Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29

have been had they known how to make
the same Use of snowhouscs that later
travellers did
Under these conditions boar frost
formed in their bedding at night.
Neither did they understand the tech
nique of keeping this hoar frost from
wetting their clothing either by day or
night, technique which later travellers
developed so perfectly that under the
same conditions of life on sea ice in
Winter temperatures they are nowadays
always dry, unless they happen to fall
into the water in crack between ice
foes or something like that.
NanSen summarizes the story of 1898
travel diScomforts in the Arctic on page
las. volume III. Of "Farthest North:
AS soon as Johansen had finished
with the dogs the sleeping bags
were spread out. the tent door carefully
shut and We crept into the bag To
thaw our clothes This was not very
agreeable work. During the course of
the day the damp exhalstions of the
body had little by little become con-
densed In our outer garments. which
we're now a mass of ice and transformed
into complete suits Of ice arnor. They
were so hard and stiff that If we had
only been able 10 get them of they
could have stood by themselves and
they cracked audlbly every time VIC
moved. These clothes were so stiff
that the arm of my coat actually rubbed
deep sores in my wrists during our
marches One Of these sores-the one
on the right hand-got frostbittsn. the
wound grew deeper and deeper and
nearly reached the bone. tried to pro-
tort IN stiti4 txa& h,,t
late in the Summer did II heal and I
shall probably have the scar for life.
When we got into our sleeping bags
In the evening our clothes began Ia
fnaw slowly, and on this process a con-
siderable amount OF physical heat was
expended. We packed ourselves tight
into the bags and lay with out teeth
chattering for AN hour or an hour and
a half before we became aware Of A
little of the warmth in our bodies which
We so Sorely needed At last our clothes
became wet and plant. only To freeze
again few minutes after we had
turned out of the bag in the morning.
There was no question of getting these
clothes dried on the Journey so long
as the cold lasted as more and more
moisture from the body collected In
them"
Their Dogs for Food
Nansens three sIedges were loaded
with food, but men and dogs ate into
1t fast, and presently one slcclgeload
was gone. Then they killed the does
that had been pulling 1t and fed them
to the other dogs. And so on with the
second sledge, the second team, the
third sledge and the third team, till
the one dog that had served them best
and longest was killed the last.
In 1895, and even for years after
that, 1t was considered necessary OF,
Arctic Sea journeys to kill dogs to feed
to other dogs, or men. For the idea
had not yet gained ground that there
were seals under the ice of the polar
sea that could be secured, nor did Nam
sen know the technique of securing
them. So quite logically. for that day.
Nansen and Johansen eventually found
themselves alone, with no faithful Dog
any longer for companion, struggling
toward the Franz josef island group
that lies northeast of Spitzheraen.
When May came IL began TO be warm
and there was greater motion In tie
ice, with the foes smaller and wider
lanes of open water between them.
More and more often they had TO make
long detours TO find places where ore
foe touched corners with the next.
Sometimes there was open water all
around the foe they were on and then
they had 10 wait tn 1t fioated un
against another piece OF ice, Later still
these leads Of open water became So
wide that they had to launch small
canvas boats which they had brought
with them and paddle from foe to foe
i Tiratg had hAutr Fap than End ,aIn Il
not TO be without anything they really
needed
It was hard work and In certain
, sense they had hard time. But
their story shows they enjoyed pitting
their skill and strength against the
wind and ice. Their health remained
good and their spirits never tagged
They landed on August Is, 1898 This
was on an uninhablted island Of the
Franz Josef group, and they had tn
make preparations for snending the
Winter there How they did spend the
Winter In safety and comfort, with per-
feet good health and how they reached
people the following Spring Is another
story.
Nineteen Years Later.
on May "a, 1914, 10 years after Nam
sen and "a years before Mobile three
men OF the third Stefansson expedition.
Ole Andreasen, Storker Storkerson and
myself found ourselves on the same
sort of moving pack ice that Nansen
and Mobile were on but more than 100
miles from land With one siedge and
six dogs we had started out two months
before. planning Journey OF TOO miles
over the drifting sea tee
The temperatures were the same as
Nansen had dealt with, but the suffer"
ings OF the travellers were not the same
For technique had been developed
meantime 10 cope with Arctic condi~
tons. Explorers had learned snowhouae
construction from the Eskimos. and we
built these houses every night, so we
slept In comfort, Usually II did not
freeze at ell within our camps even
while we slept. though the temperature
might be 40 degrees below zero outdoors
We had also borrowed from the Eskimos
way 10 prevent h0arfrnst from fneitv
ing IN our garments, and so we we're al
WAYS dry and comfortable whether
walking BY day or sleeping ~ night We
did not XIII our dogs. for we had learned