The "Fram" expedition. Nansen in the frozen world. Preceded by a biography of the great explorer and copious extracts from Nansen's "First crossing of Greenland," also an account by Eivind Astrup, of life among people near the Pole, and his journey across northern Greenland with Lieut. R. E. Peary, U.S.N.

Front matter

DR. FRIDTJOF NANSEW

THE "PRAM" EXPEDITION.

NflNSEN

Preface

Among the subjects that are "old yet ever new," that of Arctic Exploration holds a prominent place. It interested the hardy- Northmen a thousand years ago, and it has a still stronger fascination for the people of the present day. It is natural that this should be the case. The human mind is so constituted that it is always seeking to learn about things that lie beyond the immediate range of its knowledge. Among intelligent and progressive people there is always a desire to investigate and explore the unknown. This is followed by efforts to secure the knowledge for which a wish has been formed. In the case of Arctic Exploration, the desire to know whether there were islands or continents beyond the narrow range of their vision led the pioneers in this great work to sail upon unknown seas. Probably a love of adventure also urged them on, but this could hardly have been the leading motive in their dangerous voyages. At an early period in the history of such enterprises the commercial spirit became a factor, and in later days the love of scientific investigation was added to the other elements in the combination of forces which led men to brave the dangers and endure the hardships inseparable from the work of Arctic Exploration.

The latest of the great Arctic explorers to reach his home is Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, a young Norwegian scientist, who went much farther north than man had ever been, farther even than the companion who accompanied him to latitude 86° 14'. In Europe and America he is the hero of the day. His accurate knowledge, wonderful foresight, marvellous skill, splendid executive ability, magnificent courage, and unconquerable determination carried him to a success far greater than any of his predecessors were able to secure. It is fitting that the record of his brilliant achievements should be given to the public in a handsome and a permanent form. With this end in view the present book has been prepared. It also seemed desirable that it should contain a biography of Dr. Nansen and an account of his work, much of which was valuable, previous to the great exploit which brought ii PREFACE

him world-wide fame. Thus the people could be brought to know the man as well as to learn of his deeds. In order to add still further to its interest and make it not only an entertaining but also a permanently valuable book, it was decided to add other features. The great journey across the inland ice of Greenland by Lieutenant Peary, of the United States Navy, and Eivind Astrup, is fully described, and a sketch is given of the Second Peary Expedition. The concluding portion of the book is a connected sketch of the principal expeditions to the North from their earliest date down to the time of the ones just described. Thus the entire historical period of Arctic Exploration to the return of Nansen and the Fram in 1896 has been covered.

The materials for this work have been obtained from the best sources, and their arrangement has received careful attention.- The biography of Dr. Nansen and a description of the planning and executing of the great journey across Greenland were mainly written by two eminent Norwegian scholars, Professor W. C. Brogger and Professor Nordahl Rolfsen, both intimate friends of the great explorer. The story of the Crossing of the Inland Ice is related by Nansen himself, while several of the following chapters were prepared by his Norwegian friends. The description of the Voyage of the Fravi, of the Great Sledge Expedition and its wonderful success, and of the return of the explorers, is given in Nansen's own words. Across Northern Greenland, an account of the expedition of Lieutenant Peary, is by Eivind Astrup, an entertaining writer and famous explorer who accompanied Peary in the perilous journey to the extreme northern portion of that desolate land. In the preparation of the history of the Earlier Arctic Explorations the works of the best writers upon the subject were consulted. Where discrepancies were found, as they were in several instances, the evidence was carefully weighed and the statements which seemed to have the strongest claim for accuracy were accepted. Of the more than one hundred illustrations, many of them full-page, which not only add to the beauty of the book but greatly increase its utility, a large number are from photographs taken upon the spot and are absolutely perfect representations of the scenes which they place before the eye. For several of these illustrations we are under obligations to Mr. Alfred C. Harmsworth, patron of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition, and some were obtained from Nansen's " Fram Over

PREFACE iii

Polhavet," published in Norway. Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Company and The Lothrop Publishing Company kindly furnished several portraits ; the publishers of McClure's Magazine allowed the use of a number of fine plates, and through the courtesy of Dr. Robert N. Keely, surgeon to Peary's First Expedition, and Dr. Gwilym G. Davis, member of the Archaeological Association of the University of Pennsylvania, many extremely beautiful sketches and photographs are given.

