The Delta independent., 1890-09-02
A Now Expedition to tn. North Pole.

The London Times gives some de-
tails OF the new expedition to the
North Pole, for which the Norwegian
National Assembly voted 200, 900
kroner on June 80, and which will be
under the charge OF NJ. Nansen.
Hitherto, with one possible exception,
all attempts to reach the North Pole
have been made in defiance of the OBJ
stacles OF nature. 1t has been an open
campaign between the endurance OF
man and the icy barrier Of the Arctic
Sea, in which nature has always been
triumphant. On this occasion q sys.
tematic and well-organized attempt
will be made to ascertain II nature
herself has not supplied . means Of
solving the difficulty, and II there is
not, after all, possibility Of reaching
the North Pole by using certain nat
ural facilities in these frozen seas of
which all earlier explorers were ig-
norant- The circumstances on which
these new hopes are founded may be
thus summarized, The Jeanette ex-
pedition of 1S79-S1 and the loss Of
that vessel seemed to sound the knell
of all expeditions to reach the Pole by
Behring Straits; but in the end the re-
suits of that effort are shown to have
been more satisfactory and auspicious
than any Of the officers OF the jean
nette could have hoped for when, with
extreme difficulty, they succeeded in
reaching Siberia across the ice from
their wrecked vessel. In June, 1884,
exactly three years after the jean
nette sank, there were found near
Julianschaab,, in Greenland, several
articles which had belonged to the
Jeanette and been abandoned at the
time of its wreck by the crew, and
which had been cerried to the coast OF
Greenland from the opposite side OF
Polar Sea, on piece of ice. This
as to how it accomplished
the journey across the Arctic Ocean,
and as to what unknown current had
borne the message from Behring
Straits to Greenland. However these
objects reached Julianshaab, they
could not have come in an eastern
direction, through Smiths Sound, for
the only current which reaches Julian
shaab is that from the eastern coast
of Greenland via Cape Farewell and
the north Nor is there much prob
ability that they were borne In Q
western direction from the place
where the Jeanette sank, for all the
currents around Nova Zembla, Franz
Josef Land, and Spitzbergen are
known, ard it seems impossible for
the ice bearing the relics Of the unfor.
Lunate jeanette to have traversed the
intervening distance in the space oi
three years, even If it were possible
at all. There remains only the alter
native that there is a comparatively
short and direct route across the
Arctic Ocean by way Of the North
Pole, and that nature herself has sup
piled a means Of communication. how.
over uncertain, across it. Increased
significance to the discovery Of the
Jeanette relics in 1884, was given by
the Identification in 1885 Of bows
found on the coast Of Greenland with
those by the Eskimo in the vicinity ol
Behring Straits, at Port Clarence,
Norton Sound, and the mouth Of the
Yukon River. M. Nansen's expedi.
ton will endeavor to realize these
hopes Of a direct route across the
apex OF the Arctic Ocean. A specially
constructed boat of 170 tons will be
built, and provisions and fuel taken
for five years, although 1t is hoped
that two will suffice. The expedition
will consist of ten or twelve men, and
NJ. Nansen proposes to leave Norway
in 1892.