loration than
those of Nansen and the _Fram_, and although others have done work
just as fine, the name of Nansen cannot be omitted from our _Book of
Discovery_.

Sven Hedin had not long returned from his great travels through eastern
Turkestan and Tibet when Nansen was preparing for his great journey
northwards.

He had already crossed Greenland from east to west, a brilliant
achievement only excelled by Peary, who a few years later, crossed
it at a higher latitude and proved it to be an island.

Now the movement of ice drift in the Arctic seas was occupying the
attention of explorers at this time. A ship, the _Jeannette_, had been
wrecked in 1881 off the coast of Siberia, and three years later the
debris from the wreck had been washed up on the south-west coast of
Greenland. So it occurred to Nansen that a current must flow across
the North Pole from Behring Sea on one side to the Atlantic Ocean on
the other. His idea was therefore to build a ship as strong as possible
to enable it to withstand the pressure of the ice, to allow it to become
frozen in, and then to drift as the articles from the _Jeannette_ had
drifted. He reckoned that it would take three years for the drift of
ice to carry him to the North Pole.

Foolhardy and impossible as the scheme seemed to some, King Oscar came
forward with 1000 pounds toward expenses. The _Fram_ was then designed.
The whole success of the expedition lay in her strength to withstand
the pressure of the ice. At last she was ready, even fitted with
electric light. A library, scientifically prepared food, and
instruments of the most modern type were on board. The members of the
expedition numbered thirteen, and on Midsummer Day, 1893, "in calm
summer weather, while the setting sun shed his beams over the land,
the _Fram_ stood out towards the blue sea to get its first roll in
the long, heaving swell." Along the coast of Norway, past Bergen, past
Trondhjem, past Tromso, they steamed, until in a north-westerly gale
and driving snow they lost sight of land. It was 25th July when they
sighted Nova Zembla plunged in a world of fog. They landed at Khabarova
and visited the little old church seen fifteen years before by
Nordenskiold, anxiously inquiring about the state of the ice in the
Kara Sea. Here, amid the greatest noise and confusion, some
thirty-four dogs were brought on board for the sledges. On 5th August
the explorer successfully passed through the Yugor Strait into the
Kar