The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-11-03
IN THE ARCTIC S0LITUDES
DE. NANSEN, THE EXPLORER, LEC-
 TURES 1T THE HYPERION.

While well wishers of Low or Tracy tion returns from the metropolis last evening, Dr. Fridtjof Nanses, the emil nent scientist and explorer, was detail- ing some equally cold and interesting facts of his Arctic explorations to a large and cultivated audience at the Hyperion.
 President Dwight introduced the lec- turer expressing the satisfaction and pleasure felt by all at the presence of such an eminent scholar and scientist.
 The explorer is of fine personal ap- pearance, with an agreeableness of manner that captivates all his hearers.
 He is tall, straight as an arrow, with hair and mustache of the blonde hue, which characterizes so many of the in- habitants of Scandinavia.
 A man of culture and refinement, he uses excellent English, but with just enough of foreign accent to identify him as a foreigner.
 The audience was by turns enchanted with the lecturers poetic description of Arctic scenes or amused with his dry humor in the description Of incidents of Arctic life.
 He prefaced his remarks by saying that he felt honored to have so intelli- gent an audience present to listen to the description of a land where all that there was to be seen were unbroken wastes of ice and snow. Coming to his world famous voyage, he spoke in sub stance as follows, the interest in his words being greatly enhanced by many excellent stereopticon views of the scenes described, thrown on the screen at proper intervals
 After reading all the books on Arc tic exploration" said Dr. Nanses, after the theater had been darkened, and in the gloom the audience was anticipat- ing the evenings trip toward the North l pole, 'it occurred to me that an eXplor- | CT might make use of the ice foes which had proved so fatal to many an l Arctic traveller to carry his ship north 1 throug the Arctic region. I was espec- | tally brought to this view by the exper- fence of the American ship Jeannette. l My idea was that if a ship could be built strong enough to withstand the l pressure of the ice, it would be possi- ble for the ship to get frozen in an ice | foe and thus carried in the currents which are known to exist in the north ern seas, and would in time reach high latitude and be brought back again on a returning current.
 | T had ship built especially for the voyage by Norwegian builder. espec- iaily strong to withstand the ice. The vessels name was the Tram, meaning in English Forward"
 "The Tram started from Christiana in the summer of 1893 with crew of | thirteen men.
 | Leaving the northernmost part we sailed toward the north until. further progress was checked by the ice. Se- lecting an ice foe we allowed the Fran to be frozen into it. Then began our | long drift toward the open polar seas, voyage which could have been made by one of your ocean liners in a few days, but which took us three years. | There was nothing in sight but an un- limited expanse of ice and snow.
 ''The conditions of the Arctic regions 1 are healthful There is plenty of pure cold air. In all our voyage no disease broke out among our crew, and the doctor we took with us was set at something else, as there was no one for him to doctor
 Tn that northern solitude the life was not so monotonous as it might at first appear A certain portion of the day was given up to work either about the ship or in making the meteorologi- cal and astronomical observations and making soundings. These observations kept the men interested. Three meals were served daily. Breakfast at g. dinner at 12, and supper at G. The time after supper was given to the crew to ! amuse themselvesas they pleased, The men played games, among them chess and cards, and read. Members of the crew read more in those three years than in all their previous life.'
 The lecturer gave a beautiful and poetic description of the Arctic night with it's brilliant ever varying north ern lights.
 Speaking of the ice jams, he said:
 "The tide and wind currents are con- stantly breaking up the ice and pile it up in huge mountains. The pressure of the ice at these times on the sides of the Fran was tremendous. The noise male by the ice at these times was SC great that the crew could not make themselves heard in conversation. Hav- | ing perfect confidence in the ability ol the Fran to withstand the ice the crew at first watched these movements o1 the ice with great interest.
 "Only once was the vessel considered in danger of the ice. At that time the ice was forced up to such height or the port side of the ship as to threater to overwhelm her Then for the first time the sturdy ship Tram was heard to creak throughout her timbers The crew carried provisions from the shir to place of safety on the ice and were forbidden by Nansen to sleep on board the ship unless dressed ready to leave at moments notice. At last the dan. ger passed and the vessel was found to be uninjured."
 | Later the lecturer gave an entertain ing description of his trip with ont companion on sledges drawn by dogs Leaving the ship with one hundred days ration these two men travelled for nearly five months over the ic, fields without sight of land. Man, were the hardships and dangers of tbf