The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-15
INDIANAPOLIS SATURDAY MORNING,

itude SO degrees north was reached. and
few days later So degrees "A minutes. the
furthest north latitude previously reached
by man.
ION JAM and the Fran was exposed
to the most violent ice pressures we ex-
perienced. She was then firmly frozen in
ice of more than thirty feet of measured
thickness. This foe was overridden by
great ice masses, which were pressed
against the port side with irresistible
force and threatened to bury, IL not to
crush her. The necessary provisions with
the canvas kayaks and other equipments
had been placed in safety upon the ice.
Every man was ready to leave the ship if
necessary and was prepared to continue
with the drift, living on the foe. But the
Fran proved even stronger than our trust
in her When the pressure rose the high
est and the ice was piled up high above
the bulwarks she was broken loose and
slowly lifted out of her bed in which she
had been frozen, but not the slightest sign
of split was TO be discovered anywhere
in her. After that experience / considered
the Fran almost equal to anything in the
way of ice pressure. Afterwards, we ex-
perienced nothing more of the kind, but
our drift rapidly continued north and
northwestward.
LAS L now with certainty anticipated that
the Fran would soon reach her highest
latitude north of the Franz Josef Land and
that she would not easily fail to carry out
the programme of the expedition, viz: to
cross the unknown polar basin l decided
TO leave the ship in order to explore the
sea north of her route. Lieutenant Johan-
sen volunteered TO join me- and L could not
easily have found better companion in
every respect. The leadership of the expe-
dition on board the Fran / left to Captain
Sverdrup. With my trust in his qualifica-
tions as leader and his ability to over
come difficulties 1 have fear but that
he will bring all the men safely back, even
if the worst should happen and the Fran
be lost, which consider improbable
"On March 3 We reached "a degrees, 4
minutes north. Johansen and 1 left the
Fran March II, 1885, at So degrees, 50 min
utes north and 102 degrees, n minutes
east. Our purpose was to explore the sea
to the north and reach the highest lati-
tude possible, and then to go to Spitz-
bergen, via Franz Josef Land, where We
felt certain to find a ship. We had twenty
eight dogs. two sledges and two kayaks
for possible open water. The dog food was
calculated for thirty days and pro-
visions for 100 days. We found the ice in
the beginning tolerably good travelling and
so made good distances and the ice did not
appear drifting much. On March 22 We
were at So degrees, 10 minutes north. AL
| though the dogs were less enduring than
we hoped. still they were tolerabIy good.
The ice now became rougher and the drift
contrary. On March % we had only
reached IS degrees, 10 minutes north and
on March 2s S5 degrees. 80 minutes.
1--WE were now evidently drifting fast
towards the south. Our progress was very
slow. 1t was fatiguing 10 work our way
| and carry our sledges over the high hum
| mocks constantly being built up by foes
| grinding against each other. The ice was
in strong movement and the ice pressure
was heard In all directions. On April we
were at S5 degrees. 80 minutes north. con-
| stantly hoping 10 meet smoother ice. On
| April we reached Sc degrees. minutes
north, but the ice became rougher until
on April it got so bad that l considered
| it unwise to continue our march in a
northerly direction. We were then at sc
| degrees, IA minutes north. We then made
an excursion on skis further northward
| in order to examine to the possibility
| of further advance. But we could see
|
hummock beyond hummock, to the hori-
zon, looking like sea OF frozen breakers.
We had had low temperature and during
! nearly three weeks il was in the neighbor-
hood of 40 degrees below zero. On April
| l 1t rose to s degrees below zero. but soon
| sank again to 3S When a wind was blow
| ing in this temperature we did not feel
| comfortable in our too thin woolen cloth
| ing To save weight we had left our fur
suits on board ship. The minimum tenn
perature in March was 40 degrees and the
maximum was "a. In April the minimum
| was IS and the maximum 20 degrees.
I'VE saw sign of land in any direc-
| ton. In fact the foe of ice seemed to
move so freely before the wind that there
could not have been anything in the way
! of land to stop it for long distance off
We were now drifting rapidly northward
| On April we began our march towards
| Franz Josef Land. On April u our watches
ran down owing TO the unusual length OF
| the days march. After that date we were
uncertain as to our longitude, but hoped
that our dead reckoning was fairly correct
AS we came south we met many cracks
which greatly retarded our progress. The
provisions were rapidly decreasing The
dogs were killed one after the other to feed
the rest.
I'm June the cracks became very bad
and the snow was in exceedingly poor con.
dtion for travelling. The dogs and the SIX
and sledge-runners broke through the
superficial crust and sank deep in the snow
| Only few dogs left and prog
ress was next to impossible. But unfor
! tunately we had no line of retreat. Yhs
dogs rations as we'll as our own were re-
duced to a minimum and we made the
best way we could ahead. We expected
daily to find land in sioht. but we looked
i'm vain. On May 81 we were in So degrees
| u minutes north and on June in So de-
| grees, IS minutes north, but on June Il
| we had been drifted to the northwest tC
| 81 degrees, IS minutes north. No land wa:
| to be seen, although. according to Payer.
map. we had expected to meet with Peter
mann land at So degrees north. These dis
crepancies became more and more puzzlinf
as time went
ION June -. we had shot a bearded seal
/ determined 10 wait We now had a sup
ply of seal meat until il melted away. w,
also shot three bears. We had only tw'
dogs left. which were now well-fed upol
meat.
"On July q We continued our journe,
when about 81 degrees north, we sighte.
unknown land al last but the ice was ev
erywhere broken into small foes. the waite