Farthest North Volume I Part 19

"I went out on my snow-shoes both morning and afternoon. The surface was beautiful everywhere. Some of the lanes had opened out or been compressed a little, so that the new ice was thin and bent unpleasantly under the snow-shoes; but it bore me, though two of the dogs fell through. A good deal of snow had fallen, so there was fine, soft new snow to travel over. If it keeps on as it is now, there will be excellent snow-shoeing in the winter; for it is fresh water that now freezes on the surface, so that there is no salt that the wind can carry from the new ice to spoil the snow all around, as was the case last winter. Such snow with salt in it makes as heavy a surface as sand.

"Monday, August 27th. Just as Blessing was going below after his watch to-night, and was standing by the rail looking out, he saw a white form that lay rolling in the snow a little way off to the southeast. Afterwards it remained for a while lying quite still. Johansen, who was to relieve Blessing, now joined him, and they both stood watching the animal intently. Presently it got up, so there was no longer any doubt as to what it was. Each got hold of a rifle and crept stealthily towards the forecastle, where they waited quietly while the bear cautiously approached the ship, making long tacks against the wind. A fresh breeze was blowing, and the windmill going round at full speed; but this did not alarm him at all; very likely it was this very thing he wanted to examine. At last he reached the lane in front, when they both fired and he fell down dead on the spot. It was nice to get fresh meat again. This was the first bear we had shot this year, and of course we had roast bear for dinner to-day. Regular winter with snow-storms.

"Wednesday, August 29th. A fresh wind; it rattles and pipes in the rigging aloft. An enlivening change and no mistake! The snow drifts as if it were midwinter. Fine August weather! But we are bearing north again, and we have need to! Yesterday our lat.i.tude was 80 53.5'. This evening I was standing in the hold at work on my new bamboo kayak, which will be the very acme of lightness. Pettersen happened to come down, and gave me a hand with some lashings that I was busy with. We chatted a little about things in general; and he was of opinion 'that we had a good crib of it on board the Fram, because here we had everything we wanted, and she was a devil of a ship--and any other ship would have been crushed flat long ago.' But for all that he would not be afraid, he said, to leave her, when he saw all the contrivances, such as these new kayaks, we had been getting ready. He was sure no former expedition had ever had such contrivances, or been so equipped against all possible emergencies as we. But, after all, he would prefer to return home on the Fram." Then we talked about what we should do when we did get home.

"'Oh, for your part, no doubt you'll be off to the South Pole,'

he said.

"'And you?' I replied. 'Will you tuck up your sleeves and begin again at the old work?'

"'Oh, very likely! but on my word I ought to have a week's holiday first. After such a trip I should want it, before buckling to at the sledge-hammer again.'"

CHAPTER VIII

SECOND AUTUMN IN THE ICE

So summer was over, and our second autumn and winter was beginning. But we were now more inured to the trials of patience attendant on this life, and time pa.s.sed quickly. Besides, I myself was now taken up with new plans and preparations. Allusion has several times been made to the fact that we had, during the course of the summer, got everything into readiness for the possibility of having to make our way home across the ice. Six double kayaks had been built, the hand-sledges were in good order, and careful calculation had been made of the amount of food, clothing, fuel, etc., that it would be necessary to carry. But I had also quietly begun to make preparations for my own meditated expedition north. In August, as already mentioned, I had begun to work at a single kayak, the framework made of bamboo. I had said nothing about my plan yet, except a few words to Sverdrup; it was impossible to tell how far north the drift would take us, and so many things might happen before spring.

In the meantime life on board went on as usual. There were the regular observations and all sorts of occupations, and I myself was not so absorbed in my plans that I did not find time for other things too. Thus I see from my diary that in the end of August and in September I must have been very proud of a new invention that I made for the galley. All last year we had cooked on a particular kind of copper range, heated by petroleum lamps. It was quite satisfactory, except that it burned several quarts of petroleum a day. I could not help fearing sometimes that our lighting supply might run short, if the expedition lasted longer than was expected, and always wondered if it would not be possible to construct an apparatus that would burn coal-oil--"black-oil," as we call it on board--of which we had 20 tons, originally intended for the engine. And I succeeded in making such an apparatus. On August 30th I write: "Have tried my newly invented coal-oil apparatus for heating the range, and it is beyond expectation successful. It is splendid that we shall be able to burn coal-oil in the galley. Now there is no fear of our having to cry ourselves blind for lack of light by-and-by. This adds more than 4000 gallons to our stock of oil; and we can keep all our fine petroleum now for lighting purposes, and have lamps for many a year, even if we are a little extravagant. The 20 tons of coal-oil ought to keep the range going for 4 years, I think.

