Nansen's Fram expedition

In the face of much discouragement from other polar explorers, Nansen took his ship Fram to the New Siberian Islands in the eastern Arctic Ocean, froze her into the pack ice, and waited for the drift to carry her towards the pole.

Impatient with the slow speed and erratic character of the drift, after 18 months Nansen and a chosen companion, Hjalmar Johansen, left the ship with a team of Samoyed dogs and sledges and made for the pole.

Based on this and other debris recovered from the Greenland coast, the meteorologist Henrik Mohn developed a theory of transpolar drift, which led Nansen to believe that a specially designed ship could be frozen in the pack ice and follow the same track as Jeannette wreckage, thus reaching the vicinity of the pole.

The Danish governor of Julianehaab, writing of the find, surmised that an expedition frozen into the Siberian sea might, if its ship were to prove strong enough, cross the polar ocean and land in South Greenland.

[6] An expert skier, Nansen was making plans to lead the first crossing of the Greenland icecap,[7] an objective delayed by the demands of his academic studies, but triumphantly achieved in 1888–89.

After drawing attention to the failures of the many expeditions which had approached the North Pole from the west, he considered the implications of the discovery of the Jeannette items, along with further finds of driftwood and other debris from Siberia or Alaska that had been identified along the Greenland coast.

"[9] Nansen's plan required a small, strong and manoeuvrable ship, powered by sail and an engine, capable of carrying fuel and provisions for twelve men for five years.

"[11] When Nansen's plans became public knowledge The New York Times was enthusiastic, deeming it "highly probable that there is a comparatively short and direct route across the Arctic Ocean by way of the North Pole, and that nature herself has supplied a means of communication across it.

The Swedish philanthropist Oscar Dickson, who had financed Baron Nordenskiöld's conquest of the North-East Passage in 1878–79, was sufficiently impressed to offer to meet Nansen's costs.

[21] His biographer Roland Huntford records that the final deficit of NOK 12,000 was cleared by two wealthy supporters, Axel Heiberg and an English expatriate, Charles Dick.

[27] However, speed and sailing qualities were secondary to the requirement of providing a safe and warm stronghold for Nansen and his crew during a drift that might extend for several years, so particular attention was paid to the insulation of the living quarters.

Theodore Jacobsen, who had experience in the Arctic as skipper of a sloop, signed on as Fram's mate, and a young naval lieutenant, Sigurd Scott Hansen, took charge of meteorological and magnetic observations.

[33] Before the start of the voyage Nansen decided to deviate from his original plan: instead of following Jeannette's route to the New Siberian Islands by way of the Bering Strait, he would make a shorter journey, taking Nordenskiöld's North-East Passage along the northern coast of Siberia.

After the final provisions were taken on board, Nansen, Sverdrup, Hansen and Blessing spent their last hours ashore in a sauna, being beaten with birch twigs by two young girls.

[40][41] The first leg of the journey eastward took Fram across the Barents Sea towards Novaya Zemlya and then to the North Russian settlement of Khabarova where the first batch of dogs was brought on board.

[44] On 9 September a wide stretch of ice-free water opened up, and next day Fram rounded Cape Chelyuskin—the second ship to do so, after Nordenskiöld's Vega in 1878—and entered the Laptev Sea.

On the Inuit model, they built qamutit that would facilitate fast travel over rough sea ice terrain and constructed kayaks for use during the expected water crossings.

A sextant reading on 29 March of 85°56′N indicated that a week's travel had brought them 47 nautical miles (87 km; 54 mi) nearer to the pole, but also showed that their average daily distances were falling.

By Nansen's calculations, they had reached 82°21′N on 31 May, placing them only 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) from Cape Fligely at the northern extremity of Franz Josef Land, if his longitude estimate was accurate.

[87] However, contrary winds and loose ice made further progress in the kayak hazardous, and on 28 August Nansen decided that, with another polar winter drawing near, they should stay where they were and await the following spring.

[88] As the base for their winter quarters, Nansen and Johansen found a beach in a sheltered cove on what is now called Jackson Island, with a plentiful supply of stones and moss for building materials.

[94] Jackson's own account records that his first reaction to this sudden meeting was to assume the figure to be a shipwrecked sailor, perhaps from the expedition's supply ship Windward which was due to call that summer.

As he approached, Jackson saw "a tall man, wearing a soft felt hat, loosely made, voluminous clothes and long shaggy hair and beard, all reeking with black grease".

[100] Before his departure from Fram, Nansen appointed Sverdrup as leader of the rest of the expedition, with orders to continue with the drift towards the Atlantic Ocean unless circumstances warranted abandoning the ship and marching for land.

Inactivity and boredom led to increased drinking; Scott Hansen recorded that Christmas and New Year passed "with the usual hot punch and consequent hangover", and wrote that he was "getting more and more disgusted with drunkenness".

Nansen and his family stayed at the palace as special guests of the king; by contrast, Johansen remained in the background, largely overlooked, and writing that "reality, after all, is not so wonderful as it appeared to me in the midst of our hard life.

[f][117] Nansen had proved the polar drift theory; furthermore, he had noted the presence of a Coriolis force driving the ice to the right of the wind direction, due to the effect of the Earth's rotation.

