Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-11-16

by man. As now thought could as
sumo with certainty that the Fran in a
short time would reach her highest
latitude north Of Franz Josefs Land.
and as early as the following summer
would, as cur plan presupposed, be near
the sea north Of Spitzbergen, / thought
the time had come to carry out a new
plan which l had for some time enter
tanned, namely, to examine the sea
north of the Fram's course. This could
only be done by a sledge expedition.
which could not reckon upon getting
back again to the Fran, as the chance
of refinding vessel drifting in the ice
was small. All the winter l had been
busy making preparations for this ex-
pedition. 1 had had new, strong
sledges made on board especially cal
culated for being drawn by dogs over
the uneven ice. Next l had made two
kayaks, IL feet in length and so roomy
that they could each carry man with
provisions for four months. as well as
some dogs on the deck. The framework of
these was made of bamboo and covered
with canvass. When completed they
weighed about 40 pounds each. The
provisions, which consisted exclusively
of the best kinds of dried and greatly
condensed articles of fOOd-chietiy
dried meat. dried fish. steam cooked
oatmeal, biscuits, butter, etc.--were
slowed away in canvas bags of con-
venient size: We had constantly driven
the dogs to keep them in training for
the journey, and all kinds of expert
ments had been tried with the tent.
sleeping bag. etc.
The expedition started on Feb 26,
but after four days toiling it was
found that the dogs could net draw
on the ice as much as was expected
OF them, and we therefore decided to
return to the ship and reduce the
amount of our baggage and wait a
little time before setting out A few
days We're again spent in preparations
1t was now my plan only to take with
US dog provisions for one month and
provisions for the men for a hundred
days, and with this light equipment
try to pass quickly on over the ice.
We thus need not set off so early. and
it was not until March IA that we
again said farewell to our companions,
this time in earnest. We had now
only three s1edgeS, on two of which
lay our kayaks, and we had the same
dogs as before. 1t was my hope as we
Sot farther north that we should find
smoother ice. the ice there being old
er. and its unevennesses therefore
better covered up by the drifting snow.
This appeared at first to be the case.
We found the ice tolerably easy to
get over, and did some good days
marches On March % we had al
ready reached IS degrees 10 minutes.
north latitude, and we calculated that
we could cover greater and greater
distances as the sledge loads grew
lighter with the daily consumption of
food on the part of both men and dogs.
The dogs, too, seemed to hold out fair
ly we'll. But by-and-by the foes be-
gan to be more uneven and packed to-
sether, and the drift, which until then
had seemed to be slight. was now
against us. On March %, we had
reached So degrees 10 minutes. north
latitude; on the 29th. IS degrees, 80
minutes. The ice was obviously drift
ing southwark at good rate. while at
the same time our progress over the
rough ice was slow.
The ice was in constant movement
and laundering around us on all sides.
On April 8. we We're in So degrees. SO
minutes north latitude. We pushed
On with all our might always hoping
Tor better ice. On April T. we reached
so degrees, minutes, but the ice grew
worse, until at last, on April T. it was
SO bad that | thought it unadvisable
to continue any further toward the
north. If it were like this in the direc-
ton OF Franz Josef's land, we might
have difficulty enough in getting there.
We were then in SC degrees. IA min
utes north latitude. and about 95 de-
srees east longitude. In order to in
vestigate the state of the ice and the
possibility of advance, l went further
north on sky. but could discern no
likely way. From the highest hum
mock l could find, l saw only packed
and piled-up ice as far as the horizon.
1t was on April s, that we altered our
course and began our wanderings
toward Cape Fligley. in Franz Josef's
Land. For a time we still had the
same toilsome kind of road to go: but
after one days march the ice became
better, and its passage somewhat cas-
Ter. In June the channels became more
and more difficult than ever
to deal with, and the state of the ice |
was very bad. Dogs. ski, and sledge |
runners broke through the crust on |
the snow, and sank deep into the soft |
and wet snow beneath. The number |
OF dogs now, too, was very small, and |
was continually diminishing. Ad- |
vance seemed almost hopeless, but we |
had no choice, and so toiled on as best |
we could, while the rations for both |
dogs and men were reduced to min
imum. The dogs suffered especially |
by the diminution of rations Many |
of them drew their loads faithfully un-
til they suddenly dropped down with |
fatigue unable to stand any longer.
When de reached open water, in 81 |
degrees SO minutes. north latitude, and |
63 degrees east longitude. there being |
little prospect for our having much |
more use for the two dogs we still had
left, we shot them and left them on !
the drift ice. We padded southwest
along the northwest shore of the land.
hoping soon to be able to cross over
the sea to Spitzbergen. In vain did |
we search for land in the West On
Aug IS a wind from the sea suddenly