Part 8 (1/2)
Occasionally, when the wind was favourable, sails were erected on the sledges and the progress was then very easy and rapid; but when the wind was from the opposite direction both dogs and men had an arduous task.
The return journey was accomplished with greater facility than the outward trip, and on August 8, as they reached the top of one of the dome-like formations near the coastal range, they saw, on the slope of the next dome, a party of men approaching. The Kite had meantime returned to Inglefield Gulf to take the expedition back to the United States, and several of those who had come up in her set out to meet the two explorers. By the time that the combined parties reached the sh.o.r.e, every one was on board the _Kite_ waiting to welcome the two wanderers, whose enterprise had terminated so successfully, not the least delighted being Mrs. Peary, whose patience had been somewhat tried by the persistent way in which the ”huskies” had foretold disaster to her husband. But all is well that ends well, and in his return, victorious, the long lonely hours were forgotten.
CHAPTER VIII
NANSEN AND THE _FRAM_
Nansen's Theories of Arctic Currents and s.h.i.+pbuilding--His Theories adopted--The _Fram_ built--A Start made--The Kara Sea reached--Good Hunting--The Ice Current reached--Frozen in--A Raid by a Bear--Will the _Fram_ stand the Pressure?--Preparing for Calamity--A Conclusive Test--Causes of Ice Movements--Life on the _Fram_--Nansen and Johansen leave the _Fram_--They reach their ”Farthest North”--Incidents of their Return Journey--Some Narrow Escapes--The Meeting with Jackson--Arrival of the _Fram_.
In 1879 the _Jeannette_, an American yacht commanded by Lieutenant de Long, of the United States Navy, was beset in the ice in lat.i.tude 71 35' N. and longitude 175 6' E. So firmly was she frozen that it was found impossible to liberate her, and on June 12, 1881, she was so badly crushed in a break up of the pack that she foundered. In the meantime she had drifted with the ice to 77 15' N. lat.i.tude and 154 59' E.
longitude, a point to the north of the New Siberian Islands. In 1884 articles undoubtedly belonging to members of her crew were found in floating ice off the coast of Greenland.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS SHOWING ROUTE OF NANSEN AND THE _FRAM_.]
These facts caused a very great deal of discussion among Arctic explorers, and the general opinion expressed was that a strong and steady current evidently flowed along the course taken first by the _Jeannette_, and secondly by the relics. To arrive at that conclusion was not very difficult; to utilise the knowledge thus gained, and profit by it, was the point, and only one man in the world was possessed of the necessary amount of insight, backed up by intellect and courage, to enable him to do so. This man was Fridtjof Nansen.
As a student of Arctic phenomena, and as one who had crossed Greenland from east to west, the existence of this current was full of suggestive possibilities. It seemed to him that if a vessel were built of sufficient strength to withstand the pressure of the winter ice, and provisioned for a sufficiently long period, there was every chance of it drifting along the entire course of the current, perhaps to within a measurable distance of the Pole, and certainly well within that region which had hitherto been unexplored. The area affected by the current would have to be entered as near the outside edge as possible, so as to partic.i.p.ate in the full sweep of its curve, and, in order to avoid the terrible crus.h.i.+ng pressure of the winter ice, the vessel would have to be so built as to enable it to slip upwards from the ice, when the pressure became too severe, and rest always on the top.
On the publication of these views, they were not supported by the Arctic veterans. Some went so far as to characterise the whole scheme as being unworthy of serious consideration, while others, less overbearingly prejudiced, were aghast at the daring and audacity of the scheme. The possibility of the drift pa.s.sing over the route suggested by Nansen was not gainsaid by those whose close knowledge of Arctic problems, and desire for general information, made them more tolerant than the keen opponents of the scheme--the latter, strangely enough, being men whose own exploits had not been the most successful in Polar exploration. The hero of the _Alert_ sledge journey admitted the feasibility of the drift theory, but shook his head at the idea of any s.h.i.+p withstanding the winter pressure of the great ice packs in the far North. A s.h.i.+p once caught and frozen in became part of the ice itself, and when the pressure crushed ma.s.ses a hundred feet thick into minute fragments and powder, what chance would a vessel, held in such a ma.s.s, have of escaping?