"The contrivance is as simple as possible. From a reservoir of oil a pipe leads down and into the fireplace; the oil drips down from the end of this pipe into an iron bowl, and is here sucked up by a sheet of asbestos, or by coal ashes. The flow of oil from the pipe is regulated by a fine valve c.o.c.k. To insure a good draught, I bring a ventilating pipe from outside right by the range door. Air is pressed through this by a large wind-sail on deck, and blows straight on to the iron bowl, where the oil burns briskly with a clear, white flame. Whoever lights the fire in the morning has only to go on deck and see that the wind-sail is set to the wind, to open the ventilator, to turn the c.o.c.k so that the oil runs properly, and then set it burning with a sc.r.a.p of paper. It looks after itself, and the water is boiling in twenty minutes or half an hour. One could not have anything much easier than this, it seems to me. But of course in our, as in other communities, it is difficult to introduce reforms; everything new is looked upon with suspicion."

Somewhat later I write of the same apparatus: "We are now using the galley again, with the coal-oil fire; the moving down took place the day before yesterday, [63] and the fire was used yesterday. It works capitally; a three-foot wind is enough to give a splendid draught. The day before yesterday, when I was sitting with some of the others in the saloon in the afternoon, I heard a dull report out in the galley, and said at once that it sounded like an explosion. Presently Pettersen [64] stuck a head in at the door as black as a sweep's, great lumps of soot all over it, and said that the stove had exploded right into his face; he was only going to look if it was burning rightly, and the whole fiendish thing flew out at him. A stream of words not unmingled with oaths flowed like peas out of a sack, while the rest of us yelled with laughter. In the galley it was easy to see that something had happened; the walls were covered with soot in lumps and stripes pointing towards the fireplace. The explanation of the accident was simple enough. The draught had been insufficient, and a quant.i.ty of gas had formed which had not been able to burn until air was let in by Pettersen opening the door.

"This is a good beginning. I told Pettersen in the evening that I would do the cooking myself next day, when the real trial was to be made. But he would not hear of such a thing; he said 'I was not to think that he minded a trifle like that; I might trust to its being all right'--and it was all right. From that day I heard nothing but praise of the new apparatus, and it was used until the Fram was out in the open sea again.

"Thursday, September 6th. 81 13.7' north lat.i.tude. Have I been married five years to-day? Last year this was a day of victory--when the ice-fetters burst at Taimur Island--but there is no thought of victory now; we are not so far north as I had expected; the northwest wind has come again, and we are drifting south. And yet the future does not seem to me so long and so dark as it sometimes has done. Next September 6th ... can it be possible that then every fetter will have burst, and we shall be sitting together talking of this time in the far north and of all the longing, as of something that once was and that will never be again? The long, long night is past; the morning is just breaking, and a glorious new day lies before us. And what is there against this happening next year? Why should not this winter carry the Fram west to some place north of Franz Josef Land?... and then my time has come, and off I go with dogs and sledges--to the north. My heart beats with joy at the very thought of it. The winter shall be spent in making every preparation for that expedition, and it will pa.s.s quickly.

"I have already spent much time on these preparations. I think of everything that must be taken, and how it is to be arranged, and the more I look at the thing from all points of view, the more firmly convinced do I become that the attempt will be successful, if only the Fram can get north in reasonable time, not too late in the spring. If she could just reach 84 or 85, then I should be off in the end of February or the first days of March, as soon as the daylight comes, after the long winter night, and the whole would go like a dance. Only four or five months, and the time for action will have come again. What joy! When I look out over the ice now it is as if my muscles quivered with longing to be striding off over it in real earnest--fatigue and privation will then be a delight. It may seem foolish that I should be determined to go off on this expedition, when, perhaps, I might do more important work quietly here on board. But the daily observations will be carried on exactly the same.

"I have celebrated the day by arranging my workroom for the winter. I have put in a petroleum stove, and expect that this will make it warm enough even in the coldest weather, with the s...o...b..a.l.l.s that I intend to build round the outside of it, and a good roof-covering of snow. At least, double the amount of work will be done if this cabin can be used in winter, and I can sit up here instead of in the midst of the racket below. I have such comfortable times of it now, in peace and quietness, letting my thoughts take their way unchecked.

"Sunday, September 9th. 81 4' north lat.i.tude. The midnight sun disappeared some days ago, and already the sun sets in the northwest; it is gone by 10 o'clock in the evening, and there is once more a glow over the eternal white. Winter is coming fast.

"Another peaceful Sunday, with rest from work, and a little reading. Out snow-shoeing to-day I crossed several frozen-over lanes, and very slight packing has begun here and there. I was stopped at last by a broad open lane lying pretty nearly north and south; at places it was 400 to 500 yards across, and I saw no end to it either north or south. The surface was good; one got along quickly, with no exertion at all when it was in the direction of the wind.