The investigation of the cheerless region of the North has been attended by constant danger and has involved heavy losses of life and property. But the work has not been done in vain. It opened the way for the formation of colonies, for the development of commerce, for extensive and profitable whale and seal fisheries, and has greatly enlarged the bounds of human knowledge. Not only has there been an enormous advance in the line of geographical information, but much has been learned regarding geology, meteorology, zoology, and kindred sciences. Work in this direction has also made known to civilized nations a most interesting race of people who not only live, but who appear to fully enjoy life, in a region of perpetual snow and ice. Then, too, the heroism, fortitude and fidelity of the noble men who, at the imminent risk of their lives, have gone to this inhospitable region and in the face of appalling dangers, and while enduring most terrible sufferings, have struggled on in order that they might open to the civilized world the vast domain which had so long remained unknown, have been object lessons of faith and hope to all the world. And as long as courage is admired, devotion to duty is respected, and self-sacrifice is revered, so long will the deeds of the heroes who have toiled amid the awful dreariness and desolation of the Frozen World be held in honored remembrance.

Further progress in Arctic Exploration will involve difficulty and danger, but the end is not yet. What has been accomplished will stimulate to renewed effort, and the knowledge that has been gained in the past will greatly aid in the future prosecution of the work. The genius and energy of man are pitted against the barriers of nature, and sooner or later nature will be compelled to reveal her secrets to his gaze. Those who are inclined to doubt the probability of carrying further an investigation of the Arctic region should be encouraged by the fact that many things which iv PREFACE

were long deemed impossible have been accomplished and that the future may be expected to bring as great surprises as the past has given. A curious illustration of the uncertainty of predictions regarding the success of Arctic Exploration is found in the book of an able English writer. The preface of this work was dated March 25, 1850, a time at which interest in the fate of Sir John Franklin was at its height. The last words of the book express a hope that " England will be careful of again risking the lives of her adventurous sons in further attempts to discover what cannot be looked upon in any other light than that of a geographical ignis fatims,'Y\\& Northwest Passage." Yet from documents which were afterward found it was proved that the Franklin expedition had discovered this passage not less than three years before its non-existence was so emphatically affirmed. During the last half century great advances along the line of Arctic Exploration have been made and interest has waxed instead of waned. Each new discovery seems to stimulate to still stronger endeavor, and public interest in the subject was never as high as it is at the present time. Projects of various kinds are being considered and preparations for further efforts are under way. Which of the various plans proposed will lead to success, or whether one radically different from any that have been suggested will be required, cannot be affirmed. But it is safe to say that, sooner or later, the great Arctic problem will be solved. The work will be carried on until the region at the North that is now unknown has been explored and a flag has been unfurled upon the precise spot which geographers designate as the Pole.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Ancestry — Childhood . . . . . . . 9

II. Youth 24

Chapter I Ancestry Childhood

Hans Nansen, Fridtjof Nansen's ancestor, born November 28, 1598, in Flensburg, had as a sixteen years old lad gone to the White Sea in his uncle's ship — in those days quite an adventurous enterprise. They had practically no charts, they were scantily supplied with instruments, and they had to keep cannon and cutlasses in readiness. In the course of the voyage, indeed, they had been twice overhauled and plundered by the English. Now they were fast in the ice at Kola. But the intelligent boy, eager for knowledge, did not permit himself to be depressed. He employed the time in learning Russian, and in the summer, when the uncle bent his course southward again, i his . nephew did not accompany him. He preferred to stay behind and learn more. He travelled alone " through" several districts of Russia id the town of Kuwantz." From Kuwantz he took ship in September for Copenhagen. ^

His character came early to maturity, and his ■ powers could not brook inaction. He had not completed His twenty-first year when King Christian IV; placed- him at the head of an expedition to the rich fur regions ■ about lo NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD

the Petschora. But the ice was too much for him. He had to make up his mind to winter at Kola. Here he received a commission from the Czar of Russia, and undertook, by imperial order, an exploration of the coast

HANS NANSEN of the White Sea. Not until he reached Archangel did he rejoin his ship.

