The sun., 1896-08-14
DR.. NANSEN is RETURNING.
TEE ARCTIC EXPLORER mas AR
RIVED AT TARDoE, NORWAY.

He Did Not Reach tho Pole, but says lie
Attained Lat. so' IA. which Beats tho
Highest Record by About 400 Miles
he Saw No Land North OF Lat. sa'--
Last Winter Spent In Frnnz loser Land.
LONDON. Aug. l3.-The 50. Jdmess Gazette
publishes special despatch saying II is report
cd that the Arctic explorer Nansen has arrived
at vardoe on the coast OF Norway, in the Arc
tic Ocean, off Finmark, on board the steamer
windward.
Advices from Malmo confirm the report that
DR.. Nansen is returning from his attempt to
reach the North Pole by drifting to II In q
steamer. He is, es the 50. Jdmess Gazette de-
spntch says, at vardoe. He 10 accompanied by
Lieut.. Hansen. They left the steamer Fran,
the drifting ice to and across the pole last su-
tumn. The expedition failed to reach the OBJ
1cct Of its search. but IL got two degrees and
fifty minutes further north than did any pre-
vious expedition.
According to one report received here DR..
Nansens object in leaving the Fran was to
push further north than the steamer was able
to penetrate the ice. This was in March, 1895.
The reports at hand at present are somewhat
conflicting.
VARDoE. Aug. 13.-Dr. Nansen. the Arctic
explorer, arrived here to-day. He says that
his expedition attained one Of its objects In
traversinR the Polar Sea to q point northward
OF the New Siberian Islands. namely. to latitude
S6o IA north.
No land was sighted north of latitude s2'.
After reaching the parallel Of $50 IA the expe-
dition went southwest to Franz Josers Land.
where II spent the winter. the members subsst-
ing on bears flesh and blubber.
DR.. Nansen arrived here on the steamer
Windward which Is conveying provisions to
the Jackson -Harmsworth expedition. The ex.
plorer is perfectly we'll Tho Fran is expected
to arrive at Vardoe or Bergen In a short time
All was we'll aboard of her when DR.. Nansen
left her
There seems no doubt from the above de-
spatches that Nansen Is returning at last,
though the news is quite meaRre. and the facts
in some respects do not appear to be
clearly given. 1t Is not easy to under
stand, for instance, how II happens that he
has reached Norway on the Windward,
which set out from England early last month
to carry su pplies TO Mr.. jackson who had win
tered in Franz Josef Land. The Windward
would hardly be expected to return
from that region for at least six weeks
to come. II she did not reach Franz
Josef Land the reason for her failure.
which would be a serious matter. is not given
in these dispatches. Neither Is 1t clear where
DR.. Nansen left the Fran. the condition
under which he separated from his ten COM
rades that he and his companion left on their
vessel.
II tho above information is correct. he dis
L.. H.
highest point attained in the same waters by
the Jeannette.
Thus ends another attempt to penetrate the
secret OF the icy north. DR.. Nansen. in a vessel
especially constructed to resist tho nipping Of
the ice. started from Vardoe July 81. 1893, his
intention being to pass into the Kara Sea to the
New siberian a. Islands and drift with the ice 70 the
a north flowing current. Prior to his voyage he
addressed the Royal Geographical Society in
London and explained his theory Of the north
ern drift.
He called attention to the fact that the Gulf
rent flowing north through Behring Strait pour
an immense % volume OF water into the Arctic
fux OF water on the Euro -Asiatic side OF
the polar basin WAS counterbalanced by the
outtows through the spitzbergen, and East
Greenland south-howinR currents. He believed
that large part Of this water was carried north
and across the polar basin by a current which.
the neIg borhood OF the New siberian Islands.
He believed that the alleged Jeanette
relics found the southwest coast of
Greenland had been carried across the
pole by this current. He hoped TO be
carried across the polar area and to emerge
from the ice somewhere between Greenland and
Spitzbergen.
The Fran was provisioned for six years. News
came from DR.. Nansen after he had fairly ntered
the Kara Sea, but no later information was re,
eeived until now He did not call for logs that had
and whether he had been able TO push through
the Ice as far east as the New Siberian Islands
was not known.
DR.. Nansen planned his vessel the Franz
himself Her outlines were wholly round
ed. and he believed that Ice pressure
which would crush most any vessel
would merely lift the FRAN up on the ice. Her
hull was made rs strong as 1t was possible for
sheathing and braces to make II.
No Arctic authority regarded DR.. Nansen's
many have thought It likely that he
Galian. and very capable Arctic explorer and
won friends among students OF the polar regions. |
even though they regarded his enterprise as
foolhardy. II he has done what the above |
conflicting dispatches indicate. his expedition |
can, by no means be called failure. but we
shall not be able to judge the results OF tho ex-
pedition until fuller particulars are received.