Polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen has a daring idea: he will allow his ship, Fram, to become frozen in the Arctic ice and let the ocean current take him to the North Pole.
But the plan goes wrong – the current takes him away from his goal. Nansen decides to go to the Pole using a dog sled. The 600km trip is almost equivalent to suicide because Nansen has no chance of finding his way back to Fram.
Norway/1893
Norway is in union with Sweden but has extensive self-government and does not lack self-confidence. When Nansen presents his daring project, the Norwegian government pays for most of the expenses, and King Oscar II is one of the private sponsors.
The head of the expedition, Fridtjof Nansen, is in doubt. He does not know exactly where he and the other 12 crew members are. Not many people have sailed these waters before Nansen, and both fog and ice make the voyage difficult. In addition, the sea charts are very defective, in part directly misleading. Several islands are quite simply not drawn on the map.
“Is this the Russian map’s (...) Taimyr Island we are now sailing along the coast of,” asks a doubtful Nansen in his diary on 28 August 1893.
He is on board the expedition’s ship, Fram, which is sailing eastwards along the north Siberian coast. The crew have to take turns keeping a sharp lookout from the crow’s nest on the main mast – 32m above sea level – in order to manoeuvre the ship safely between the Russian mainland on the right and the pack ice on the left.
Fram continues eastwards until it reaches the island of Byelkov. From here, Nansen sets sail due north in ice-free waters. But on 20 September, the journey is over. Suddenly, an impact is felt throughout the ship.
“Just as I sat looking at the chart at 11am this morning and thought that now my cup was almost full, we had almost reached the 78th latitude – when there was a jolt and I ran out. In front of us lay the edge of the ice – wide and solid and lit up in the fog. Suddenly, it lay right in front of us.”
Fram has arrived at the impenetrable pack ice and cannot sail any further northwards. Nansen decides to moor the ship to a large ice floe. Soon, the ship freezes to the ice. Now it will remain captured in the ice for three years.
Daring idea
Nansen wants to explore the unknown, frozen Arctic Ocean, and his idea is to let nature carry the ship forward.
He got the idea from, among other things, the fact that Siberian wood was found on Greenland’s east coast. Nansen believes that the timber can only have been taken there by a subsea ocean current which must flow from the New Siberian islands north of Russia, across the Arctic area and down along the coast of Greenland. Now he wants this ocean current to bring him, in the space of two to five years, as close to the North Pole as possible and out into ice-free waters again.
During the journey, he will conduct a number of scientific examinations: 24 hours a day, the expedition members will at regular intervals measure wind speeds, the air and water temperature, the electricity in the air, the salinity of the seawater and the thickness of the ice. They will also measure water depths, take seabed samples and gather various types of marine animals. And as an extra bonus, the zoologist Nansen may become the first man to reach the North Pole, although this is not the expedition’s official main goal.
As a scientist, Nansen has been an explorer for a long time. At the age of only 27, in 1888, he led the first expedition to cross Greenland’s inland ice. 600km on skis – at heights of up to 2700m – for 40 days. As early as during this trip right across Greenland, Nansen discussed the idea of a new expedition with one of his colleagues on the trip, Otto Sverdrup.
The idea was to cross the Arctic Ocean by ship, and when Fram leaves Norway heading for this Ocean five years later, it is with Otto Sverdrup as its captain.
Surprised by polar bears
Nansen has said goodbye to his wife, Eva, and their five-month-old daughter Liv, well aware that – if everything goes well – it will be at least two years before he sees them again. But he also knows that the trip might easily end up taking four or five years.
In the town of Khabarova on the Yugor Strait, the crew picks up around 30 sled dogs which they will use if the expedition has to leave the ship. Then Fram sails on – and at the end of September it becomes frozen in the ice.
After just a few days, the expedition’s participants experience one of the Arctic Ocean’s dangers. At the beginning of October, three of the crew are in the process of erecting a tent observatory on the ice, around 100 metres from the ship, when they are surprised by a polar bear. The men hurry back to the ship, where Nansen comes to their aid with a gun.