After that he held a command for eighteen seasons in the service of the Iceland Company. He was by nature a keen observer and a born leader of men, full of alert practicality, and yet with a strong literary bent. And he was eminently disposed to share with others the fruits of his

NANSEN'S ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD ii

reading. " When I had nothing else to do," he writes, " I copied out extracts from the Bible, and from various cosmographical and geographical works, to serve as an index and commonplace-book for future reference. . . . And when, a little while ago, I read it through again, I thought that perhaps there might be others who would be glad to know these things, but who, on account of other occupations and so forth, had neither time nor opportunity to study the great works on cosmography. For the benefit of such persons I have given to the press this brief digest." The title ran : " Compendium Cosmographicum ; being a short description of the entire earth, etc. Treating, furthermore, of the sea and of navigation, with certain serviceable directions thereto appertaining."

The " Compendium Cosmographicum " became a popular handbook, so much read by seafaring men and others, that four editions were exhausted in the author's lifetime. Indeed, we gather that up to a few years ago it had not quite gone out of use. The copy now in the possession of the Nansen family came, according to a well-authenticated tradition, direct from a skipper who sailed by it. Inside the old cover, the late owner of the book has inscribed the following testimonial : —

" This book is of great use to seafaring folk. Ote Borgersen Aas^ 1841."

Thus the handbook of the gallant old Arctic skipper may be said to have done service down to the very threshold of the time when his descendant was preparing to add new " courses " to those he had so diligently laid down — " courses " across Greenland and to the North Pole.

At the age of forty, Hans Nansen begins to rise in the world ; and soon he exchanges the command of a ship's crew for that of the burghers of Copenhagen. He first became town councillor, then one of the four burgomasters, and in 1654 he held the chief place among the four. Shrewd, ready-witted, eloquent, accustomed to command, and endowed with a firm will and invincible energy, he seemed specially created to take part, and a leading part, in the critical times which followed.

In 1658 the Swedish king, Karl Gustav, declared war and invaded Zealand. The Estates met at the Palace, the royal message was read, and the king addressed them in person. It fell to the lot of Hans Nansen to answer that the burghers " would stand by the king through thick and thin," and the populace behind him shouted their assent. Not only was the integrity of their native land at stake, but civic freedom and independence as well. On the following day, the loth of August 1658, the Privy Council was obliged to issue a proclamation " which was as good as a patent of nobility to all the merchants and handicraftsmen of Copenhagen." Karl Gustav understood its significance. " Since the burghers have obtained such privileges," he exclaimed, " no doubt they '11 stand a tussle." And during this " tussle " the leading burgomaster of Copenhagen had no peace either by day or night. Earthworks had to be constructed, ditches filled, provisions laid in, soldiers quartered, the burghers drilled and commanded, and public order preserved in the midst of a concourse of people crowding into the city from every side. " We find him now at home, opening his plate chest and his money-box, placing great sums at the king's disposal, lending him his carriage and horses,

NANSEN'S ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 13

and all the time doing his best to keep up the spirits of his own family ; now in the Town Hall sitting in council or on the bench ; now in the Chamber, now with the king ; then again at a regimental . inspection, or on the fire-watch tower, or at the outworks, with . the bullets picking men off on every side ; now listening to the sermons which were preached on the ramparts, now going the rounds with the night patrol." And when it comes to meeting the enemy outside the fortifications, the indefatigable burgomaster is still in the van.

