gulls and whales. But they could not catch any and were running low on food. They had no choice but to start shooting their dogs, starting with the weakest. They then fed this animal to the others, allowing them to eke out their rations a little further.
At the end of May, Nansen calculated that they were only 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 miles) from Cape Fligely, the northernmost known point of Franz Josef Land. But their luck turned again: the weather was getting warmer and the ice was breaking up.
On 22 June they camped on a stable ice floe, resting there for a month. The day after leaving this camp they spotted land, far in the distance. Whether this was Franz Josef Land or a new discovery they could not be sure, but it was their only hope. On 6 August they ran out of ice – they would have to trust their lives to the homemade kayaks. They shot the last of their dogs, lashed their two kayaks together and sailed for land.
Nansen soon identified Cape Felder, which lay on the western edge of Franz Josef Land. But time was against them, and towards the end of August the weather grew colder again. They would have to spend another winter in the frozen north. They found a sheltered cove where they built a hut from stones and moss. It would be their home for the next eight months. It was 3 m (10 ft) long and 2 m (6 ft) wide, and had a stone bench on each side with bearskins and woollen sleeping bags. A chimney of bear hide led from the hearth to the roof, which was made with walrus hide. Heat and light was provided by oil lamps, and the partially submerged door made of skins. A primitive dwelling, but sufficiently warm and comfortable.
Their food supplies were long gone, but they still had ammunition and now there was plenty of bear, walrus and seal around. Although they would not go hungry, the feeling of settling in to a long arctic winter in their tiny refuge must have been disheartening in the extreme. Christmas and New Year came and went, and the severe weather continued through the early months of 1896. Finally, on 19 May, they restarted their journey south.
‘[Nansen made] almost as great an advance as has been accomplished by all other voyages in the nineteenth century put together.’
Rescue and return
In mid June their kayaks were attacked by a walrus. After scaring the beast off, Nansen and Johansen stopped to make repairs. Cursing their luck, Nansen was astonished to hear a dog barking and then, human voices. He rounded the headland and to his amazement saw a man approaching.
It was Frederick Jackson, the British explorer who was leading an expedition to Franz Josef Land. Jackson was equally dumbfounded and it was some moments before he asked: ‘You are Nansen, aren’t you?’ and heard the reply ‘Yes, I am Nansen.’
Jackson took the Norwegians to his camp at nearby Cape Flora on Northbrook Island. As they recuperated from their ordeal, Nansen came to thank the feisty walrus; had it not been for that beast they might never have encountered Jackson.
The meeting between Fridtjof Nansen (right) and Frederick Jackson at Cape Flora, Franz Josef Land, 17 June 1896.
Nansen and Johansen boarded Jackson’s supply ship Windward on 7 August and set sail for Vardø which they reached a week later. To their surprise they were greeted by Hans Mohn, the polar drift theorist, who just happened to be in the town. Telegrams were dispatched to tell the world about Nansen’s safe return.
Nansen and Johansen caught a mail steamer south to reach Hammerfest on 18 August. There they learned that the Fram had emerged from the ice north and west of Spitsbergen, as Nansen had predicted. The men immediately sailed for Tromsø, where they joined their old shipmates.
On 9 September 1896, Fram sailed into the harbour at Christiania. The quays were thronged with the largest crowds the city had ever seen. Nansen was reunited with his family more than three years after setting out and they spent the next few days as special guests of King Oscar. He may not have reached the North Pole, but Nansen’s epic tale of survival ensured his lifelong celebrity.
Another Antarctic Winter
| EXPLORER DOUGLAS MAWSON WAS STRANDED ON THE ANTARCTIC ICE WHEN HIS COLLEAGUE FELL INTO A CREVASSE. WITH FEW PROVISIONS HE WAS FORCED TO EAT HIS HUSKIES TO SURVIVE. HE TREKKED 480 KM (300 MILES) BACK TO BASE ONLY TO MISS HIS SUPPLY SHIP BY HOURS, FORCING HIM TO ENDURE ANOTHER WINTER OF BRUTAL CONDITIONS. |
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| DATE: 1912–13 SITUATION: ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION CONDITION OF CONFINEMENT: STRANDED ON THE ICE DURATION OF CONFINEMENT: SEVERAL WEEKS MEANS OF ESCAPE: TREKKING, EATING HUSKIES NO. OF ESCAPEES: 1 DANGERS: FREEZING TO DEATH, STARVATION, FALLING INTO A CREVASSE, VITAMIN A POISONING EQUIPMENT: HUSKIES, SLEDGE, SOME PROVISIONS |
Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson (1882–1958).
Way down south
The average wind speed at Cape Denison was 80 km/h (50 mph). It regularly gusted at 320 km/h (200 mph). But Douglas Mawson and his colleagues would have to get used to it. For the next two years this was going to be their home.
Mawson was born in Yorkshire in 1882 but grew up in Australia. A geologist by education, he had been bitten early by the exploring bug. He was the principal geologist on an expedition to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), and he wrote one of the first major geological studies on the area. He was just 21 at the time.
The early twentieth century was the age of the great Antarctic explorers. In 1910 Mawson had turned down an invitation from Robert Falcon Scott to join his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition.
Instead, Mawson organized his own adventure, the Australian Antarctic Expedition. This would carry out geographical exploration and scientific studies of King George V Land and Adelie Land, the part of the Antarctic continent directly south of Australia. At the time this region was almost entirely unexplored. Mawson also wanted to include a visit to the South Magnetic Pole.
The Australian Antarctic Expedition
Mawson and his team departed from Hobart on 2 December 1911, on board the SY Aurora. They landed at the wind-buffeted Cape Denison on Commonwealth Bay on 8 January 1912, where they built the hut that would serve as their Main Base for the expedition. They also established a Western camp on the ice shelf in Queen Mary Land.
Mawson had initially wanted to explore the area by air and had brought the first aircraft to Antarctica, a Vickers monoplane. But it suffered damage and the engine struggled in the cold. All their exploring would have to be done on foot, with dogs and sledges. However, by the time they had fully established their camp, the weather was worsening and it was soon too severe to travel in. The men stayed in the hut to see out the long, dark months of an Antarctic winter.
Sledging to disaster
By November 1912, the nearly constant blizzards had eased and the exploration program could begin. Mawson divided the men into seven parties: five would operate from the Main Base and two from the Western camp.
Mawson himself would lead a three-man sledging team along with Xavier Mertz and Lieutenant Belgrave Ninnis. They set out east on 10 November 1912, to survey King George V Land. For five weeks all went smoothly. They mapped the coastline and collected many fine geological samples. Then, as they were crossing what was to become the Ninnis Glacier, disaster struck.