[5] Throughout the expedition Nansen continued to experiment with equipment and techniques, altering the designs of skis and sledges and investigating types of clothing, tents and cooking apparatus, thereby revolutionising methods of Arctic travel.

"[123] Adolphus Greely, who had initially dismissed the entire expedition as infeasible, admitted that he had been proved wrong but nevertheless drew attention to "the single blemish"—Nansen's decision to leave his comrades hundreds of miles from land.

[5] It is said that Hjalmar Johansen never settled back into normal life, and after years of drifting, debt and domestic problems he was given the opportunity, through Nansen's influence, to join Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition in 1910.

A three-masted ship, under steam power, moves across a stretch of water attended by several rowing boats. In the background is a line of hills, with buildings faintly visible at the water's edge.
Fram leaves Bergen on 2 July 1893, bound for the Arctic Ocean
Period map showing the regions traversed by the expedition [ 1 ]
Head and shoulders of a young, fair-haired man with a blond moustache, looking to the right. He is wearing a jacket buttoned to the neck.
Fridtjof Nansen at the time of his Greenland crossing
Portion of the globe centred on the North Pole, showing the continental masses of Eurasia and America, also Greenland, Spitsbergen and the New Siberian Islands. The theoretical drift is shown by a line from the New Siberian Islands, through the North Pole and then reaching the Atlantic Ocean by passing between Spitsbergen and Greenland.
The Arctic Ocean, showing a theoretical course of a drift from the New Siberian Islands to the Atlantic Ocean
Four architect's drawings of Fram. A side section identifies the various compartments and their uses; a deck plan shows the ship's general layout; front and rear hull sections show the rounded nature of the hull.
Section and Plan drawings for Fram , as agreed between Nansen and shipbuilder Colin Archer
Head and shoulders of bald-headed, heavily bearded man looking to right
Colin Archer, designer and builder of Fram
The eastern Arctic Ocean, including the Barents, Kara and Laptev Seas, showing the area between the North Pole and the Eurasian coast. Significant island groups (Spitsbergen, Franz Joseph Land, Novaya Zemlya, New Siberian Islands) are indicated.
Routes taken during the 1893–1896 Fram expedition:
Fram's route eastward from Vardø along the Siberian coast, turning north at the New Siberian Islands to enter the pack ice, July–September 1893
Fram's drift in the ice from the New Siberian Islands north and west to Spitsbergen, September 1893 – August 1896
Nansen and Johansen's march to Farthest North, 86°13.6′N, and subsequent retreat to Cape Flora in Franz Josef Land, March 1895 – June 1896
Nansen and Johansen's return to Vardø from Cape Flora, August 1896
Fram's voyage from Spitsbergen to Tromsø, August 1896
Fram' s masthead pennant during the voyage [ 36 ]
Head and upper body of a man, facing right. He is dressed in heavy fur clothing including a hat which conceals much of his face, although the profile is clear
Hjalmar Johansen, Fram's stoker and dog-driving expert, Nansen's chosen companion for the North Pole dash
Semi-frontal view of a frost-covered ship surrounded by hummocks of ice. A lone figure stands on the ice nearby.
Fram , held in the ice, March 1894
A group of men pose on the ice with dogs and sledges, with the ship's outline visible in the background
Nansen and Johansen finally depart on their polar journey, 14 March 1895. Nansen is the tall figure, second from left; Johansen is standing second from right.
Drawing of a small triangular tent, centre, with on the left a man with sledges and dogs and on the right the seated figure of another man. These images are in front of a high bank of raised ice.
Artist's impression of Nansen and Johansen's northernmost camp, 86°13.6′N on 7 April 1895
The scattered islands of the Franz Josef archipelago are depicted. A line from top right corner enters the islands and threads its way southwards, representing the journey to Cape Flora. The site of winter quarters on Frederick Jackson Island is indicated.
Map of Franz Josef Land showing the route of Nansen and Johansen through the islands, August 1895 to June 1896
Artist's impression: A full moon in a dark sky; on the ground a mound of snow with a small square opening indicates the hut, with an upturned sledge standing outside. The surrounding area is all desolate snow and ice fields.
The hut on Franz Josef Land, covered in snow, in which Nansen and Johansen spent the winter of 1895–96. A drawing, based on Nansen's photograph.
Two men shake hands in the midst of a snowfield, with a dog sitting nearby. Dark hills are shown in the background.
The Nansen–Jackson meeting at Cape Flora , 17 June 1896 (a posed photograph taken hours after the initial meeting)
Front view of ship showing it listing to the right. It is surrounded by ice, but in front of the ship a narrow channel of open water is visible. The scene is watched by a man standing on the ice.
A lead of water opens in front of Fram, May 1896
A cluster of buildings and wharves, with a small ship moored to the right of picture. The waterside buildings are clearly reflected in the sea.
The port of Vardø in northern Norway, where Nansen and Johansen returned to Norwegian soil on 13 August 1896
A group of 13 men and one dog pose on the cramped deck of a ship, amid ropes, spars and rigging, all wearing hats and, with one exception, dark suits.
Expedition members after Fram's return to Christiania in August 1896. Back row, l. to r.: Blessing, Nordhal, Mogstad, Henriksen, Pettersen, Johansen. Seated: Bentzen, Scott Hansen, Sverdrup, Amundsen (with dog), Jacobsen, Nansen, Juell