“- the (bear, red.) bounded in huge leaps after the fugitives. When it saw me, it stopped in amazement, as if it thought: “What kind of a creature is that?” Finally, it turned its head a little and I shot it in the throat. It sank to the ground without moving a limb,” writes Nansen in his diary.
This episode has shocked the crew, and from now on they never leave the ship without a weapon.
The ice presses against the ship
A few days later, things go wrong again. “We sat after dinner talking about this and that when suddenly we heard a deafening noise and the whole ship shook. It was the first ice ridging. All hands went up on deck to see it. Fram managed to survive, as I had expected (...). Later in the afternoon, the ice ridging continued at times, occasionally with such strength that the Fram was lifted a couple of feet,” notes Nansen on 9 October.
It is the first ice ridging, when the wind and current push the ice floes towards and over each other – and it is not the worst one. During later ice ridging, Fram shakes so violently that the crew prepare to leave the ship, in the tough Arctic winter, in the middle of the frozen Arctic sea – several hundred kilometres from land. The hull is made from massive oak planks, so that it can resist the pressure from the ice, but the crew now hurry to put the luggage and supplies out on the ice. At night, the crew sleep with their clothes on and the doors open, so that they will be able to get out quickly. But once again, Fram shows her enormous strength.
The ship tackles the pressure, and the crew live a pleasant life with a work burden they can manage, enough rest and good food. Even before their departure, Nansen had realised that darkness and boredom would be the greatest threat to the 13 men. So the ship has a large collection of books and the men do not let any occasion for a party go past.
The scientific surveys produce results. Measurements using a lead line show sea depths of 1500-4000m and that the seabed temperature is above freezing. So the expedition has disproved the widely held assumption that the Arctic Ocean is shallow and extremely cold.
However, as the months pass by, Nansen becomes increasingly frustrated because the ship is not moving towards the North Pole as he had assumed.
A plan takes shape
The Norwegian head of the expedition has started to doubt his own theory about the north-west-moving current. The ship is drifting towards north, it is true, but it is then being pushed back again southwards. In the middle of February 1894, Nansen ascertains that Fram is 80 degrees north. That is only one degree further north than its position in September the year before! At that speed, it will take a long time before Fram reaches its target.
“So we’ll be at the Pole in 45, or let’s say 50, months,” writes a gloomy Nansen in his diary.
If the ice takes them northwards at all. Weeks go past and with them fades the hope of getting to the Pole – and that means that the expedition will not achieve one of its main tasks – to explore the areas around the North Pole.
A plan therefore starts to take shape in Nansen’s head: he is considering leaving the ship along with one crew member and trying to reach the North Pole with a dog sled, carrying out scientific measurements along the way. The great danger is that it will be impossible for them to find their way back to Fram and they will have to get back to Norway on their own. In unknown terrain, between icebergs and holes in the ice, they must find Franz Joseph Land, Svalbard or Greenland in order to get home.
So far, Nansen chooses to keep his thoughts to himself. He wants first of all to see how far the ship travels during the summer.
The restless explorer keeps an eye on the ice. He goes skiing every day, trains in using the dog sleds and learns to control a dog team while he grows more and more certain about his views.
Energetic preparations
The final decision has been made. On the evening of 19 November 1894, Nansen gathers the crew in the saloon on board. He explains that he and stoker Hjalmar Johansen, a 27-year-old skilled gymnast and skier, will leave the ship just after New Year and will travel northwards.
The crew then have a busy time preparing for the trip. They test out tents and primus stoves. They calculate, select and pack supplies, find the best clothes and sew sleeping bags. They also make skis with tips at both ends so that the polar explorers can continue even if a ski tip breaks. And last but not least, the crew builds sleds and kayaks, which are necessary if the polar explorers come across open water.
In March 1895, when Fram passes the 84° northern latitude, everything is ready for the trip. Nansen is nervous. He has previously thrown himself into adventures with no road back. But now the responsibility feels more onerous.
“The past few nights, I haven’t gone to bed until 3.30 or 4.30 in the morning. It is not only what we are to take with us that has to be arranged. The ship is to be left, and the command of it and responsibility for it placed in someone else’s hands. I have to make sure that I don’t forget about anything which those who remain behind should be told about – the scientific observations must, after all, continue as before, observations of all kinds must be made, etc, etc,” Nansen confides in his diary just before the trip starts.