It is certain that there are remarkable points of similarity between the old burgomaster and his grandson's grandson's grandson.

It would seem as though Fridtjof Nansen himself were conscious of this hereditary strain in his character. In one of his letters to his father, he speaks of the Nansen pride, which in his case, when occasion demands, takes the form of an adamantine stubbornness.

But this pride does not descend to him on the male side alone ; through his tnother he inherits the blood of the Wedels.

Count Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg, the famous political leader of 18 14, afterwards Viceroy (Statholder) of Norway, had a younger brother. Baron Christian Frederik Vilhelm of Fornebo, whose daughter was the mother of Fridtjof Nansen. Thus, if pride and spirit of adventure may be said to lie at the root of the father's family-tree, every branch of the mother's bears evidence of the same qualities.

A few words more about the Nansen family. Hans Nansen, Municipal President, Privy Councillor, and Judge of the Supreme Court, died at Copenhagen, November 12,

1667. A daughter of his eldest son, Michael Nansen, was married to the celebrated Peter Griffenfeld. A younger son, Hans Nansen, was Municipal President of Copenhagen at the time of his death in 17 18. His grandson was Ancher Anthony Nansen, with whom the male line

BARON CHRISTIAN F. V. WEDEL-JARLSBERG (nANSEN'S GRANDFATHER)

removed to Norway. In 1761 he became district magistmte of Outer Sogn, and there married a lady of the name of Leierdahl, a member of the Geelmuyden family. His only son was called Hans Leierdahl Nansen, who in

NANSEN'S ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD

September, 1809, became judge in Guldalen, and later representative for Stavanger district in Storthinget. He was divorced from his first wife and married again, 18 10, a daughter of court-printer Moller of Copenhagen. They were Fridtjof Nansen's grandfather and grandmother.

BARONESS C. F. V. WEDEL-JARLSBERG (NANSEN'S GRANDMOTHER)

Fridtjofs father, Baldur Fridtjof Nansen, was born in Egersund in 181 7. After the death of his father in the twenties, Baldur Nansen's mother removed from Egersund to Stavanger, for the sake of her son's education. Here i6 she lived till 1835, when he matriculated at the University of Christiania.

" He was industrious," says an intimate friend of the

Nansen family in a letter, " well - behaved and exemplary in every respect. His abilities were not brilliant, but, being strictly and plainly brought up, and stimulated by the influence of his clever mother, he passed all his examinations with a certain distinction, and became an accomplished jurist. He had none of his parents' wit and fancy; but he was noted for his thoroughly refined, amiable, and courteous manners and disposition."

He became Reporter to the Supreme Court; but he was principally employed in finance and conveyancing. He enjoyed unbounded confidence.

Baldur Nansen's first wife was the daughter of Major- General Sorensen, and sister to the wife of the poet Jorgen Moe. His second wife (Fridtjof's mother) was Adelaide Johanna Isidora, nee Wedel-Jarlsberg, who also had been married before. Mrs. Adelaide Nansen is described as a tall and stately lady, capable and resolute, even-tempered

FRIDTJOF NANSEN AND HIS FATHER

NANSEN'S ANCESTR V AND CHILDHOOD and straightforward, without any pretension on the score of birth and ancestry. She had a mascuHne will. It was greatly against the wishes of her strict and aristocratic father that she married a baker's son for her first husband. However, she carried her point, and her mother appears to have sided with her in this affair of the heart. The parents were not at the marriage, although they had given their consent.

As a young girl she had defied opinion and cultivated that sport which her son was afterwards to render worldfamous. She was devoted to snow-shoeing, which was at that time thought unwomanly and even improper. As a housewife she was one of those who know every nook and corner of the house from attic to cellar — active, managing, ready with her hands and not afraid of the coarsest work. If the servant had blistered her fingers, the lady of the house would herself take hold and wring out the wet linen.

