The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-21

a man VINO lives III d. NaiiSy anu VIII
is anxious to mount the peaks, see
what is beyond and get a glimpse of
the rest of the world. That is the be-
ginning of an explorer. l wish to give
you a glimpse Of the northern part Of
the world. It has always been the de-
sire Of men to penetrate into the north
ern regions, possibly because there
were met the greatest difficulties in
the way of success. It has been be-
lieved that ships would be crushed in
the ice. and to the first yoyagers in
the northern regions this actually hap
pened, and they were forced to leave
their boats and travel on the ice. BY
reading the history Of the arctic dis
covery, 1 same to the, conclusion that
in order to make a successful tour in
the northern regions we ought to find
some other means Of penetrating into
that unknown land. i must confess
that my first idea of how to accomplish
an extensive trip there was gained
from an American expedition-that of
the jeanette. 1t would be possible, l
discovered, to use the forces of nature,
against which the first explorers had
fought. and gain from them an actual
advantage. I gained the idea that the
foes of ice drifted toward the north
from Boring strait and the northern
Siberian coast. The drift Of the jean
cite. as well as some of the relics from
her, which were found on the south
western coast of Greenland, proved my
theory to be correct. l reasoned that
they could have only followed the drift
Of the ice. Now, my idea was to build
a ship sufficiently strong to sustain
the pressure Of the ice and drift with
1t. 1t was not the main object, at least,
to reach the north pole; that is, the
mathematical point where the axis of
the earth has It's northern extremity.
In my opinion that is Of small conse-
Quence.
1.-The real object was the exploration of
the polar regions, and from them 10
carry back scientific operations and
observations for the aid OF humanity
and the scientific world. The principal
thing was the building Of ship
strong enough to withstand the pres
sure. and it may be said here that 1t
had always been contended that this
was impossible. Explorers said ship
might withstand the pressure of the
summer season, when the ice was soft
and yielding, but it could never With
stand the terrible grinding of the Ice
pressure in winter, When the Ice was as
hard as marble"
SHOWN BY THE STEREOPTICON.
With this Introductory explanation he
began the lecture proper, in the now
darkened auditorium, with the pictur-
esQue aid of the stereopttcon. Success
sive views showed the sturdy little ship
Fran, its departure from Norwegian
rivers until it was finally imbedded in
the ice pack, where it remained three
wears. He also showed map, upon
which was indicated by colOred lines,
the course of the drift he had worked
out in theory, and the actual line TAX
en- by the Fran The close proximity
of the two lines proving how we'll
founded were Nansen's calculations,
was Immediately appreciated by his OBJ
servers. He briefly and pleasantly
sketched the salient events of the
monotonous voyage of drift, and the
nature of their daily scientific obser-
vations in temperatures ranging from
40 to 60 degrees below zero, when OBJ
seryations were necessarily read by
magnifiers and touching the metal in
struments with bare hands was a bit
perilous. The men in the ship appar-
emily had q very bearable existence,
amusing themselves with chess, cards
and checkers; while good library gave
a large range Of reading. The explorer
surmised that many of his men learn
ed more in that space Of three years
than they ever had before in their lives
so quite a liberal education was gain
ed in the long night school of the north
His companions, as portrayed in a
photographed group, were a sturdy
healthy-looking set of men, as accord
ing to Nansen they might well be, see
ing that there were no disease germs
in the clear, keen air in the arctic reg
ions So free from ailments, in fact
were the men that the doctor who was
attached to the ship had in his despair
to turn his attention to the dogs.
But that it was not all recreation and
sleep On that dreary journey was seen
by the views DR.. Nansen presented on
the screen. The opinion has prevailed
that the northern seas were compare
lively shallow, but the soundings taken
by DR.. Nansen went to show that fire.
uuently a depth of 1000 fathoms would
be reached, and a discovery that was
even more surprising was that the
temperature of the water at some dis
lance below the surface was warmer
than the Atlantic ocean at a CORE
spending depth. This was directly due
to the Gulf stream.
OF DAYLIGHT AND DARKNESS.
In phraseology attractive and poetic,
Dr. Nansen described briefly the scenes
that make his book, "Farthest North,
the most absorbing and inspiring book
of Arctic exploration ever penned-
the arctic twilight that intervenes be-
tween the close of the long daylight
and the beginning of the five months
night, and, above all, the weird and
constantly changing Northern lights
that constantly illuminate the polar
skies. The extended course Of daylight
and darkness, DR.. Nansen pointed out,
grew extremely trying. When one pre-
vailed the other would be eagerly
1Ir
length of day and night is not alto
gether satisfying to the explorer, to
Judge from his own words "Often
when we look back upon those silent
silvery iceclad seas, cleaning under
the radiance of a beautiful dreamy
moon, we cannot help in the rush OF
this modern life sometimes wishing that
we were back in those regions where
there are no advertisements, no party
strifes, no letters, no newspapers, and
no autograph hunters"
There was also a reference to re-
porters that might, possibly, in better
taste have been omitted-for he should
generously remember that the reporter
is an explorer, and a brave, tireless
soldier on duty in wide sphere, and
is frequently and unjustly subjected
to "frost-bite" by the censorious.
In displaying pictures Of the ice
ridges, and describing the horrible
noises of the crushing ice fields, Dr.
hansen paid a high tribute to the
staunchness of the imperiled Fran:
"She went through the worst pres
sure that a ship was ever exposed to-
yet came out whole. In the new year
of 1895 she was exposed to the heaviest
of all. The ice was as hard as mar
BILE, and the thunder of it's breaking
up was so tremendous that we could
not hear ourselves speak. The foe
in which lay the Fran had been over
ridden by another foe, and this came
crushing against her broadside. Every
man on board believed that day that