With Nansen in the North
A Record of the Fram Expedition in 1893–96

This 1899 English translation of a Norwegian eyewitness account describes Nansen's daring 1893–6 Arctic expedition on the Fram.

Hjalmar Johansen (Author), H. L. Braekstad (Translated by)

9781108041508, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 December 2011

394 pages, 60 b/w illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 2.2 cm, 0.5 kg

Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen (1867–1913) was a Norwegian Polar explorer. He accompanied Nansen on the Fram Expedition of 1893–6 and took part in a number of explorations of the Svalbard archipelago. He later participated in Roald Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole in 1910–12, although he was written out of the official history following a bitter dispute with Amundsen. Johansen's account of Nansen's Fram Expedition appeared in Norwegian in 1898, and this English translation was published the following year. It describes Nansen's attempt to drift north in a deliberately ice-bound ship and then ski to the North Pole, and reveals the dangers and challenges faced by the crew during their three-year journey. Although they did not reach the Pole, they set a new furthest-north record that stood for several years. Nansen's own account of the expedition, Farthest North, is also available as part of the Cambridge Library Collection.

1. The equipment of the expedition
2. The first ice
3. A heavy sea
4. Death among the dogs
5. Open water
6. First day of rest
7. More bears
8. Foot-races on the ice
9. Deep soundings
10. Changes in the ice
11. Summer excursion on the ice
12. Snow-blindness
13. Nansen's lecture
14. Beating the world's record
15. The departure
16. Off at last
17. The Norwegian flag in the farthest north
18. More lanes
19. More ridges and lanes
20. 'Longing Camp'
21. Farewell to the drift-ice
22. Obliged to winter
23. An uninvited guest in our hut
24. Life in the hut
25. The New Year
26. Farewell to the hut
27. Hunting young walruses
28. English hospitality
29. The Windward arrives.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]