The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1896-08-17
TOLD BY ER. NASSEN.
His Expedition Int" The Arctic Regions
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LONDON, AuC. l7-Ihc story i'll de-
tail by the eAI.cr,r liza elf Of Or. NAN
sens Arctic expedition and the aGTen-
lures of his party. together with the
scientific results obtained, flrst OF which
is his success III penetrating to the
highest latitude, hitherto untrodden by
the foot of man, namely,S6 dogs. IA minis.
north, are given to the world by The
Chronicle. DR.. Nansen a
The Fran left Jugor strait Aug. 4,
1893. We had to force our way
through much ice along the Siberian
coast. We discovered an island in the
Kara sea and a great number of islands
along the coast Of Cape Cheljuskin.
We passed the new Siberian islands
Sept. go. We made fast to a foe in
lat. 70 dogs. Z Minis. north and in long.
1873 dogs. 81 minis. east. W. then al
lowed the ship to be closed in by the ice.
Drifted Gradually NORTH
As anticipated, we were gradually
drifted northwestward during the au-
tumn and winter from the constantly
exposed and violent pressures but the
Fran surpassed u expectations, being
superior to any strain. The tempera-
ture fell rapidly and was constantly
low, with little variation, for the whole
winter. During weeks the mercury was
frozen. The lowest temperature was
SO dogs. below zero.
The sea was up to 90 fathoms deep
south Of 70 dogs. north, where the
depth suddenly increased and was from
1900 to 1900 fathoms north of that
latitude. This will necessarily upset
all previous theories based on q shallow
polar basin.
We saw no land and no open water,
except narrow cracks in any direction.
AS anticipated, our drift northwest
ward was most rapid during the winter
and spring, while the northerly winds
drifted us backward during the sum.
mer. On June Is, 1894, we were 81
dogs. SO minis north, and on Christmas
eve, 1894, lat. SO dogs. "a minis. north
was reached, the furtherest north lati.
tue previously reached by man.
Nansen Leaves the Fran.
AS I now, with certainty, anticipated
that the Fran could soon reach her
highest latitude north of Franz josef
land, and that she would not easily
fail to carry out the programme Of the
expedition, namely, to cross the un-
known polar basin, I decided to leave
the ship in order to explore the sea
north of her route. Lieutenant Johan.
sen volunteered to join me. Our pur-
pose was to explore the sea to the
north and reach the highest latitude
possible, and then to go to Spitzbergen
via Franz J~osef1and, where we felt Ger:
tain to find a ship. We had % dogs,
two sledges and two kayaks for possible
open water. On March % we Were at
So degs., 10 Minis, north. Although
the dogs were less enduring than we
hoped still they were tolerably good.
The ice now became rougher and the
drift contrary. On March % we had
only reached IS degs., 10 Minis. north,
and on March 20, So degs., 80 minis.
Decides to Turn Back.
On April 3 we were at So dogs. 80
minis. north, constantly hoping to meet
some other ice. On April 4, we reached
IS dogs. 8 minis. north but the ice be-
came rougher until on April 7 it got so
bad that l considered it unwise to con.
tinue our march in the northerly direc-
ton. We We're then at So dogs. IA
Minis. north. We saw no sign of land
in any direction. In fact the foe of ice
seemed to move SO freely before the
wind, that there could not have been
anything in the way Of land to stop it
for a long distance. We were now
drifting rapidly northward. On April
g., we began our march towards Franz
Josefland. The provisions were rapidly
decreasing and the dogs were killed
one after the other to feed the rest.
The condition of the ice was such that
progress was slow, and after a trip of
great hardship, on Aug. %, we reached
81 :l3 north and Sc east and decided to
remain for the winter. On June IL of
the following year we met the steamer
Windward and were taken aboard.
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