The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-11
NANSEN AND HIS STORY
HE TELLS A LARGE AUDIENCE OF
HIS ARCTIC EXPERIENCES.
Stereopticon Pictures Illustrate the
mas in the Far North.

The Grand Opera House held a large and
| delighted audience last night which heard
the lecture of Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, the
Arctic explorer. The lecturer was frequent
| ly applauded as he related the story of the
frozen north and illustrated his talk with
many beautiful pictures thrown on canvas
| by steriopticon lamp. DR.. Nansen was
introduced to the audience by Rev. N. A.
| Hyde. After few predatory remarks con-
| corning the region he visited he plunged
| into a discussion of his remarkable trip.
''It was not the object of my expedition"
| said DR.. Nansen ito reach the north pole,
| because I regarded it as being of intrnsical-
| ly small moment to reach this mathematical
| point upon which the axis Of the globe hap
| pens to have its northern termination. The
main object of our expedition, as claim
| to be of all expeditions, was to explore the
| unknown regions for the sake of making
| scientific observations that would enable
| humanity to reach a clearer idea about those
regions than it had before"
| The speaker then described the eonstruc-
| ton of the wonderful ship that carried him
across the Polar sea- The name of the ship
was the Franz" which means forward
| On board of it the thirteen members of the
| expedition sailed from Norway in December,
| 1898. Sailing northward from the Siberian
| islands little after the middle of Decem-
| Der the edge of the ice first encoun-
tered. A foe was here selected and the ship
was frozen fast. Dr. Nansen showed by
means of a map the path travelled by the
ship during the three years it drifted across
the Polar sea. The distance travelled was no
more than what an ocean steamer would
cover in a few days. Continuing DIR. Nam
sen said:
.'It was very wholesome place-the polar
| region. There is no want of fresh air. There
We're no germs. They cannot live and con-
sequently they cannot produce disease. We
had not one case of a cold on board during
the whole Journey but the first thing the
men did when they came back was to catch
cold. We had a very regular life and did
not want for amusements. Sometimes we
had a smoking concert, in which some of
the men sang and others played on musical
instruments. We also had an excellent Ii
brary and many of the men learned more
during those three years from their reading
than during the whole of the rest of their
lives. Our most important work was the
taking of scientific observations. Among
other observations we examined the tenn
peratures of the water by deep-sea Their
mometers, making a very interesting dis
covery as we found that the depths of the
polar seas are of comparatively warm
water, actually warmer fn nan you ma IN IN
| tie monotOnouS under such surroundings as
we had, but these places in the north have
their attractions.
TWILIGHT OF POLAR DAY.
There was one long polar night that
lasted for months and many of the men
would get tired of the perpetual darkness
and long for the daylight and spring came
like fairy tale laid in frost and snow.
The sun arose from the horizon and would
circle around the sky day and night for five
months perhaps, without break. AS the
sun rises higher and higher the sky looses
it's color and there is nothing to rest the
eye upon to relieve it of the dazzling light.
Snow glasses must be used in order to avoid
being blinded. You get tired of the long
polar days and begin to long for the polar
night with the stars again. But the ran
comes and the sun disappears under the
horizon, and the dawn in the south glows
fainter and fainter every day. IL IS won
derfully beautiful this twilight of the dying,
disappearing polar day. 1t is like dream
cate tints It is a far away faint clear
music a distant subdued melody. u is a
| sad scene of the. dying day. Finally the
| the still moon is seen soaring through the
| heavens for fourteen days and nights at q
| time, and the northern lights shedding forth
and eternally shifting beauty: One never
| tires of looking at the weird How OF these
lights Like the reflection of some distant
| fire they now frightened and now die out,
when suddenly as by the touch of some
| magic wand the streams come nearer and
nearer and like. fiery serpents wreathe
/ themselves over the armament.
| DR. hansen, continuing, described the
| monotonous sea of ice which held the Fran
with firm grasp during this long voyage
| At times the ship was exposed to violent
| pressure by ice. particularly on New Year
| day, 1895, when there was something IKE
| thirty feet of solid ice along her keel rms
| foe was oVerridden by another foe, which
| came gliding with force against the side
/! of the ship. The pressure was so tremen-
/ dous that the ice was piled up against the
| sides of the ship so high that none of the
| adventurers thought she could live, and
| everything was made ready to leave her.
| Provisions were all taken off, and no man
was allowed to sleep on board. But the
Fran was stronger than the faith placed IN
| her by the men. and she slowly Hfted out
| of her ice trough without any damage
| whatever. Subsequently DIR. Nansen decid-
| ed that it was of great importance that
small expedition should explore the polar
| regions outside of the route OF the ship.
| The Fran was in the latitude of "a degrees
| long distance from Spitzbergen, when, in
| company with Lieutenant Johansen, the ex-
plorer left the ship on its journey to Spitz-
| bergen. The narrative of the hard
ships they endured while travelling in
| sledges and small boats occupied con-
| siderable part of the speakers lecture. 1t
| was during this trip that he says he saved
his companons life from bear.
| CHRISTMAS EVE IN A HUT.
Describing Christmas eve in his hut, he
said:
And this is Christmas eve! Cold and
| bIowy out of doors and cold and drifty in
| doors. How desolate it is here! We have
never had such a Christmas eve before.
| The bells are now ringing in the Christmas
| festival at home. can hear the sound of
| them swinging out through the air from the
church towers. How beautiful it soundsl
Now the candles are being lighted on the
| Christmas trees, and fiocks of children are
| let in and dance around with joy. / must
have a Christmas party for children when /
| get home This is the time of Joy, and there
| is rejoicing in every hut at home
| We, too, are keeping the festival in our
| little way. Johansen has turned his shirt
and has put the outer one inside. l have
| done the same, but have changed my draw
| had wrung out in warm water, and then l
washed myself in q quarter of a cup of
| warm water, using the discarded drawers
as G. sponge and towel. l feel like another
/ being; my clothes do not stick to nv body
| as much as they did. Then, for supper we
| have had dried powdered fish and Indian
| meal, with train oil for butter, and for
| sweets we had dried biscuits fried in train
| OIL
| The speaker told in thrilling manner
| an incident that came near terminating any
/ hopes of their reaching home again. While
| he and JohAnsen were resting on the ice it
| was noticed that the boats, which had been
| moored near by, were drifting away E,v-
| erything they had-guns, ammunition, food
| and clothing-waS in the boats and their re-
| eovery was question of life or death.
L ~