Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1896 — NANSEN AND THE POLE FRIDJOF NANSEN, PH. D. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NANSEN AND THE POLE

FRIDJOF NANSEN, PH. D.

Norwegian explorer’s sue-. CESS NOT CONFIRMED. Report Reaches St. Peterabns/g that th? Daring Navigator Has Found the Pole—News ’Not Authentic, and Scientists Are Skeptical. Further News Awaited. The reported north pole discovery by Dr. Nansen is being given much attention by thepress, but scientists generally are inclined'to be skeptical, without de--ay ing Ihe possibilities or truth us thereport. The story comes as a telegram from Irkutsk, Siberia, and says that a Siberian trader named Kouchnareff, agent of Dr. Fridtjef Nansen, the Norwegian explorer, who sailed in the Fram June 24, 1803, for the Arctfc regions, has received information that Dr. Nansen reached the north pole, found land there, and is uow returning toward civilization. The news from Dr. Nansen was reqfived at Irkutsk from Ust Y’aeht, atgfhe mouth of the Yana river. The Yana river falls into the Arctic ocean by several

mouths in latitude 70 degrees north and longitude 137 degrees east of Greenwich. Ust Yacht, or Ust Yansk, is one of these. In fact, Ust, or Ost, is the Russian name for the mouth of.i.river. Ust Ysnsk is only a little more than 100 miles from Liakoy island, which is one of the new Siberian islands. The mouth of the Yann is considerably over 100 miles east of the Lena delta. The ill-fated Jeanette was Crushed in the ice in 77 degrees 15 minutes north latitude and 155 degrees east longitude on June 13,1881. This point is to tlie northeast of the New Siberian islands. Those of the expedition who reached land came COO miles in boats and sleds to do it. Their point of arrival was west and north of Ust Yansk. When Lieut. Teary was seen at New York and asked whether in his judgment

any reliance was to be placed on the report that Dr. Nansen had reached the north pole and is now returning he promptly replied that What with the meagerness of the dispatch, the locality from which the new# comes, and the season, it does not seem to him as likely to be authentic. Dr. f?anaen, if his-theory in regard to the current be correct, Lieut. Peary said, would not be likely to ever get back in that direction. He expected to cross the pole and to come out somewhere on the east coast of Greenland. If Nansen or any of his party is whero it is said he is, the lieutenant thought the

message should come direct from him. At tbs ,timb thia Is written the report has not yet been confirmed and cnnnqt be considered authentic. Sailing of the Fr»m. Dr. Nansen and hi* crew of eleven men •ailed out of <h« port of Qhristiania at Boon on the 24th of June, 1808. Thou-

sands of his enthusiastic fellow; country* men assembled on the docks and the harbor was filled with every variety of craft, from a kyak cqnoefo a steam launch, all gayly decorated,with bunting and silver birch. As ithe Fram passed the point on which his home is located Dr. Nansen was on deck to wave a farewell salute to his wife, who stood hr front of the house, clad in a dress of pure white. Salutes of three guns were fired from the various batteries as the Fram passed them on her way to tha perilous Arctic seas. Various messages, some of extremely doubtful authenticity, have been received during the long interval since the ex-' ■pedition embarked. One of.,these was a dispatch sent out rfbffi'Chrmafffa’Tlec. G, 1895, which said that Mrs. Nansen had received a letter tied to a carrier pigeon, stating that Dr. Nansen and his venturesome associates were safe and that the expedition,was progressing satisfactorily. The well-ftpown fact that no pigeons were taken in the Flam, together with a lack of definiteness as to the location of the party, combined to discredit in popular estimation the authenticity of the letter. April lo last year great exrfteinent was Figaro of a dispatch that Dr. Nansen had reached the north pole, planted a flag of caused by the publication in the Paris Norway upon it and was returning in triumph. This rumor Was not generally

credited by scientists or pavigators and Was not confirmed by any subsequent and reliable information from the plucky party of Arctic explorers. Other alleged news from Dr. Nansen uas been published! from time to time. One dispatch, bearing date of March 4, 1895, was sent from London and contained the statement that a letter had been received at Hammerfest, Norway, dated at Kjollefjord, Feb. 24. This letter contained the statement that a balloon had been sighted by a telegraph inspector, located between Lebesy and LangQord, and that it doubtless contained*a qic-ssagefrom Nansen. The last reliable inforpiation from the explorer wps a dispatch from Vardoe, dated Aug. 23, 1893, and signed by Charabowa, stating that the Fram was about to enter the Kara sea. Nansen’s Arctic Theory. Since ins twenty-second year Dr. Nansen has been contemplating crossing the north pole, #nd with that end in view has been diligently studying the Arctic ocean curfents. He noticed the two large currents flowing down the coast of Greenland out of the polar regions. Approximate Calculations showed that an enormous quantity of water was thus transported southwardly. Of course, it would be impossible for the polar ocean to continue to yield such great volumes of water unless similar streams were somewhere flowing into it. Dr. Nansen sought their source pn the opposite side of the pole off the coast of Siberia, where he discovered a great current which moved steadily toward the" pole. Not only did the water flow toward the pole, but the thick ice crust was carried by the stream in the same direction. The idea struck Dr. Nansen that it would be possible to drift across the pole starting off the coast of Siberia and coming out by way of Greenland. This idea was strengthened by •the result of James Gordon Bennett’s Jeannette expedition of 1882 3. Dr. Nansen this theory demonstrated and reasoned that if he could have placed himself upon the stores lost by the Jeannette he would have crossed with them the polar sea. But this is far from the only proof of a transpolar current. Every week large quantities of driftwood arrive on Spitsbergen island and Greenland coasts by the polar route from Siberia. In this way the Eskimo is provided with all the wood he needs for houses, tools and fire. Without it he could not exist. Furthermore, Dr. Nansen caused experts to examite the earth

and rocks found on the ice which driftr along rhe Greenland coast, and it* was de cidad that these were identical with thoai of Siberia aad must have drifted on th* lee acroea the pole. Venezuela's export trade with N*w York tMdhM VUSMJM a /ear.

EXPLORER NANSEN AND HIS WIFE. [From a photograph taken immediately before his departure.]

NANSEN AT THE BOREAL END OF THE EARTH’S AXIS.