Evening star., 1896-02-13
HAS HE REACHED IT?
Nansen Said to Have Found the
North Pole.
REPORT SENT BY HIS AGENT
An Arctic Expedition That Was
Merely to Drift.
RELYING ON POLAR Sea CURRENTS
American Explorers Discuss the
News.
REPORT SENT BY HIS AGENT
RELYING ON POLAR Sea CURRENTS
RECEIVED WITH SOME DOUBT

ST. PETERSBURG, February ia tele-
| graphic dispatch received here today from
Irkutsk, Siberia, says that a Siberian
! trader named Kcnchnareft, who is the
agent Of DR.. Fridtjof Nansen, the Nor
wegian explorer, who sailed in the Fran
June "a, 1893, for the arctic regions. has
received Information TO the effect that
Dr. Nansen has reached the north pole and
has found land there and is now returning
toward civilization.
A Former Report.
In April last the Figaro of Paris circulat-
ed rumor that DR.. Nansen had found the
north pole; that it is situated on chain
or mountains. 1t was then added that he
had planted the Norwegian flag there. The
story was generally regarded as being
without foundation
On September IL of last year adyices
were recsived in London from the Danish
trading station on Angmagsalik, on the
east cost of Greenland, that a shin, sum-
posed to be DR.. Nansen's Fran, had been
sighted at the end of July, stuck fast in an
ice drift
Finally, on December 6, a dispatch from
Christiania, Norway, stated that DR.. Nan.
sens wife had received a letter, by carrier
pigeon reporting that the expedition was
doing well. As no carrier pigeons were
taken north by the Nansen party, this re-
port was evidently inaccurate, but it was
published for what it was worth.
The expedition sailed from Christiauia
June "A. 1888, the doctors plan being 10
make for the New Siberian Islands, and
thence head north until the Fran, by
being imbedded in the ice, would be COM
PEELED to drift along the west coast of any
land which righ- be found
On August %, 1895. DIR. Nansen sent a
dispatch from Vardo, reporting that on the
I'd of that month he was about to sail INTO
the Kara sen and that the Fran had be-
haved splendidly up to that stage of the
journey, especially in forcing her way
through the ice.
A London dispatch, dated March of
last year, announced that a letter, dated
kjollefjord. February a, had reached
Hammerfest, Norway, announcing that a
telegraph inspector at station in the
mountains between Lebesy and Langfjord
had seen balloon moving in a southerIy
direction and believed that it was possibly
carrying dispatches from DR.. Nansen; but
until the foregoing dispatch no further
news of the balloon of Dr. Nansen had
been received.
What the Report Indicates.
LONDON, February bit is pointed out
here in well-informed circles that if the
news Of DR.. Nansen's returning from the
north pole turns out to be correct, 1t indi-
Gates that the explorer has made his way
back to New Siberia from the arctic re-
gions and is there awaiting favorable ice
conditions before commencing. his home
ward journey.
Kouchnareff, the man mentioned in the
dispatch from Irkutskl Siberia, via ST.
Petersburg, as the agent OF DR.. Nansen.
who has received Information that the
explorer has found the pole and is return
ing, is DIR. Nansen's dog supplier.
He resides near the mouth of the Lena
river. The people Of that locality pay fire.
ouent visits to New Siberia and may in
this manner have brought the news to
Kouchnareff.