She worked in the garden, and she made her boys' clothes. They had no other tailor until they were eighteen years old.

Nevertheless, she found time to acquire the knowledge she had not stored up in early youth. Her will power and love of activity, her intrepidity, her practicaland resolute nature, have descended to her son.

NANSEN S MOTHER

I

Mr. and Mrs. Nansen, after their marriage, settled

down upon a small property belonging to her at Great Froen in West Aker. Here Fridtjof was born on October lo, 1861.

In the choice of his birthplace, his lucky star, as we have said before, had ordered things for the best. Here was country life, here were cows and horses, geese and hens, hills for snow-shoeing on every side, great forests close at hand, and, only some two miles and a half away, an excellent school, one of the best in Christiania. These two miles and a half were reckoned , a mere nothing in the Nansen household. First to school in the morning, and back again, then, on summer afternoons, down to the fortress to learn to swim — that makes a good ten miles of a hot summer's day, to say nothing of minor wanderings. And there were invariably fights by the way — systematic training, be it observed, from the very first.

Froen farmyard was the scene of the boy's earliest expeditions, and it was not Arctic cold, buL ^^' U li. that first imperilled his life. One day when he was three years old, and still in frocks, he stood hammering away at a wheelbarrow, no doubt trying to mend it, when, to the consternation of those in the kitchen, a column of smoke was seen to be rising from his person. " He 's on fire ! " was the cry. Out rushed the housekeeper, and tore his clothes off his back. In the course of his wanderings, he had visited the brew-house, where some sparks from the fire had lodged in his petticoats ; and behold ! he was within an ace of being burnt to death in blissful unconsciousness that anything was amiss.

The Frogner River flowed right past the front door at

NANSEI^'S ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD

GREAT FROEN — THE DWELLING-HOUSE

Froen, and here Fridtjof and his younger brother would bathe in the fresh of the evening, in the coldest pool they could find. Indeed, the younger of the two would sometimes nearly perish with the cold, so that after coming out of the water he had to be dragged about at a brisk trot, in the costume which preceded all fashions and modes of dress, in order to keep life and warmth in his body.

Into this same river they fell through the ice in the winter, and when their mother appeared on the scene she found Fridtjof in the act of fishing his brother out. And it was in the Frogner River that Fridtjof himself came near losing his life.

But it also presented a peaceful means of livelihood.

20 NANSEJY IN THE FROZEN WORLD

They selected from among the pea-sticks those made of juniper, rolled their trousers well up, and went digging

among the decayed leaves in the garden for bait, which they stored in the turned-up portion of their breeches.

Then they went and fished for trout or minnows. Now and then the hook would go astray and stick fast in Fridtjof's under lip ; whereupon Mrs. Nansen would have recourse to father's razor, make a resolute incision and extract the foreign body. No fuss or pother on either side. Not so much as a sound.

Here at Froen he first ran his head against the ice — the rough ice , in the yard.

When the little five-year-old rushed into the kitchen, there was scarcely a white spot left on his face, for the blood that trickled down it. He would not shed a tear, and was only afraid of being scolded. But from that day to this he wears his first ice-medal in the shape of a scar.

They hunted squirrels with dog and bow. " Storm," the dog, would chase the squirrels up trees, where the little creatures found a tolerably secure asylum ; for the arrows never hit them. Finally, Fridtjof, inspired by Indian tales, hit upon a devilish device which he thought must prove fatal. He anointed the arrow-head with the juice of a poisonous mushroom, so that a wound from it meant

NANSEN AS A CHILD

NANSEN'S ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD certain death. But the arrows somehow did no more execution, although he also tipped them with melted lead to make them carry better.

After that he took to a new variety of weapon — cannons. He stuffed them to the muzzle with powder, but could not get it to ignite. Then he made a maroon, and poked it about so much that it exploded in his face. The cannon ultimately burst ; and it was again his mother's task to take him aside and pick out the powder grain by grain.

