The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-03-07
NANSEN'S DISCOVERIES.
yur scfrNrrFIc RESULTS OF HIS
NORTH POLAR MONK.
r,cc,,. Are Carefully studying the Large
Amount of Data lie Brought "o"e'
Extend Tar reward the Pole.

eo-,o ,.c.ks. perhaps months, must
49,. h.tor, the scientific results OF the
N.n..n polar expedition are io4nu'a'eo
and made known
,.,,.,r,s marty brought back with them
, ,r,at deal OF raw material so 10 speak,
which is being carefully WORKED over an
- .ns. classified by naturaists. me
,@oroioe.sts. and other experts who are
hotter able than che explorers themselves
a. make the best use OF IT,
,rnc results as lar as Nanscn himself
Fan Judge Of them. however. are set forth
.fn "A report which he submitted IN man
u.criri on Monday TO the Royal Geo
graphical Society in London.
These results the explorer described IN
his public lecture delivered IN the Albert
Hall the same evening In only hMf a ooz-
cnsentcuccs. in which he pointed out mat
he and his companions had seen that me
polar region was "a deep sea instead Vi
the shallow sea which was supposed.
They had seen there was no Iahu III
the north. and that probably the polo H.
SELF was situated in the deep sea Dasln'
and that deep sea basin was hied win
comnaratively warm and salt water. Ihat
sea Was always covered with ice Whlch
was ALWAYS in motion. The immoVaoie
mantle of ice with which the northern
end OF tho globe was supposed 70 pe COW
cred had vanished; everything was in mo-
ton.
Tho entire ocean was moving In some
way from one end 10 tho other. The
whole thing was an example Of the vicis-
STUDIES common 10 natures round. and
that ice was as restless and inconstant
as human theories.
This brief reference may suffice for
popular London audience. but all who
IYf I'm e1Iliprf of
Arctic exploration will gain much great
er satisfaction from tho perusal Of Nam
sens more serious report TO the Geo
graphical Society. That report is fully
Outlined IN the following summary:
IL will begin with that branch OF sci
cnco with which this society IS particu-
larly conccrned-that IS TO say, geogra-
ply When duo regard IS taken to the
manner i'm which this expedition was
planned and carried out. 10 is not in the
nature of things 10 expect that any great
geographical discovery. as the term is I'M
dorstood, would be the result
"Our expedition was calculated TO be
n sea expedition pure and simple. which
was 20 drift with the drift ice rather
than otherwise, keep clear Of all land.
Tho discovery OF new lands can, there
fore. hardly be said TO have been our OBJ
joct, and we are fortunate enough. had
almost said not TO discover any. say
fortunate for the reason that such new
lands might easily have prevented the
successful ISSUE Of the expedition. as they
would have stopped the drift Of the ice.
But negative results are $50 IN out
come and I think ] may asy that the
expedition has contributed not q little to
tho increase Of our knowledge Of the dis
tribution OF land and sea IN the regions
nearest tho pole
without comparison, the most impor-
tant geographical discovery made during
our voyage was that concerning the polar
basin itself AS will generally be admit
ted, this had hitherto been considered TO
he q very shallow sea, where SC might be
expected TO ina islands and land in any
part.
This was pointed out in this society
during tho discussion that took place be-
fore my departure. The reason Of this
assumption was tho fact that. so far as
the sea had been examined hitherto. it
was everywher, shallow In the sea
south Of Franz Josef Land and Spitz-
bergen there was q depth Of as much as
11 fifb0ms. while along the coast OF ST.
IBERIA not more than forty. at most eieh-
ty. fathom5 had been fornd. Then the
expeditions which had penetrated north
ward into this sea had always discover
ol now lana.
Thus the Austro-Hungarian Tegethoff
expedition discovered Franz Josef Land
during IT'S drift and the Jeanette ex-
petition discovered Henrietta Island. Je-
annette Island. and Bennett Island. In
tho I'm 1 set forth Of this expedition !
urged the possibility that deeper chan
mel might run across the unknown Polar
basin, uniting the Atlantic Ocean with
tho track where the Jeanette had drift
ed. ] drew attention TO the fact that the
sea stretching northward between Spitz-
bergen and Greenland was very deep
up TO 1900 fathoms; and at the same
time that tho Jeanette seems 10 have
found am increase I'm the depth northward
or possibly only a narrow channel Of wa
Ter so f1thoms deep. while on either side
there were only forty fathoms or less.
and then thought that q csc facts might
possibly he connected with each other.
81 had. however imagined the Polar
basin. taken as q whole to be shallow.
We found jnst such n channel or groove
as / hal surmi7cd. the sea in latitude "a
degrees ~, north Of the New Siberian
Islands. suddenly becoming doencr and
sinking to depth Of 1880 10 1000 faith
oms and this depth was preserved dur
ing the entire DRIFT of the Fran north
west ana west ass far as north OF Spitz-
bergen.
eft is my opinion that not only does
fnch channel exist but that we must
take it for granted that the Polar basin.
considered as a whole. is n deep sea
which forms q continuation northWard
and eastward OF the same depth as the
northern part OF the Atlantic Ocean.
'Of how FAR this deep sea extends 10
tho east 10 Is dimcult 10 form any onin-
ion; Wo know now that 80 goes as FAR ae
10 the north OF the New Siberian Islands
but 10 Us only reasonable TO suppose that
10 extends SIN further east. since in a
case Of the Jeanette every time the drift
set her notrhwarl or eastward the depth
OF The sea was found TO increase.
What. then, is it reasonable To- suppose
with regard 10 The distribution OF land
and sea ia the set unknown Polar Sea?
] think we may with safety say that lit
Tic or DO land can DE ON this side OF the
Pole. as. for thc first. DO is not reasona-
Die that such 81 deep sct should only be
e marrow channel
10 appears TO me TO Doe OF too long eX-
tent Tor this and ON This account alone
should be inclined TO think that it eX-
tends q eoQd way north OF that part OF
the sea tlayersed hy as. In addition to
this. We saw no indication whatever of
land in amy direction.
During our sledge journey north Of
tile fram's route the ice appeared TO
Dee drifting with great spoed-even great
of I...