The Arctic Explorations of Fridtjof Nansen
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SPECIAL TOPICS ______________________________________________________ THOMAS A. POTEMRA THE ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS OF FRIDTJOF NANSEN The Norwegian scientist Fridtjof Nansen was a marine biologist, oceanographer, intrepid explorer, artist, poet, and humanitarian, as well as a founding father of his country and a Nobel laureate. Near the end of the nineteenth century, he conceived, planned, and promoted a scientific endeavor comparable in scope to mod ern spacecraft projects. He constructed a specially designed ship, intentionally froze her in the Arctic ice, and used her as a scientific platform, a kind of spacecraft of the time. From 1893 to 1896, he and his crew conducted biological, oceanographic, atmospheric, geomagnetic, and auroral observations. Nansen re turned from the Arctic as a hero, much like a modern-day astronaut, and later became responsible for the repatriation of a half-million World War I prisoners on behalf of the League of Nations. Einstein and Freud praised him for "responding to the call ... not as a scientist, but as a humanitarian." INTRODUCTION The international race to claim the Earth's poles cap tured the world's attention at the end of the nineteenth century. In many ways, that quest was similar to the space race that began nearly a century later. The nine teenth century polar expeditions were not limited to the superpower countries of the time, and the resources ex pended were far less than the costs of space exploration today. But, as with space exploration, an important ob jective of polar expeditions was the first presence of man and flag at a previously inaccessible location. The acqui sition of scientific observations was included in the plan ning and justification of these expeditions, but the "presence of man" received the greatest public attention and was a source of national pride. These ventures in volved severe isolation and exploration with self-con tained and specially designed craft. The missions helped to drive the technology of the period and resulted in the development of vessels specially designed to cope with hostile environments. After years. of planning, develop ment, and construction, the ships were launched with great anticipation and celebration. Launching was fol lowed by a cruise during which observations were made and data were collected. After the expeditions, the results were collated, studied, evaluated, debated, and reported, and new expeditions were planned. The story of Fridtjof Nansen is that of a scientist and an explorer who was more intent on proving a theory than being the first to stand on the North Pole. Nansen, pictured in Figures 1 and 2, conceived, developed, pro moted, and conducted an endeavor comparable in scope to modern spacecraft projects. He developed a theory of ice drifts in the polar regions from previous expedi Figure 1. Copy of an oil painting of Nansen as a young man. tions. He assembled financial support from various (Courtesy of the Norwegian Polar Research Institute and Mittet & sources, including his government, for his program. He Co. , Oslo, Norway.) Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 12, Number 3 (1991) 275 T. A. Potemra behind. when one hould ha e quite enough to do in look ina ahead-then there i no choice for you or your men but e I forward. You have to do or die! In the pring of 1 an en defended his doctoral the i and left a fe da later for his Greenland expedi tion. On 17 J ul 1 . the expedition disembarked from the ealer Jason in t 0 mall boat off the east coast of Greenland. The boat ere held captive in the ice floes for almo t two week, but finally reached Cape Tor den kjold at the end of luI. an en and his expedition kied acro Greenland and reached Godthab on the west Figure 2. Image of Nansen as it appeared on the (now obso coa t on 3 October 1 . He was greeted by a Danish lete) Norwegian ten-kroner note. official who congratulated an en on his accomplish ment and informed him that he had been awarded his doctorate. Nan en de eloped and tested techniques dur planned and constructed a specially de igned ship. ing the Greenland cro ing that he later applied to one of named the Fram, which was intentionally frozen in the the mo t remarkable e pedition e er conducted. Arctic ice for use as a scientific platform-the pacecraft Fridtjof an en married Eva Sars in 1889, a woman of the period. He conducted biological, oceanographic. regarded b orne a the "greatest romance singer that atmospheric, and auroral ob ervations from the Fram. orwa had e er produced."