of a Norwegian hunting ship from Tromso, met off Spitsbergen, had no news about Nansen and Johansen for Svedrup, but informed him about a Swedish North Pole baloon expedition led by S. A. Andree staying on the nearby Danskoya Island. On 14 August, the Fram entered Virgohamna,

98 a bay on Danskoya, to visit the Swedes. Having replenished the supply of drinking water, the ship left the island on 15 August for the Norwegian port of Skjervoy. Upon arrival there on 20 August, Sverdrup notified the Norwegian authorities about the successful return home. The Fram's crew learned with relief that Nansen and Johansen had safely returned to Norway, too. The two parties rejoined in Tromso on 21 August and on 9 September 1896 the entire expedition arrived to Christiania. This extraordinary expedition brought a vast array of unique scientific materials in the form of meteorological, oceanographic, geophysical, and biological data collected in an inhospitable area it had covered. All the scientific results were published in the 6-volume „The Norwegian North Polar Expedition — Scientific Results" published in in 1906. Nansen's report appeared in a book „ (The Voyage of the Fram, 1893-1896)" published in 1897 and translated into many languages. The book is regarded as the highest achievement of the 19th century travel literature. The Central Arctic land mass and a polar sea free from ice were found neither by Nansen and Johansen during their trek, nor by the expedition during navigation and ice drift. Thus Petermann's hypothesis could not be upheld any longer. The Fram, constructed by Colin Archer, turned out to be a safe drifting scientific laboratory, its construction being a top achievement of the Norwegian craft of wooden ship building.

Members of the expedition: Fridtjof NANSEN, leader Otto Neumann SVERDRUP, Fram's captain Anton AMUNDSEN, chief engineer Bernt BENTSEN, helmsman Henrik Greve BLESSING, physician and botanist Peter Leonard HENDRIKSEN, harpooner Theodor Claudius JACOBSEN, helmsman Fredrik , stocker and meteorological assistant Adolf JUELL, cook Ivar Otto Irgens MOGSTAD, deck hand Bernard NORDAHL, electric engineer, stocker and meteorological assistant Lars PETERSEN, second engineer Sigurd SCOTT-HANSEN, meteorological, astronomical, and magnetism observer

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arctic Pilot, Vol. 1. Hydrographer of the Navy, Taunton, 1985. Fram Museet. Bygdoy, Oslo 1992. Lopez, В.: Arctic Dreams, Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape. Charles Scribenr's Sons, New York, 1986.

99 Nansen, F.: In Nacht und Eis. F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig, 1898. Pasetsky, V.: The Land that Never Was. Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1988. Schmidt, I.: Polarschifle. Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock, 1988

Address of the author: mgr Stefan M. Matalewski, Marine Academy, Wały Chrobrego 1/2, 70-500 Szczecin, Poland

STULECIE NORWESKIEJ WYPRAWY POLARNEJ NA STATKU FRAM 1893-1896

Streszczenie

Na posiedzeniu Norweskiego Towarzystwa Geograficznego w lutym 1890 r. F. Nansen po raz pierwszy przedstawił publicznie projekt wyprawy na statku wśród dryfujących lodów, której celem miało być naukowe poznanie nieodkrytego dotąd centralnego obszaru Arktyki a w miarę możliwości także i zdobycie Bieguna Północnego. Plan zakładał również zweryfikowanie hipotezy lansowanej przez niemieckiego geografa Augusta Petermanna a dotyczącej istnienia rozległego lądu otoczonego morzem polarnym wolnym od lodu w centralnej części Morza Arktycznego. Rozpoczęcie dryfu statku wyprawy, 3-masztowego szkunera gaflowego Fram nastąpiło 22 września 1893 r. w rejonie Wysp Nowosyberyjskich. Wobec faktu, że dryf przebiegał bardziej na południe od Bieguna Północnego niż zakładano, Nansen i F. Johansen opuścili statek 14 marca 1895 z zamiarem dotarcia do Bieguna. Warunki marszu okazały się jednak tak trudne, że Nansen i Johansen zrezygnowali z dalszej drogi i 8 marca zawrócili na południe w kierunku Ziemi Franciszka Józefa. Przezimowawszy na Wyspie Jacksona, w czerwcu następnego roku dotarli do brytyjskiej stacji naukowej na Wyspie Northbrooka, gdzie zaokrętowali się na statek Windward i odpłynęli do Norwegii. 13 sierpnia przybyli do portu Vardo. W czasie pieszej wędrówki Nansena i Johansena, Fram dryfował w kierunku WNW osiągając rekordową szerokość geograficzną 85°55'30"N, skąd dalszy dryf przebiegał w kierunku SW. W sierpniu 1896 statek wydostał się na wody wolne od lodu w pobliżu północno-zachodnich wybrzeżu Spitsbergenu. W drodze do Norwegii, Fram odwiedził szwedzką wyprawę balonową do Bieguna Północnego na wyspie Danskeya (Spitsbergen). 22 sierpnia 1896 w Tromso nastąpiło połączenie obu grup wyprawy a 9 września Fram, ze wszystkimi uczestnikami wyprawy na pokładzie, wpłynął do Christianii.

100 101 Fig. 2. FRAM's route 1893-1896 (from F. Nansen: In Nacht und Eis. Volk u. Welt, Berlin, 1987) - - navigation; — drift; . . . Nansen's and Johansen's trek; Nansen's and Johansen's return voyage on board Winward