Off over the ice
On 14 March, in temperatures of -40°C, the two men set off into the unknown with three sleds and 27 dogs. One of the sleds is unmanned and often overturns.
Nansen and Johansen soon notice that they have left their comfortable life on Fram behind them. They freeze in the tent at night and it becomes more and more difficult to walk on the ice for each day that passes. Holes in the ice and ice ridging force the two explorers to make major detours. And what is worst of all is that the ice is drifting southwards, while the expedition is trying to go northwards. That means that, despite their great efforts, they are not coming much closer to their goal.
On 8 April, Nansen has to admit that the trip to the North Pole has failed. They have reached 86°, 13.6´ and are around 360km from the North Pole – around 300km further north than any human being has ever been before.
They plant both the Swedish-Norwegian union flag and the Norwegian flag before turning in a south-west direction towards Cape Fligely on Franz Joseph Land – a Russian group of islands. According to Nansen’s calculations, this is a distance of almost 650km. Johansen is clearly relieved about Nansen’s decision. Now they are finally going home.
Land in sight
Mid-June. Three months have elapsed since the two men set out on their journey with a dog team and sled. It is a couple of exhausted polar explorers who are now fighting their way through the almost impassable ice desert. Most of the dogs have been slaughtered for food for the other dogs – and finally also for their masters. Finally, they only have three dogs left and Nansen and Johansen have to harness themselves to the sleds. They are about to run out of supplies and Nansen does not know their location. He cannot understand why they have not reached land.
However on 24 July Nansen finally sees a black stripe on the horizon. “The longer I looked at this stripe and this bank of clouds, the more suspicious they seemed to me, until I had to take out my binoculars. I had just pointed them at the black tripe when I realised suddenly that it had to be land, and not far away! (...) We were both indescribably happy.”
Nansen and Johansen have glimpsed one of the Franz Joseph Land islands and prepare to spend the winter on it. It will be impossible to get home this year. With simple tools – including a ski pole, a spade made from the shoulder blade of a walrus and a pickaxe made from a walrus tooth – they build a primitive cabin in which to spend the winter. They can stand up in it but it is only 2 metres wide and 3.4 metres long.
The area is full of walruses. From them, they get skin for the roof of their cabin, blubber to burn and meat to eat.
Nansen and Johansen are well prepared for the long Arctic winter. But they are completely alone now. They shot the last two dogs just before they arrived at the island.
Almost a tragedy
After eight dark winter months in the cabin, Nansen and Johansen start their journey again in May 1896. The long period of inactivity in the cabin has affected them physically and they start off with short one-day marches. On their way over the ice, the two men fasten sails to the sleds in order to get some help from the wind.
They are sailing between large and small islands in the kayaks, which are tied together to form a primitive catamaran, when they are unlucky – while they take a short break on the edge of the ice, the vessel floats out to sea. All their things – everything they need to survive – are on board the catamaran. They do not even have a knife on them.
Nansen resolutely jumps into the water. While he fights against cold and exhaustion, he can see Johansen walk restlessly backwards and forwards on the ice. Finally, after a long time, he manages to get hold of the kayaks. But the danger is not over:
“I got hold, managed to drag myself to the edge of the kayak and thought we were saved. I wanted to pull myself up, but my whole body was now so stiff from the cold that I simply couldn’t do it. For a moment, I thought that it was too late: I had managed to reach so far but didn’t have the energy to climb into the boat.”
Finally, he manages to clamber into the catamaran and, after an ice-cold rowing trip during which Nansen takes the time to shoot two birds, he has rescued the boats. Nansen has saved the little expedition from a tragic fate.
Meeting on the ice
Dogs barking?! The men have made camp and Nansen has climbed up a high ice floe nearby to look over the area. He pricks up his ears and becomes more and more convinced – there are dogs nearby! Nansen discusses the opportunities with Johansen and decides to put on his skis and go off in the direction of the noise. Suddenly he hears a human voice and a person pops up.
