New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-02-16
GREAT NEWS FROM THE NORTH.

The news of DR.. Nansen Is at least In part con-
nrmed. He is safe, and is on his way home
That is all the news which as yet 1t Is safe to
trust There are no details of his wanderings
and their results. One brief dispatch says he is
returning from the North Pole" another con-
tains the positive statement that he actually
reached the Pole For confirmation Of that we
must wait-perhaps a few hours. perhaps some
days. But sufficient unto the day Is the news
thereof The simple assurance that the explorer
is nearing home will bring immea Surable relief
to countless anxious hearts. 1t will also arouse
speculation, plQue curiosity and inspire imagina-
ton as scarcely any other item Of news in this
generation has done. Fuller tdings may be
fraught only with Disappointment They may
bear such revelation as no voyager has given
to the world since the Admiral sailed home TO
Spain, four centuries ago
Two years and six months back the Fran
vanished from sight in the Kara Sea. To-day
we print the first authentic news Of her since
that time Where has she been? What have
her master and his comrades seen? Elsewhere
in to-day's paper we rehearse in detail. In his
own words. DR.. Nanscn's plans and expecta-
tons. But have they been fulfilled? The map.
which we also print, shows graphically the scene
Of the exploit, and the route 1t was supposed
the Fran would follow. The line leads around
North Cape, through YugorsN Strait. and across
the Kara Sea. Thus far it followed. Thence
il proceeds eastward. skirting the siberian coast
to the Lena Delta, where DR.. Nansen thought
he might tOuch 10 or toward the Ncw-Siberla
Islands, where another landing was contcm-
plated; thence, drifting with the icepack north
ward to the Pole, and past II; and finally south
ward along the Greenland coast. But that pro-
gramme has certainly not been carried out The
Fran did not touch NJ the Lena Delta. nor at
Kotelnoi. Neither has IL emerged from the I'M
known seas in the expected quarter. for in that
case we should first have heard from II from
Greenland or Iceland or the Norway coast. in
stead Of from Siberia.
The non-fulfilment Of the exact expectations
does not however, necessarily indicate failure 10
reach the Pole The ship may have been borne
to the Pole, and then. by some unknown current.
have been borne southwark 10 the east instead
of the west Of Franz Josef Land She may have
been swept away over to the west of Greenland.
toward Melville Island and Prince Patrick Land.
and SO on, ever westward, till she came roun1
to Siberia again. She may have been driven al
most straight backward on her own course. Or
it may be that she did not reach the Pole. nor
get near to it,, but was simply held for two years
prisoner in the great ce-packs north of the Lena
Delta, and has only now been able to work her
way out and beat an inglorious retreat TO the
Siberian coast Any one Of these hypothesis, or
any one Of dozen more, may be the true one.
The expedition has been up there long enough
to have reached the Pole and to have explored
the whole unknown centre Of the Arctic Zone.
. .l..<. f,,1
realm that it may have been held, batfied prs-
oner all this time, suffering no fatal disaster,
it is true, but accomplishing nothing toward its
end and aim.
The world will await the answer to these
Questionings with such eagerness as it has not
often felt, and If, happily. 1t be true that this
daring Norseman has reached the long-sought
goal, 1t will accord him place among the most
famous navigators who have traversed unchart-
ed seas There Is really no parallel to his voy
age That Of Columbus presents a fascinating
contrast resembling it only in the sublime faith
with which it was inspired. The one set out
amid all possible dscouragements, the other with
all the world ready to help him and to cry God
speed The one went In a frail sailing vessel.
with the most primitive equipments; the other
in a stanch steamer, with all the resources OF
nineteenth century science at his command. The
one got fast in floating seawceds. and his men
were frightened by electric frebas which played
upon the masts the other deliberately sought to
be imprisoned in the ice-pack, and with electric
lamps made CHEEKY the long months Of the Arctic
night The one sought the Eastern isles Of which
he knew and found the Western Continent Of
which he had never dreamed; the other sought
the Arctic Pole and has found-we know not yet
what But we know that he essayed a voyage
as perilous as any that Columbus made. or Ma
gellan or Drake or Frobisher, and with incom-
parably less hope Of material reward They
sought new realms, conquest and spells. He only
sought to pierce the heart Of the icy Sahara OF
the North, and to wrest from reluctant Nature
the key to her profoundest mysteries. If he has
succeeded, there has been more daring hero
In all the battles Of science. If he has not yet
succeeded, he has at least deserved success, and
may have the hope of more triumphant work
before him. And the name Of his ship Is For
ward"