He himself tells the story of his first snow-shoes, and his first great leap : —

" I am not speaking of the very first pair of all — they were precious poor ones, cut down from cast-off snow-shoes which had belonged to my brothers and sisters.

They were not even of the same length. But Mr. Fabritius, the printer, took pity upon me ; ' I '11 give you a pair of snow-shoes,' he said.

Then spring came and then summer, and with the best will in the world one could n't go snow-shoeing. But Fabritius's promise sang in my ears, and no sooner had the autumn come and the fields

begun to whiten with hoar-frost of a morning, than I placed myself right in his way, where I knew he would come driving by.

NANSEN AS A BOY

" ' I say ! What about those snow-shoes ? ' " ' You shall have them right enough,' he said, and laughed. But I returned to the charge day after day: ' What about those snow-shoes ? '

" Then came winter. I can still see my sister standing " in the middle of the room with a long, long parcel which she said was for me. I thought she said, too, it was from Paris. But that was a mistake, for it was the snow-shoes from Fabritius — a pair of red-lacquered ash snow-shoes with black stripes. And there was a long staff too, with shining blue-lacquered shaft and knob. I used these snow-shoes for ten years. It was on them I made my first big jump on Huseby Hill, where at that time the great snow-shoe races were held. We boys were not allowed to go there. We might range all the other hills round about, but the Huseby Hill was forbidden. But we could see it from Froen, and it lured us day after day till we could n't resist it any longer. At first I started from the middle of the hill, like most of the other boys, and all went well. But presently I saw there were one or two who started from the top ; so of course I had to try it. Off I set, came at frantic speed to the jump, sailed for what seemed a long time in space, and ran my snow-shoes deep into a snow-drift. We did n't have our shoes fastened on in those days, so they remained sticking in the drift, while I, head first, described a fine arc in the air. I had such way on, too, that when I came down again I bored into the snow up to my waist. There was a moment's hush on the hill. The boys thought I had broken my neck. But as soon as they saw there was life in me, and that I was beginning to scramble out, a shout of mocking laughter went up ; an

NANSEN'S ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 23

endless roar of derision over the entire hill from top to bottom.

" After that, I took part in the Huseby Hill races and won a prize. But I did n't take it home ; for I was put to shame on that occasion as well. It was the first time I had seen the Telemark peasants snow-shoeing, and I recognized at a glance that I was n't to be mentioned in the same breath with them. They used no staff ; they simply went ahead and made the leap without trusting to anything but the strength of their muscles and the firm, lithe carriage of their bodies. I saw that this was the only proper way. Until I had mastered it, I would n't have any prize."

He was a terrible one for falling into brown studies. Between putting on the first and the second stocking of a morning, there was always a prolonged interval. Then his brothers and sisters would call out, " There 's the duffer at it again ! You '11 never come to any good, you 're such a dawdler."

He was always bent on getting to the bottom of everything. He asked so many questions, says one of his older friends, that it made one absolutely ill. " Many a time have I given him a thundering scolding for this everlasting ' Why } — Why } — Why ? ' " The arrival of a sewing-machine at Froen naturally aroused the demon of curiosity in all his virulence. He must find out what kind of animal this was. So he took it all to pieces, and when his mother came back from town, the machine was the most disjointed puzzle imaginable. If tradition is to be trusted, however, he did not give in until he had put it all together again.

Chapter II Youth

If, weary of the soft grace of the Christiania Valley, one turns and gazes northward from the tower on T ryvand Height, one is confronted, as far as eye can see, with blue-black forests — forests and nothing but forests, ridge behind ridge, on and on to the farthest verge of the horizon.

This is Nordmarken, an unbroken stretch of Norwegian woodland, many square miles in extent, a lonely world of narrow valleys, abrupt heights, secluded glassy lakes, and foaming rivers.

Into this solitude no murmur from the busy capital ever penetrates, not even the sound of a panting engine or the warning whistle of a steamboat cautiously threading the intricacies of the fjord in the dense sea-fog.