Fram Expedition

[grixm]

I got a treat for anyone who is interested in the history of polar exploration.

I came across an old presentation script written by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, about his account of the legendary expedition on the ship "Fram" in 1893, reaching further north than anyone before them, and uncovering the unknowns of the arctic sea. This was the expedition from which the Fram strait got its name, and it is full of fascinating twists and turns.

Nansen has written full books about this topic, but this presentation served as an entertaining summary, and I thought it a shame that this text was only available in Danish, and hidden away in the Norwegian national library archives. So, I spent quite a while translating it to English, and has now published it online for everyone interested.

Take a look: https://medium.com/@grixm/the-fram-journey-71db539975e1

[phelan]

That was a very interesting read, thank you so much for taking the time to put it together.  They were stuck in ice 30 feet thick.  Huh.

[sidd]

Thanks. The books by nansen are also great if you have the time.

sidd

[uniquorn]

Nice translation

The immovable ice cap, which one would previously tend to draw on the northern tips of our globes, has disappeared. Everything is in motion, the whole ocean drifts ceaselessly from one side of the hemisphere to the other, it is all part of the eternal change in the eternal cycle of nature, and this ice is as mobile and unstable as the theories of man.

though I think the photo is from 1896 (not 1915) 

[oren]

Grixm, thanks a lot for doing this. Very interesting and educational.
Note: I originally missed the fact that this was your own translation and not a publicly available text.

[Tor Bejnar]

Thank you so much, grixm, for translating this narrative.  I was humored by the final phrase, "this ice is as mobile and unstable as the theories of man."  Now that Arctic ice is much more mobile and unstable, does this have anything to say about our modern theories?

[grixm]

though I think the photo is from 1896 (not 1915) 

Oh, I saw the date 1915 on the wikimedia page I got it from, but perhaps you're right. I removed the year now just in case.

[RunningChristo]

Superb translation! The true achievement of his Fram-expedition was actually to survive. This kind of life and being able to survive a winter in such harsh conditions, most likely made him (Nansen) age faster, so this picture is definitely from 1896 when he came back to Norway.