But Nansen was not to be discouraged. He had the true insight of genius, that insight which gave him the confidence in his own idea and which needed something more than verbal reasons to overthrow it. His idea also recommended itself to a Norwegian s.h.i.+pbuilder, Mr. Colin Archer, who expressed his readiness to construct such a vessel as Nansen had described. The Norwegian Government also were impressed by the scheme and voted over 11,000 towards the cost of carrying it out, and other support being forthcoming, the intrepid explorer was at length able to take definite steps to prove or disprove his contention.
The building of the _Fram_ was at once commenced. She was built of wood and of tremendous strength, her beams and sides being of the utmost thickness, while on the outside of the hull not a single angle was allowed to remain. Every projection was carefully rounded off and smoothed, so that there should not be as much as half an inch protruding and capable of affording the ice a holding place. Even the keel was sacrificed to the general idea of avoiding possible holding places for the ice. The lines of the s.h.i.+p were necessarily different from those of the ordinary vessel. Her sides bulged outwards and the stern and stem sloped away, so that whichever way the ice exerted the pressure, the _Fram_ would present a smooth surface to the ice, inclined in such a way that the tendency of the ice would be to get under it and so lift the vessel up. This did not improve her qualities as a sea boat, and the way in which she pitched, plunged, and rolled, whenever she came into a moving sea, tried the seafaring capacities of every one on board.
She was fitted with engines and a screw, and was rigged as a three-masted fore-and-aft schooner. Electric light was laid on all over her, the power being generated by a windmill when the engine was not working. Every available crevice was utilised for the storing of coals and provisions.
By the middle of June 1893 the thirteen men who formed the expedition had succeeded in finding a place for everything, though not without some difficulty, for the quant.i.ty of the stores which had to be packed was enormous. By a delay in delivery, just as they were congratulating themselves that everything was stowed away, a s.h.i.+pment of dog biscuits arrived. The s.h.i.+p was full already, but the biscuits had to be stored somewhere, so one of the men wriggled right up into the bows, and between the beams and the ribs he packed away the troublesome late arrivals. Everything was at last on board and stored, and on June 24, 1893, the _Fram_ started on her memorable journey.
Leaving North Cape, she headed for Kharbarova, on the Northern Siberian coast, and the point where the team of Siberian sledge dogs were to be taken on board. On July 29 she dropped anchor off the quaint little settlement and found the dogs duly waiting. A s.h.i.+p with coal ought also to have been there, but it did not arrive up to the time that the _Fram_, having s.h.i.+pped the dogs, was compelled to leave. She would soon be in the Kara Sea, where a year would have to be spent if she were caught in the ice. The season was pa.s.sing rapidly, and no time could be lost if the Kara Sea were to be pa.s.sed before winter set in, so the anchor was weighed and the _Fram_ steamed away without her extra supply of coal.
On August 4 the Kara Sea was reached. The ice, although not heavy enough to prevent further progress, with the adverse currents caused considerable delays, and the crew utilised their enforced leisure by visiting the neighbouring land and laying in a store of fresh meat. They were successful in obtaining reindeer venison and ducks, and it was here also that the first bear was killed.
It happened on the Kjellman Islands. The _Fram_ had come to anchor under their shelter, when some one raised the cry that there were reindeer on the sh.o.r.e. Immediately a hunting party was formed, and eight of the members rowed ash.o.r.e. They separated into couples and spread out in search of the deer, which, however, were extremely shy. Two of the hunters, failing to get near the herd, decided to sit down and wait until the other members succeeded in stalking round the deer and turning them back. Suddenly one of the two, looking round towards the sh.o.r.e, espied a bear coming towards them. They waited for him to come within easy range, when they fired together, striking him in the right foreleg.
He turned back at once towards the sh.o.r.e, and another bullet in one of his hind-legs did not stop him. Fearing that he might escape, one of the two ran after him and managed to put a bullet in his shoulder, which brought him to the ground. The bear staggered to his feet again, and in turning towards his a.s.sailants presented his unwounded side to them, with the result that another bullet was discharged into it, and he fell to the ground unable to move; but to make certain that he was not ”foxing,” yet another bullet was put into his head.