~ It is aid that when he pro He returned with a wealth of geophysical data, analyzed po ed. he added. "But I mu t take a trip to the orth them, and with everal colleagues, published the many Pole." Eva later recalled her mother' advice: "Remem results. Nansen is unique among polar explorer of hi ber that ou are marrying a cienti t and you must never time because he was a cientist first and foremo t. and demand more than half of him . "~ his objective wa scientific re earch. He publi hed man articles and books and was an enthusiastic and articulate THE PLA speaker. He invented the device known a the" an en Following the return of t 0 ucce ful e peditions to bottle," still used by oceanographers to obtain water Africa led b Hem M. Stanley and pon ored by the samples at different depth . He studied the aurora bore el1' York Herald. Jam Gordon B nnett, publi her of alis (northern light) in con iderable detail and, becau e the Herald. directed hi attention toward the orth Pole. camera with the appropriate sensitivity were not yet Bennett decided to end an e pedition to the orth Pole available, he recorded its complicated form in drawing at hi own expen e. Gorge Wa hington DeLong, a lieu and paintings. tenant in the .S. a . a offered the command. A Fridtjof Nansen was born on 10 October 1861, on the pecial act of Congre permitted the e peditio~' ship to farm Store-Fr0en in Vestre Aker, near present-day Oslo ail under the American flag and to be navIgated by (formerly called Chri tiania). In 1880. he pa ed hi en officer of the .S. a ith all the rights and trance examination to the University of Chri tiania and pri ilege of a go ernment e el. A relati ely small began hi tudies in zoology. In the spring of 1882. h~ hip. the Jeannette. a fitted for the e pedition. She experienced hi first ta te of the Arctic region while on wa 142 ft long and had a _5-ft beam. dre 13 ft when the sealer Viking . Later that year he was appointed cura fully loaded. and di placed 420 ton. She had not been tor at the Bergen Museum, but the exploration of the po de igned for Arctic ervice. but e er effort wa made to lar region had become hi pa sion. trengthen her hull with Oregon pine timber to with For his first Arctic venture, Nansen planned an expe tand the pre ure of the ice. " 0 teamer before her had dition to cro Greenland. He experimented with variou et out better braced to \ ith tand the Arctic ice field ," equipment, such as ledge and pecial clothing, in the ob er ed George Wallace Mel ille. the Jeannette' chief mountains near Bergen during the winter of 1887-88. He . 1 engmeer.- assembled a team of explorers and selected Otto The plan wa for the J eanl1ette to ail north through Sverdrup (later to become a famous explorer him elf) as the Bering Sea. between Ala ka and Ru ia. where it wa his second-in-command. an en adopted a bold new ex believed that the limit of the Arctic ice a confined to ploration plan that was in direct opposition to the co~ hiph latitude becau e of the arm Japane e current. The ventional wi dom of that time. He planned to tart hI o . J eanl1ette left San Franci co on 8 lui 1 79: JU t t\ 0 crossing of Greenland from the hostile and uninhabited month later, on 6 September 1879 ( ee Fig. 3). he be east coast where retreat wa impossible. He could only came tuck fa t in the ice outhea t of Wrangel I land move forward, and this became his motto for life. In hi (near 71 °35' and 175 °6' W) . The expedition' plan famous 1926 address as Lord Rector of S1. Andrew Uni ner had not realized that, becau e of the circulation pat versity in Scotland, Nan en stated. tern of the ocean current, the ice actuall extended do n Let me tell you one secret of such o-called ucce e a to relati ely low latitude in that region. there have been in my life, and here I believe I gi e you The J eal1l1etre drifted with the ice in a e t-north really good advice. It was to burn my boats and demoli h we terly direction; he wa cru hed and foundered on L the bridges behind me. Then one loses no time in looking June 1881, north of the ew Siberian I land at 77 ° 15' 276 Johns Hopkins APL Tee/lIIica/ D i~es( . \ o/lI/1/e /2, limber 3 (1991 J ',. FORTH HL:E IT MAP SHOWING THE ""'" R®mrlE lIDf TlEIE "rEA\1¥!" AND NANSEN'S AND JOHANSEN'S SLEDGE JOURNEY.