The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-20
DR.. NANSEN'S VOYAGE.
HE EXPLAINS IN DETAIL HIS PLANS
AND PREPARATIONS.

The Building of the Fram-Did Not
Consider the Voyage ExtraOrdi-
nariIy Risky and Expected to he
Absent About Three Years.
Just after setting off on the perilous voy-
age DR.. Nansen wrote an account of his
object. together with a statement of his
plans and preparations, giving his idea of
the probable duration OF his absence. This
was published in the Strand Magazine.
from which the following extracts are TAX
en-:
The principal feature in the plan of my
attempt to penetrate into the north polar
region, or, if possible, to cross it, is, in
brief, to try to make use of the currents
of the sea, instead of fighting against
them My opinion is, as 1 have already
explained on several occasions, that there
must somewhere run currents into the
polar region. which carry the fioe-ice
across the Polar sea, first northward to-
ward the pole, and then southwark again
into the Atlantic ocean. That these cur
rents really exist all Arctic expeditions
prove as most of them have had to fight
against the currents and against the ice
drifting southwark, because they have
tried to get northward from the wrong
side. 1 think very simple conclusion
must be drawn from this fact that cur
rents and drifting ice are constantly COM
ing from the unknown north, viz: Cur
rents, and, perhaps, also ice, must pass
into this same region, as the water rum
ming in. This conclusion is based upon the
simplest of all natural laws; but there
seem to be people who will not even adj
init the necessity of this.
That such currents run across the north
/ may mention the great quantities of ST.
berlan driftwood which are annually car
ried to the shores of Spitzbergen and
Greenland; it comes in such abundance
and with such regularity that it is quite
impossible 1t should be carried to these
shores, so far from the original home, by
occasional winds or currents. There must
be regular communication between the
coast of Siberia and those of SpitZbergen
and Greenland. By this same commune
cation We're several objects from the I'M
fortunate Jeanette carried to the Green-
land coast. The Jeanette sank in June,
1881, to the north of the New Siberian is
lands, and three years afterward, In June
1884, a great many objects belonging to
her or her crew were found on an ice-f1oe
on the southwest coast of Greenland. This
foe can only have been brought there by
the driftWood.
My intention is now to make use of
this communication, which nature herself
has established L shall try to find the
place where the heart of this current has
its origin, and shall 70 north there until
ply let the current have its way and let
it carry us across the unknown region
and out into the open sea again on this
side of the pole
This is the basis upon which 1 am act
ing. In order to be able to lead a rela-
lively comfortable life during the ice
drift, the first thing of Importance is to
get good and strong ship, especially
adapted to Withstand the pressure of the
ice-fioes when they are pressed together
by the current and the heavy gales of
Arctic a he
had ready-made, and / had to build the
Fran, in which we are now steering
into the unknown north. She is an I'M
usually strong ship; the frame timbers
are made of hard Italian oak, are ten
to twelve inches thick, and are placed
close together. Inside them is the cell
ing, consisting of pitch pine planks, al
ternately four and eight inches in thick
ness. Outside the frame timbers is the
plankng, consisting of three skins; first,
a three-inch oak skin, over which is an
other of four inches, and finally an outer
planking, or 'ice-sheeting," of green
heart, which increases in thickness from
the keel toward the water line from
three to six inches. The whole thick
ness of the sides of the Fran is thus
twenty-eight to thirty-two inches-a solid
mass of pitch pine, oak and greenheart,
with a little pitch between to make it
water tight
The most important feature in the
Frams construction lis, therefore, that
she is built on such lines as will tend to
lift her, and thus make her escape the
grasp of the ice when it begins to press.
The sides are not perpendicular as those
of ships generally are but slope from
the bulWark to the keel; her dead RISE
is great, so that when the ice-hoes are
pressed against her sides they meet with
no perpendicular wall to press against
and break, but with sloping walls, along
which they will glide downward and at
last pass under the water The keel is
not projecting, in order that the ice shall
not get hold of it. On the whole. every
thing is made as smooth and rounded as
possible. There are no edges no project
ing corners for the ice to catch hold Of.
she is like bowl, and a transverse sec
ton of the Fran resembles very much
that of a cocoanut.
The length of the Fran is 128 feet. the
greatest beam is 36 feet. She is. conse-
quently, very broad compared with the
iength her draught at present is about
16 feet, and her freeboard is only feet,
but now she is heavily loaded, as we
have taken as much coal as we can carry
This will, however, gradually be burned
in our engines, and she will soon be lifted
again. The size of the ship is about 31O
tons register, and her displacement with
her heavy cargo at present is. I should
say about 800 tons, or little more
Deeply loaded as she now is she does
not get speed of more than about
knots from the engine alone, but with
a lighter cargo she makes 6, or even q
knots. She Is consequently not a fast YES
sci, but this is relatively of no great i'm
portance on an expedition like ours, where
we shall have to depend principally on
the speed of the current and the ice
movement, and, unfortunately, not on that
of the ship.
The members of the expedition are thir-
teen, all told. We have one saloon in
common where we take our meals and
spend our leisure time. Around the sa-
loon six cabins are placed-four single cab
ms for Capt. SYerdrup, Lieut. Hansen,
DR.. Blessing and myself, and, besides
these, two cabins with four or five men
in each. These cabins are so placed that
they surround the saloon and protect
ii against the outer walls of the ship
thus making it nice and warm.
In order to get good air in the saloon and
cabins, special attention is paid to the ven
tilation. The cold, fresh air from outside
Is taken in through a heating apparatus
which | nave specially constructed for the
purpose. and which is heated by mineral
Oil. After having circulated in the rooms
the air is again sucked out by another ven
tilator. I have two extra ventilators-one
downcast ventilator and one upcast-by
the help of which l can improve upon the
ventilation, II necessary, and make it quite
perfect A good ventilation is certainly a
most important thing during an Arctic ex-
pedition, but heat is also good. IT. there