The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1896-08-22
Record of His Daring Expedi-
ton Into the Unknown
Arctic Regions.
Temperature 90 Dogs. Below
Zero, With Mercury Fro
zen for Weeks.
Previous Theory Of a Shallow
Polar Basin Upset by His
Discoveries.

LONDON, Aug. 15.-The story III de-
tail by the explorer himself of DIR. Nam
Arctic expedition and the adven-
lures of his party, together with the
scientific results obtained, first of which
is his success i'll 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 says:
The Fran left Jugor strait Aug. 4,
1898. We had to force u 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. %. We made fast to a foe in
lat. IS dogs. Z minis. north and in long.
1873 dogs. 81 Minis. east. We 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-
tnmn and winter from the constantly
exposed and violent pressures but the
FRAN surpassed our 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
80 dogs. below zero.
The sea was up to 80 fathoms deep
south of 70 dogs. north, where the
depth suddenly increased and was from
1000 to 1900 fathOms north of that
latitude. This will necessarily upset
all previous theories based OH a 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. 50 minis north, and on Christmas
eve, 1894, lat. 50 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
tAdU tHO 1uu IA 'SOOI 1CdCAl l1C4
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 60 to Spitzbergel
via Franz Josef1and, 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 a
IS degs., 10 Minis, north. Although
the dogs were less enduring than W.
hoped still they were tolerably good
The ice now became rougher and tn,
drift contrary. On March 25 we ha,
only reached IS degs., 10 mins. north
and on March 70, IS degs., 30 minis.
Decides to Turn Back.
On April 3 we were at IS dogs. 5
minis. north, constantly hoping to NEE
some other ice. On April 4, we reaches
sc dogs. 8 minis. north but the ice be
came rougher until OH April Z it got S
bad that l considered it unwise to con
'tinue our march in the northerly direc
ton. We were then at IS dogs. l
minis. north. We saw no sign of Ian
in any direction In fact the foe of ic
seemed to Q so freely before tn
wind, that there could not have bee
anything in the way of land to stop
for a long distance. We were no,
drifting rapidly northward. On Apr
3, we began our march towards Fran
.Josefland. The provisions were rapid
decreasing and the dogs were kille
one after she other to feed the res,
The condition of the ice was such tina
progress was slow, aud after a trip c
great hardship, On Aug. 20, we reache
81 .:lS north and Sc east and decided t
remain for the winter. On June IL 9
the following year we met the steame
Windward aud were taken aboard.
Thinks h Fran IL Safe.
CHRISTIAN, Aug. 15.-The After
posten learns that DR.. Nansen has n
misgivings as to the fate of the Fran
He has the fullest confidence that he
captain, Sverderup. who proved him
self most capable. is en- route to Fran
Josefland. DR.. Nansen had a mario,
escape with his life when a walrus a,