The result of the day's shooting was excellent, the bag consisting of bear, deer, seal, and duck, providing plenty of fresh meat for the members of the expedition, as well as a good supply of food for the dogs. Within a few days they were able to add to the larder by killing some walrus, a feat which was not achieved without some danger and loss.
The _Fram_ had come to anchor in consequence of the ice lying rather thickly ahead, when a group of walrus was seen on a floating ma.s.s of ice. A boat was immediately lowered, and with one man armed with a harpoon in the bows, and Nansen armed with a rifle in the stern, it was cautiously rowed towards the listless walrus. They did not show any sign of life until the boat was close upon them, when the sentinel raised his head and looked towards the boat. When a number are basking, one is always on duty as a sentinel to give the alarm and warn the others of approaching danger. Directly those in the boat saw which was the sentinel, they kept a close watch upon him, remaining as still as possible when he raised his head and only urging the boat forward gently when he resumed his former lazy att.i.tude. By very careful manoeuvring they were able to creep close up to the ice. The sentinel again raised his head and looked at them, but as no one moved he seemed to be satisfied and lowered his head once more.
A sharp stroke of the oars drove the boat right on to the ice, and the man with the harpoon let drive at the group. Due, perhaps, to the movement of the boat, his aim was too high, and instead of plunging into the great body of the nearest monster, the harpoon glanced off his back and over the backs of the others. They were roused at once and turned upon the boat, bellowing loudly. Nansen fired upon the leader, a bull with tremendous tusks, and he fell over, but the others did not stop.
The boat was pushed off, and at the same moment Nansen shot a second bull. The remainder of the herd plunged into the water from off the ice and swam after the boat, rising up alongside it and attempting to drag it down with their huge tusks. For a time the fight was furious, but the three men were too strong, and those of the walrus that were not killed made off under water. The two shot on the ice were secured, but those shot in the water sank before they could be reached.
As the men were getting the two from the ice into the boat, an unfortunate lurch jerked the rifle Nansen had been using overboard. It was a favourite weapon which he was very loth to lose, and for hours efforts were made to drag it up, but without success. It was hopelessly lost, and the first brush with the walrus thus became memorable. A year or two later there was another adventure with them which was even more memorable, but many were to be slain by the explorers in the meantime, and many miles were to be covered before that adventure came to pa.s.s.
On September 10 the _Fram_ had made her way through the ice-enc.u.mbered sea as far as Cape Chelyuskin, the most northerly point of Europe. There was great rejoicing on board, for the fact that such a point had been reached meant that they would be in the region of the current before winter set in, and that, when the _Fram_ became frozen in, it would be in the ice affected by the drift. A week later, the course was altered, and the _Fram_ was headed for the North. The ice became heavier and closer as she advanced towards the limit of the ice-floes, and as the sun was sinking nearer and nearer the horizon, the cold became more intense at every mile. As long as there was open water ahead the energetic crew kept working their vessel so as to get her as high up as possible into the area affected by the current; but when they had pa.s.sed the line which marks the limit of the floes, they soon found that further navigation was impossible. The _Fram_ was soon fast in the ice and, with winter upon them, the crew made themselves and the s.h.i.+p as comfortable as they could.
The builder of the _Fram_ had given attention not alone to the exterior of the vessel; he had also made the internal arrangements as complete as possible for the comfort of the explorers during the prolonged period they were to remain in the ice. Now that they were in the pack, they realised how well their comfort had been considered. For the matter of that, they had always found their quarters cosy, even when the _Fram_ displayed her capabilities of rolling and tossing. The main cabin, in which they lived, was always warm, and the pa.s.sage-ways leading from it to the outside were so skilfully arranged that those on board did not experience the distressing moisture which was so troublesome on the _Alert_ and _Discovery_. The electric light as a subst.i.tute for lamps was also an admirable innovation, for the interior of the cabin was always brightly lit without the air becoming heavy, as would have been the case with exposed lamps. A great deal of thought had also been given to ventilation, with the result that the cabins were never close.