Who received the crew of the North Pole expedition after they returned in September?
In the course of the expedition, rumours circulated that Nansen had reached the North Pole, the first as early as April 1894, in the French Newspaper Le Figaro. In September 1895 Eva Nansen was informed that messages signed by Nansen had been discovered, "sent from the North Pole". In February 1896 The New York Times ran a dispatch from Irkutsk, in Siberia, from a supposed Nansen agent, claiming that Nansen had reached the pole and found land there. Charles P. Daly of the American Geographical Society called this "startling news" and, "if true, the most important discovery that has been made in ages."Experts were sceptical of all such reports, and Nansen's arrival in Vardø quickly put paid to them. In Vardø, he and Johansen were greeted by Professor Mohn, the originator of the polar drift theory, who was in the town by chance. The pair waited for the weekly mail steamer to take them south, and on 18 August arrived in Hammerfest to an enthusiastic reception.  The lack of news about Fram was preying on Nansen's mind; however, on 20 August he received news that Sverdrup had brought the ship to the tiny port of Skjervøy, south of Hammerfest, and was now continuing with her to Tromsø. The next day, Nansen and Johansen sailed into Tromsø and joined their comrades in an emotional reunion.After days of celebration and recuperation the ship left Tromsø on 26 August. The voyage south was a triumphal procession, with receptions at every port. Fram finally arrived in Christiania on 9 September, escorted into the harbour by a squadron of warships and welcomed by thousands—the largest crowds the city had ever seen, according to Huntford. Nansen and his crew were received by King Oscar; on the way to the reception they passed through a triumphal arch formed by 200 gymnasts. Nansen and his family stayed at the palace as special guests of the king; by contrast, Johansen remained in the background, largely overlooked, and writing that "reality, after all, is not so wonderful as it appeared to me in the midst of our hard life."
King Oscar