New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-14
TIE PLAN AND THE GOAL.

This pont Is the more important 10 remember
inasmuch as the voyage of the Fran was no.
marked by such a variety of adventurous incl
dents or scientific discoveries as 10 render us
history a constantly changing panorama. on the
contrary the broad outlines of what Nansen
and his COMPANIONS accomplished are easily set
forth in a few lines But the manner or HE
they lived and the way in which they looked at
the life, these things ceaselessly interesting
in new ways. The definite results attained may
perhaps best be traversed at once. II VIII De
remembered that back in the eighties num-
Der of articles picked up on the southwest coast
of Greenland identified as having De-
longed In all probability to the 1ll-fated jean
nette That ship foundered to the north OF the
New Siberian Islands. How did the bits OF
wreckage reach their destination? They must
of necessity have drifted there. and from this
assumption Nansen proceeded to work out ms
hypothesis Of a current flowing from the FUR
thermost Polar regions south past Franz JOSEF
Land and Spitzbergen. between Iceland and the
east coast Of Greenland. until 1t reached inc
Atlantic. He knew that the icef1elds lay IN the
path Of this current and surmsed that they
moved with It, Accordingly. he argued, IL the
Fran could enter the ice at favorable point
Il would drift I'm a few years across the Polar
latter was not necessarily his goal. fact which
needs to be emphasized In view OF the posi-
biity that many people might think his actual
voyage less significant than it really was. Long
before he sailed from Norway hansen stated:
'It is not to seek for the exact mathematical
point that forms the northern extremity of the
earth's axis that we set out. for to reach this
point ia intrinsically of small moment. Our OBJ
tect Is to investigate the great unknown region
that surrounds the Pole. and these nvestiga-
lions will be equally important, from scientific
point Of view, whether the expedition passes
over the Polar point itself at some distance
from it,"
The object was gained for the hypothesis
turned out to be correct Nansen zigzagged up
the Siberian coast after traversing Kara Sea, and.
having got abreast Of the New Siberian Islands,
not far west Of the 140th degree Of longitude he
turned northwest ard entered the ice. He had
sailed from Vardo in July 1893 He reached the
drift ice in September 1894 From this point on
the reader will require the map to follow the
exact course OF the Fran. 1t is sufficient to state
here that she drifted almost exactly as hansen
had predicted. crossing the Polar basin In dag
onal direction and passing the s5th degree late IN
1895 In March of that year hansen left the
Fran fixed in the ice and with Lieutenant johann
Seth degree. reaching on April Z, 1880, the point
"Farthest North in the annals of Arctic ex-
ploration Then he turned south and in June.
1896 fifteen months after having left the Fran.
he and Johansen met Jackson at Cape Flora and
with him returned to Norway. The Fran in the
mean time had drifted on without much difficulty
until IL emerged from the Ice just northwest OF
Sritzbergen IN August 1896. 1t reached Norway
within ten days Of Nansens arrival. A vast num-
. Der of scientific observations had been taken.
and little by little, in the publications Of learned
societies, reports dealing with the botany, tenn
perature sea life and other phases Of Arctic
made plain In the present volumes are these:
Such a current as Nansen attributed to the Polar
basin exists and through It's aid he was enabled
to get nearer to the Pole than any Of his prede-
cessors. In the next place the Polar Sea. so far
from being a shallow basin Nansen himself
lad supposed. is now known from his soundings
to be OF tremendous depth, and. almost to a GER
tanty, a region Of drifting ice, not q sea dotted
with land. Nansen speaks with caution at this
point and will not assert too positively that no
land exists beyond the spot reached by Johansen
and himself. But the evidence is all in support
of his idea that the Pole marks the centre Of a
deep sea which vast fields of ice are CON
stantly drifting. "Where geographers at one
time" he says "were disposed to locate a solid
immovabe and massive Ice mantle, covering the
northern extremity Ct globe. we now find a
continually breaking and shifting expanse OF
drift Ice"