“We approached each other quickly, I waved my hat and he did the same. I heard him talk to the dog. I listened. He spoke English and, as I came closer, I thought I recognised Mr Jackson, who I remembered I had seen once. I raised my hat and we shook each other’s hands heartily,” says Nansen.
He had met British explorer Frederick George Jackson during a meeting in London four years earlier. As the Arctic Ocean’s answer to the journalist Henry Stanley and Dr Livingstone in the jungle of Africa, they greet each other with a “How do you do?”
But Jackson cannot remember Nansen. Facing the well dressed and recently shaven British gentleman is a dirty, ragged wild man with dishevelled hair and a stiff beard. Finally, Jackson realises who Nansen is and gives his Norwegian counterpart a warm welcome. It appears that Nansen and Johansen have reached Cape Flora on the south of Franz Joseph Land. The British Jackson-Harmsworth expedition has stayed here since the autumn of 1894, among other things to map the islands.
The Britons are waiting for a ship from London with supplies and a new crew. This ship will be the Norwegians’ chance to get home.
Nansen and Johansen finally see Norway again on 13 August when they arrive in Vardø harbour. That same day, Fram is released undamaged from the ice.
Home in triumph
On 9 September 1896, Fram sails up the fjord towards Oslo (then called Kristiania) with all the expedition’s participants on board.
In the capital, the men are met by a huge crowd. The word “Welcome” is on the many pennants waving in the wind. The homecoming explorers are welcomed by their families and the city’s authorities in a separate pavilion before they go to the university, where the crew are presented with laurel wreaths. Then they go to the palace, where Nansen and Fram’s captain, Otto Sverdrup, stand on the palace balcony and are cheered by the public. The day ends with a gala dinner. Three years of fighting the ice is over.
After Nansen’s journey, Captain Otto Sverdrup used the ship to explore Northern Canada. In 1910, it was Roald Amundsen’s turn. With eight men and 99 dogs, he sailed Fram to Antarctica.
Fram was built for expeditions in polar areas but it was not especially practical in open seas. Its round shape made it roll so violently that even experienced sailors became seasick.
Luckily, Fram was given a new assignment not long after Nansen’s return. Captain Otto Sverdrup had the ship rebuilt so that it had room for a crew of 17 and set sail to map the areas north-west of Greenland (1898-1902).
In 1910, Roald Amundsen was given permission to use Fram. Officially to explore the Arctic, but the North Pole had been “conquered” so the ambitious polar explorer – secretly – changed the destination to the South Pole.
Following Amundsen’s triumph, no one had any longer any use for the proud research ship that was now left to rot. The fact that it was saved was particularly due to Otto Sverdrup’s tireless efforts. The ship has been in a museum at Bygdøy in Oslo since 1936.
In 1893, there were several theories about the Arctic; some people believed there was open sea under the ice, while others thought the Arctic was an island of cliffs cut through by channels. Nansen’s expedition proved that the Arctic is a deep ocean covered in ice.
The polar hero went downhill
When the Fram expedition returned to Norway, the polar explorers’ ways parted. Nansen was celebrated as a hero, while Johansen started to drink heavily.
Without Hjalmar Johansen, Fridtjof Nansen could hardly have managed his journey over the ice. The tough skier and dog sled driver Johansen kept spirits up when Nansen doubted – and he pulled their stores along when Nansen had back pains. But after they came home – and after the great tributes to them – Johansen could not manage to settle down as a captain in the Army. He started to drink, divorced his wife, resigned from his job, fell into debt and just managed to keep body and soul together.
Nansen had to continuously lend him money. In order to get his old friend on an even keel again, Nansen persuaded Roald Amundvsen to let Johansen join Amundsen’s expedition to Antarctica (1910-12). Due to a disagreement with Amundsen, however, Johansen was not allowed to go to the South Pole itself. He committed suicide one year after returning home.
Fridtjof Nansen’s reputation continued to rise in the years after the polar expedition. In 1922, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – among other things for his efforts to repatriate prisoners of war after the First World War.
Nansen died in 1930.
Source: Illustrert Vitenskap/Historie
Date: 05 July 2010