The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-03-29
HANSEN IS THE THIRTEENTH
If He Has Crossed The Pole Thirteen viii
Be The Number Of Luck.
EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA UNITED.
Ships Loaded with Japanese Merchandise
Can Sail Up Through Behring's Sea on
Short Cut to Europe-Nansen says
There's "A Warm Passage There.

Pole or no pole; hero or crank, sue
cessful or unsuccessful, fridUot Naiiseh
comes home soon. BY boat, with nyinS
coors, If he has succeeded, footsore'
without sledge and with displeased
crew, If he has not. His Ittle nome
near Christiania is waiting for nun. lis
wife. who has been his co-worker, Is look
ing for him, and though Nansens eA-
pediuon went to stay i've years, IL IS
almost certain that this spring Will ina
him back again In his Morse home.
when De Long died up in the Arctic
regions after losing his good ship, the
Jeanette, he left writings and Diary
that advanced theory that Is sun aii'c'
though De Long Is not. That theoIy
was that the great current that carries
ships up toward the pole at the west ol
ALASKA comes down from the pole again
between Greenland and Norway. IL was
while looking for this current that ne
Longs ship got squeezed in the Ice ana
broke. This is what happened eApieSseu
in plain language.
NANSEN THE THIRTEENTH.
Nansen saw that De Long had the right
theory regarding the pole and started 10
carry Il further three years ago. lie set
out for the north December, 1888.
His ship is the thirteenth one that has
started to the polar regions that mas
been gone long enough to enutle IL 10
be called a ship that has passed INTO the
Arctic night. Many have started ana
have come back after three months con-
vinced that death, and death without
glory. Law beyond. But Nansen's is the
thirteenth with a record of bravery.
The commanders who have made re-
cord are less numerous than the ships.
Several have gone twice, taking new
snip with them on each voyage. Sir John
Franklin began IL in 1915. Elisha Kane
started in 1853, Charles Hall ana Isaac
Hayes looked for the pole in lo5O re-
naming a long or shorter time but SUN
among the valiant searchers. Baron
Nordenskiold essayed TO place his name
with theirs in 1865 and in 1873 the Ill
fated De Long made a stride with the
Jeanette that IS still reacting IN Arcuc
work. Greedy in 1851 and Pcary in lesz
brought back tidings few years id'eT
that are still news. Then, with a few
boats intervening, hansen set out In 1893.
Weuman and Jackson followed him III
1894 -.
But IL is in hansen that interest now
centres because Nanscn claims 10 have
accomplished, or report claims ior MN I'M
that he has accomplished, that which all
the brave host came back pronounclng
impossible. Those who could not get
back with such tidings left their bodies
like De Longs, as monuments OF the un-
attainable.
ut could not be done, or I had done It;
1t could not be won, or faith had won II.
Never lines told better than these the
human enrgy exerted and the limos
sibiliues Of human strength going lar
Their. -
But in the face Of all this comes Nan
sens EUREKA have found IT.!
The news came by carrier pigeons, by
Siberian messengers, by the meagre ways
with which Nanson has communicated
with his beloved wife during the last
few wears. trusting her 10 get the news
TO the Danish Court his hackers III th's
voyage And so scattered ana NarlaDie
has IL been that Mrs. Nansen herself mas
at times doubted 1t.
Nansen's idea is that the pole Is an
omen sea. He claims that the vast SPOT
where there is nothing, where LATITUDE
and longitude are one. where the eallh
stops revolving because the pivot OF the
globe is reached, is q warm, open place
lie ternperature. according TO his theories
when he started, is no colder than tnat
of any country in the north temperate
zone. and Sc is free from Ice the year
around. lie supports this by showing
the great warm current that flows south
ward between Greenland and Norway
and claims that there must be something
TO supply this current with wafer
Otherwise the pole would soon run dry'
the current south is so rapid that boats
come south at the rate Of three knots
an hour east of Greenland. drifting with
the current. Where does the water come
from to supply this current?
THAT water" says Nansen, flows up