"This is undeniably a monotonous life. Sometimes it feels to me like a long dark night, my life's 'Ragnarok,' [65] dividing it into two.... 'The sun is darkened, the summers with it, all weather is weighty with woe'; snow covers the earth, the wind whistles over the endless plains, and for three years this winter lasts, till comes the time for the great battle, and 'men tramp Hel's way.' There is a hard struggle between life and death; but after that comes the reign of peace. The earth rises from the sea again, and decks itself anew with verdure. 'Torrents roar, eagles hover over them, watching for fish among the rocks,' and then 'Valhalla,' fairer than the sun, and long length of happy days.

"Pettersen, who is cook this week, came in here this evening, as usual, to get the bill of fare for next day. When his business was done, he stood for a minute, and then said that he had had such a strange dream last night; he had wanted to be taken as cook with a new expedition, but Dr. Nansen wouldn't have him.

"'And why not?'

"'Well, this was how it was: I dreamed that Dr. Nansen was going off across the ice to the Pole with four men, and I asked to be taken, but you said that you didn't need a cook on this expedition, and I thought that was queer enough, for you would surely want food on this trip as well. It seemed to me that you had ordered the ship to meet you at some other place; anyhow, you were not coming back here, but to some other land. It's strange that one can lie and rake up such a lot of nonsense in one's sleep.'

"'That was perhaps not such very great nonsense, Pettersen; it is quite possible that we might have to make such an expedition; but if we did, we should certainly not come back to the Fram.'

"'Well, if that happened, I would ask to go, sure enough; for it's just what I should like. I'm no great snow-sh.o.e.r, but I would manage to keep up somehow.'

"'That's all very well; but there's a great deal of weary hard work on a journey like that; you needn't think it's all pleasure.'

"'No, no one would expect that; but it would be all right if I might only go.'

"'But there might be worse than hardships, Pettersen. It would more than likely mean risking your life.'

"'I don't care for that either. A man has got to die sometime.'

"'Yes, but you don't want to shorten your life.'

"'Oh, I would take my chance of that. You can lose your life at home, too, though, perhaps, not quite so easily as here. But if a man was always to be thinking about that he would never do anything.'

"'That's true. Anyhow, he would not need to come on an expedition like this. But remember that a journey northward over the ice would be no child's play.'

"'No, I know that well enough, but if it was with you I shouldn't be afraid. It would never do if we had to manage alone. We'd be sure to go wrong; but it's quite a different thing, you see, when there is one to lead that you know has been through it all before.'

"It is extraordinary the blind faith such men have in their leader! I believe they would set off without a moment's reflection if they were asked to join in an expedition to the Pole now, with black winter at the door. It is grand as long as the faith lasts, but G.o.d be merciful to him on the day that it fails!

"Sat.u.r.day, September 15th. This evening we have seen the moon again for the first time--beautiful full moon--and a few stars were also visible in the night sky, which is still quite light.

"Notices were posted up to-day in several places. They ran as follows:

"'As fire here on board might be followed by the most terrible consequences, too great precaution cannot be taken. For this reason every man is requested to observe the following rules most conscientiously:

1. No one is to carry matches.

2. The only places where matches may be kept are-- (1) The galley, where the cook for the time being is responsible for them.

(2) The four single cabins, where the inmate of each is responsible for his box.

(3) The work-cabin, when work is going on.

(4) On the mast in the saloon, from which neither box nor single matches must be taken away under any circ.u.mstances.

3. Matches must not be struck anywhere except in the places above named.

4. The one exception to the above rules is made when the forge has to be lighted.

5. All the ship's holds are to be inspected every evening at 8 o'clock by the fire-inspector, who will give in his report to the undersigned. After that time no one may, without special permission, take a light into the holds or into the engine-room.

6. Smoking is only allowed in the living-rooms and on deck. Lighted pipes or cigars must on no account be seen elsewhere.

Fridtjof Nansen.

Fram, September 15th, 1894.'

"Some of these regulations may seem to infringe on the principle of equality which I have been so anxious to maintain; but these seem to me the best arrangements I can make to insure the good of all--and that must come before everything else.

"Friday, September 21st. We have had tremendously strong wind from the northwest and north for some days, with a velocity at times of 39 and 42 feet. During this time we must have drifted a good way south. 'The Radical Right' had got hold of the helm, said Amundsen; but their time in power was short; for it fell calm yesterday, and now we are going north again, and it looks as if the 'Left' were to have a spell at the helm, to repair the wrongs done by the 'Right.'