The herald., 1896-02-14
THE NORTH POLE IS FOUND
Fridtj0f NanSen Raises the Nor.
wegian Flag
HIS SHIP HEADED FOR HOME
Nine Years Provisions Allow Him Lots
of Time
Lieutenant Brainerd Of the 0reeIy Exped!-
tlon Believes That Nnnsen VIII fleet
Death In the Ice

Associated Press Special Wire.
ST. PETERsBURe, Feb. 13.-A telegram
received today from Irkutsk, Siberia, says
q Siberian trader named Kouchnareff,
agent of DR.. Fridtjof Nansen, the Nor
wegian explorer, who sailed in the Fran
on June "a, 1898, for the Arctic regions,
has received information that Nansen
reached the north pole, found land there,
and is returning toward civilization.
In April the Figaro of Paris circulated
a rumor that Na4sen had found the north
pole, situated OH a chain of mountains,
and planted the Norwegian flag there. The
story was generally regarded al without
foundation.
On September 18th of last year advices
were received in London from the Danish
trading station AngmaRsalik, on the east
coast of Greenland, that ship. supposed
to be DR.. Nansen's Fran, had been sighted
at the end of July stuck fast in the ice
drift.
Finally, on December 6, a dispatch from
Christiania, Norway, stated Nansen's wife
received a letter by carrier pigeons report
ing the expedition was doing we'll. AS no
carrier pieons were taken north by the
Nansen party, this report was evidently
incorrect.
The expedition sailed from Christiania
on June "a. 1898, the DOCTORS plan being
to make for New Siberian Islands, and
head north until the Fran, by being inn
bedded in the ice. would he compelled to
diff along the west coast on any land
which might be found. On August %,
ls9h. DR.. Nansen sent dispatch from
Vardo, repor ing that on the second of
that month he was about to sail into the
Karaba sea, and the Fran had behaved
splendidly up to that stage of the journey,
especially in forcing her way through the
ico.
A London dispatch dated March 4th of
last year, announced letter dated Kjolle-
adord, February Oath, reached Hammer
fest, Norway, announcing that a telegraph
inspector at a station in the mountains be
tween Lebesy and Langijord had seen a
balloon moving in a southerly direction,
and believed it was possibly carrying dis
patches from DR., Nansen. Until the fore
going dispatch, no further news of the bal
loon or DR.. Nansen had been received.
DR.. Fridtjof Nansen is a distinguished
scientist of Norway and an enthusiastic
believer in the possibility of reaching the
north pole. He is about 35 years of age
He entered the University of Christiania in
1850. and two years later went on O seal
ing trip to Denmark straits, on the easG
coast of Greenland, in the Viking.
Later, in 1882, Nansen was appointed
curator of the museum at Bergen, which
position he retained until 1883, when he
led a small expedition to Greenland, cross
ing the southern part of that portion of the
globe. 1t was probably during this trip
that Nansen conceived the plan of making
an effort to reach the north pole in a vessel
constructed specially for such an UNDER
taking. In any case. after his return to
steps toward fitting out his expedition,
and the Fran was planned and cen
structed. She is generally classed as a
three-masted sailing schooner, but she had
a 160 horse power steamengine in addition
to her sails. Her displacement was 500
tons, and her sides we're SO constructed as
to force oil ice meeting the vessel to pass
underneath her, thus preventing 'pinch-
ing" and ''screwing." The Norwegian par
Lament allowed Nausen about $52 900 to
fit out his craft, and, in addition, he was
assisted in his work by many private SUBJ
scriptions, including one of $4,000 from
King Oscar, The Fran was launched Oc-
tober %, 1892, at Laurwik, near Christi
ana. A Norwegian describing the fitting
out of the Fran said
"Bread is the principal nourishment of
Nansen and his people. The bread is a
kind of biscuit, large and round, white
and very compact. The ration of each
man is to consist of four biscuits a day.
This, at least, was given out when the ex-
pedition left Norway. Silk is used as the
most suitable material for tents, as it shuts
out the cold better than anything else.
"The cabin of Nansen's ship, the Fran
(forward), ia heated by means of an Eng
lish petroleum stove, which consumes
three litres OF petroleum per day. As the
explorer has taken along with him 8 uf-
ficent supply of this fuel to last him
eight or nine years, there will be no lack of
heating material. The library of the ex-
petition consists of 1000 books, half of
which are scientific works and the other
half novels. etc.
1.-THE crew numbers twelve men and all
occupy the cabin, which measures only
thirteen feet square. There they dwell, eat
and work. The suits they wear cannot be
penetrated by water"
DR.. Nausen's companions were: Cap
tain Otto Sverdrup, shipmaster; Sigurd
Scott Hansen, lieutenant in tho Norwegian
navy and director of the astronomical me.
teorological and magnetic observations; ;
Henryik Blessing, surgeon and botanist;
Theodore q. Jacobsen, mate: Peder Hem
driksen, harpooner; Anton A. Mundsen,
chief engineer; Lars Petersen, second eng-
neer; Hjalmar Johannesen, officer in the
Norwegian army; Bernard Nordahl, electr-
clan; Ivan Mogatad, carpenter, aud
Adolph Juell, steward.
The following letter was received last
year by Mr.. A. Balm of Sheffield, England,
an Arctlc lecturer.
"CHRlsrIANA, Sept. 16.--The steamship
Hertha, ffieghted by the Danish govern
ment to bring vctuals and furniture 10 the
Danish colony (Angemegsalik), which was
established last year on the coast of Green-
land, arrived there on August 25. Peter
son, the manager of the colony, then re-
ported that different Esquimaux twice saw,
at the end of July, three.masted vessel
stuck fast in the ice. The ship had n short
foremast. It was first seen in the Sermi-
ligakfjord (65 degrees 20 minutes north
latitude, 35 minutes longitude). They
bad seen 10 smoke from the ship. The
report is quite trustworthy. We can get
no more until next year. Tho Fram's fore
mast was extraordinarily short. 20 that the
description agrees SO far. From the state
lnent OF the Esqunaux we should, IN that
case, not hear from the Fran until next
year. Meanwhile we must be patient and
not feel quite certain that we have TO do
with the Franz"
DR.. Nanse1. according to Lieutenant l..
Brainerd, u. $. A., who accompanied the
Greedy expedition as subsistence officer,
bases his theory OH the current which he
relied OIL 10 carry him through the arctic
regions on the fact that the trend of the
Jeanette was generally in the direction Of