Evening star., 1896-08-15

lie map, shows the course taken by the Franz In
! way OF ice pressure Afterward. we ex-
perienced nothing more of the kind. bit
| our drift was rapidly continued north and
| northwestward.
Decided to Leave the Ship.
"As now with certainty anticipated that
| the Fran would soon reach her highest
latitude north of Franz Josef Land, and
that she would not easily fail to carry out
the program of the expedition viz: to
cross the unknown polar basin, decided
to leave the ship in order to explore the
| sea north Of her route Lieut.. Johansen
| volunteered to Join me, and I could not
easily have found better companion in
every respect. The leadership OF the ex-
pedition on board the Fran left to Capt.
Sverdrup. With my trust in his qualifica-
| tiohs as leader and his ability to over
come difficulties 1 have no doubt that he
will bring all the men safely back. even If
the worst should happen and the Fran be
| lost, which ! consider improbable
'On March we reached 81 degrees 4
minutes north. Johansen and / left the
Fran on March IA, 1895. at SO degrees 80
minutes north and 1G2 degrees q minutes
east Our purpose was to explore the sea
| to the north and reach the highest latitude
possible, and then to go to Spitzbergen via
Franz Josef Land. where We felt certain to
md ship. We had twenty-eight dogs,
| two sledges and two kayaks for possible
| open water The dog food was calculated
| for thirty days and our provisions for 100
| days. We found the ice in the beginning
tolerably good travelling. and so made good
| distances. and the ice did not appear drift
| ing much. On March q we were at 81 de-
| grees 10 minutes north. Although the dogs
| were less enduring than we hoped, still
| they were tolerably good. The ice now be-
| came rougher and the drift contrary On
| March 25 we had only reached s. degrees 10
minutes north, and on March o. s. de-
grees 30 minutes.
I'VE were now evidently drifting fast to-
| ward the south. Our progress was very
slow. 1t was fatiguing to work our way
| and carry our sledges over the high hum
| mocks constantly being built up by the
| 1oes grinding against each other. The ice
! was In strong movement. and the ice pres
| sure was heard in all directions
"On April We were s5 degrees 20 minutes
north, constantly hoping to meet smoother
| ice. On April we reached Sc degrees 8
minutes north. but the ice became rougher,
| until on April 1t got so bad that con-
| sidered 1t unwfse to continue our march In
! a northeriy direction.
Farthest North.
I'VE were then at SO degrees IA minutes
north. We then made an excursion on skis
further northward in order to examine as
| to the possibility Of a further advance. But
We could see nothing but ice Of the same
description. hummock beyond hummock to
the horizon. looking like sea Of frozen
breakers. We had had low temperature
and during nearly three weeks 1t was in the
neighborhood Of 20 degrees below zero On
April 1 1t rose to eight degrees below zero
but soon sank again to 80. When a wind
was blowing in this temperature We did not
feel comfortable in our too thin wooden
| clothing. To save weight we had left our
| fur suits On board ship. The minimum tenn
perature in March was 40. and the maximum
| was "a. In April the minimum was IS and
| the maximum 20 degrees.
I'VE 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 1t for long distance off. We were now
| drifting rapidly northward
! Marching Townrd Franz Josef land
| ''On April 8 we began our march toward
| WatCneS
| ran down. owing to the unusual length of
the days march. After that date we were
uncertain as to our longitude but hoped that
| our dead reckoning was fairly correct. As
| We came south we met many cracks. which
| greatly retarded our progress. The pro-
| visions were rapidly decreasing. The dogs
| were killed one after the other to feed the
| rest.
| I'm June the cracks became very bad and
| the snow was in exceedingly bad condition
Tor travelling. The dogs and the ski and
| sledge runners broke through the super
fetal crust and sank deep in the wet snow.
| Only few dogs were now left, and pro-
| gTess was next to impossible. But, unfor-
| tunately. we had no line Of retreat The
dogs rations, as we'll as our own, were re-
| duced to minimum, and we made the best
| way we could ahead. We expected daily to
| find land in sight, but we looked in vain.
| On May 81 We were in 81 degrees q min
| utes north, and on June in 50 degrees 10
| minutes north, but on June Is we had been
drffted to northwest to 50 degrees IS min
| utes north. No land was to be SEEN al
| though. according to Payers map. we had
| expected to meet with Petermann Land
| at SO degrees north. These discrepancies
became more and more puzzling as time
went on.
| "On June % We had last shot at a beard
| ed seal, and, as the snow became constantly
worse. I determined to wait We now had
a supply of seal meat, until It melted away.
We also shot three bears. We had only two
: dogs left, which were now well fed upon
meat.
Sighted Unknown Land.
'On July 23 We continued our Journey
| over tolerably good snow. On July "a.
when about SO degrees north, we sighted
unknown land at last, but the ice was
everywhere broken into small foes. the
water between beirg filled with crushed
ice, in which the use Of kayaks was i'm
possible. We. therefore. had to make our
| way by balancing from one piece to an
other, and we did not reach land until
August at S1.3S north and about 63 de-
grees east longitude.
This proved to be entirely ice-capped
islands.
I'm kayaks We made our way westward
in open water along these ISLANDS, and on
| August Il we discovered land extending
from southeast to northwest. The country
became more and more puzzling, is 1
could find no agreement with Paver.s r,.n