1897 Fridtjof NANSEN ARCTIC EXPLORATION FRAM EXPEDIT.

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S. L. Berens and John Read The Fram Expedition: Nansen in the Frozen World Philadelphia: A. J. Holman 1897First Edition We are pleased to offer a volume that is really two works in one. The first is devoted to the Norwegian scientist Dr. Fridtjof Nansen’s famous Arctic expedition on the Fram; the second is a history of other Arctic adventures, including Peary, Franklin, Grinnell, Kane, Hayes, Hall, Nordenskjold, De Long, and Melville. Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (1861 – 1930) was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, humanitarian, Nobel Prize winner, and diplomat. Really two works in one – with part devoted to Nansen’s Fram Expedition and part devoted to a history of other Arctic explorers -- the best description of this work is found in its full title: The Fram Expedition. Nansen in the Frozen World. Preceded by a Biography of the Great Explorer and Copious Extracts from Nansen"s "First Crossing of Greenland," also an Account by Eivind Astrup, of Life among People near the Pole, and his Journey Across Northern Greenland with Lieut. R. E. Peary, U.S.N. Arranged and Edited by S. L. Berens. Followed by a brief history of the principal earlier arctic explorations from the Ninth Century to the Peary Expedition, including those of Cabot, Frobisher, Bering, Sir John Franklin, Kane, Hayes, Hall, Nordenskjold, Nareds, Schwatka, DeLong, Greely, and others; by John E. Read “In 1893, Nansen sailed to the Arctic in the Fram (a purpose-built, round-hulled ship later used by Roald Amundsen to transport his expedition to Antarctica) which was deliberately allowed to drift north through the sea ice, a journey that took more than three years. Nansen's theory was premised on an article written by a Professor Mohn, in which the professor conjectured that articles determined to be from the Jeannette which foundered northeast of the New Siberian Islands and found on the southwest coast of Greenland must have drifted across the Polar Sea. In the introduction to Farthest North, Nansen said "It immediately occurred to me that lay the route ready at hand" [7] across the Polar Sea. Nansen conjectured the Polar current's warm water "could hardly have been other than the Gulf Stream"[8] and was the agent behind the movement of the ice. During this first crossing of the Arctic Ocean the expedition became the first to discover the existence of a deep polar basin. When, after more than one year in the ice it became apparent that Fram would not reach the North Pole, Nansen, accompanied by Hjalmar Johansen (1867–1913), continued north on foot when the Fram reached 84° 4´ N. This was a daring decision, as it meant leaving the ship not to return, and a return journey over drifting ice to the nearest known land some five hundred miles south of the point w they started. Nansen and Johansen started north on 14 March 1895 with three sledges, two kayaks and twenty-eight dogs. On 8 April 1895, they reached 86° 14´ N, the highest latitude then attained. The two men then turned around and started back, and did not find the land they expected at 83°N (it did not exist). In June 1895, they had to use their kayaks to cross open leads of water and on 24 July they came across a series of islands. they built a hut of moss, stones, and snow, and wintered, surviving on walrus blubber and polar bear meat. In May of the following year (1896), they started off again for Spitsbergen. After travelling for a month, not knowing w they were, they happened upon the British Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition (led by Frederick George Jackson) whose party were wintering on the island. Jackson informed them that they were in fact on Franz Josef Land. Finally, Nansen and Johansen made it back to Vardø in the north of Norway” (Wikipedia)/ CONDITION & DETAILS 8vo (Octavo) (9.25 x 6.25 inches, 231 x 156mm). [viii], 560 pages, [4]. Bears the armorial bookplate of the historian H. Percye Millar. ILLUSTRATED: Frontispiece. Over 100 illustrations and plates. 2 maps. EXTERIOR: Handsomely bound in a pictorially embo... read more

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