Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-01-05
ARCTIC EXPERIENCES.
NanSen'S Account of Life in the
North.

was principally due to the TIDAL cur
rent and that the ice periodically part
ed and packed together again twice in
twenty-four hours. The pressure was,
therefore, greatest at the spring tides,
when II would often lift the vessel sew
eraI feet, only to let it drop back again
into its former position as soon as the
Ice again opened. In the case Of any
other vessel this pressure would have
been utterly fatal, but the Fran sur
passed our boldest expectations and
was superior to all pressure. The ice
piled itself up and crashed against her
sides with a noise like the crack Of
doom, but in vain. There was not a
sound of the yielding of timbers or
wood. The noise of the ice crushing
against her sides often rose to such a
pitch that we could not hear each 9TH
er speak as we sat in the saloon. 1t
was particularly awkward for the card
players, who thus could not hear each
others declarations.
At first, as long as the crew were I'M
accustomed to this, they found the
/ scene so interesting that they remained
on deck to watch it; but they soon tired
Of it and no longer went up, however
bad the pressure was. We felt as safe
as in a fortress. and the Fran was a
comfortable, warm nest. where moth
ing was felt Of the severity of the polar
winter
The temperature fell rapidly and con-
| tinued evenly low throughout the win
| ter. During many weeks the quicksil-
YER was frozen. The lowest tempera-
ture was 63 degrees below zero In
| spite Of this, and although with this
| temperature there was often wind.
we felt quite comfortable during our
! open air excursions, in our good wooden
| clothing. with a covering of wind-proof
material outside. The Fran was so
well protected against the cold that
| even in these low temperatures we had
no fire in the saloon until the new
year.
All the men were in excellent health
during the whole of the expedition and
we are all agreed that the polar sea is
healthy place especially with such
capital sanitarium as the Fran.
The electric light was produced by
means of the windmill and quite full
filled our expectations. There was not,
however, sufficient wind to allow of our
having electric light all the time and
we then had to content ourselves with
ordinary oil lamps.
On the whole, the time passed as
! pleasantly as possible on board. Every
man was on the best of terms with his
neighbor and did his duty with a will.
| Care was, of course, taken to provide
occupation, but even without this time
did not hang heavily on our hands.
| For those who were not continually
| occupied in scientific observations and
Investigations, there was abundant en-
tertainment in q capital library, games,
| music, various kinds of work, etc. and
l think hardly any of us greatly felt
the monotony complained of in all arc
tic expeditions. For those who had
charge of the scientific observations
there was more work than we could
get through The Franz in fact, con-
stituted an observatory Of the best kind
for scientific Investigations ,of all
kind and it is. therefore, scarcely to
be wondered at that we should bring
home such abundant and valuable ma
terial as few expeditions before US have
done.
In the sea near the Siberian coast
and northwsrd to 10 degrees north lat
itude, found only very inconsiderable
depths-less than 80 fathoms. A little
south of this latitude. however, the
depth increased with astonishing
rapidity and I found the sea north OF
that TO be between 1000 and 1000
fathoms deep. II, therefore, seems to
me as if the entire polar basin should
be considered as a continuation of the
deep channel which runs northward
from the North Atlantic ocean between
Spitzbergen and Greenland. This dis
covery of a deep polar basin over
throws, however, all earlier theories
based upon a shallow polar sea. In
the numerous bottom samples brought
to the surface in our soundings, | al
ways found a remarkable absence of
organic life-a fact which will probably
lead to some alteration of our views
with regard to bottom deposits. The
temperature and salinity of the sea
also prove to be very different from the
suppositiOns Of most scientific author
tiles. l found, not far below the cold
ice water covering the surface OF the
polar sea, a deep layer of warmer and
salter water, originating, probably, in
the gulf stream, its temperature being
as much as one degree above freezing
point. Below this, indeed, the water
was somewhat colder. but yet consid-
! erably warmer than is generally sup
posed.
When we arrived at So degrees north
latitude, on April %. to our astonish
ment we came upon two fox tracks.
This seemed to imply that we were
near some land; but nothing of the
kind was visible, notwithstanding the
clear weather. What now most him
dered our progress were the cracks and
channels in the ice. In that low tenn
perature they were, as a rule, covered
with a thin sheet of ice, which made
il impossible to use our kayaks In get
ting across. We were, therefore, Of
ten compelled to go round OF many
miles. and it would sometimes take
half day to get past channel of this
kind The further south we came the
more of these there were, and they
Greatly hindered our advance; while
provisions were dwindling and the
dogs had to be killed one after another
10 feed the remainder. Some of the
DOCS NJ first evinced great aversion 10
eating their companions; but as their
hunger increased and they got nothing
else to eat they gradually became so
voracious for this food that 1t was DIM
emit TO keen them from it as soon as
dog was killed.
Their rations had to be gradually re-
ducsd IN the smallest possible amount,
co nc to make the little we had go far
enough and keep them alive as long