Statement of Accounts of the Expedition on its Setting Out, 1893.
| Income. | ||
| Kroner | ore. | |
| State Grant | 280,000 | 0 |
| H.M. The King, and original private subscribers | 105,000 | 0 |
| Private subscription of the Geographical Society | 12,781 | 23 |
| National subscription | 2,287 | 23 |
| Interest accrued | 9,729 | 78 |
| Guaranteed by private individuals | 5,400 | 0 |
| Deficit covered by A. Heiberg and A. Dick | 12,000 | 0 |
| Ditto F. Nansen | 5,400 | 0 |
| Geographical Society, London (£300) | ... | |
| H. Simon, Manchester (£100) | ... | |
| A Norwegian in Riga (1000 roubles) and others . | 9,278 | 62 |
| Total | 444,339 | 36[1] |
| Expenditure. | ||
| Kroner | ore. | |
| Wages account | 46,440 | 0 |
| Life insurance premiums of married participators | 5,361 | 90 |
| Instruments account | 12,978 | 68 |
| Ship account | 271,927 | 8 |
| Provisions account | 39,172 | 98 |
| Expenses account | 10,612 | 38 |
| Equipment account | 57,846 | 34 |
| Total | 444,339 | 36 |
It will be evident from the plan above expounded that the most important point in the equipment of our expedition was the building of the ship that was to carry us through the dreaded ice regions. The construction of this vessel was accordingly carried out with greater care, probably, than has been devoted to any ship that has hitherto ploughed the Arctic waters. I found in the well-known shipbuilder, Colin Archer, a man who thoroughly understood the task I set him, and who concentrated all his skill, foresight, and rare thoroughness upon the work. We must gratefully recognize that the success of the expedition was in no small degree due to this man.
Colin Archer
If we turn our attention to the long list of former expeditions and to their equipments, it cannot but strike us that scarcely a single vessel had been built specially for the purpose—in fact, the majority of explorers have not even provided themselves with vessels which were originally intended for ice navigation. This is the more surprising when we remember the sums of money that have been lavished on the equipment of some of these expeditions. The fact is, they have generally been in such a hurry to set out that there has been no time to devote to a more careful equipment. In many cases, indeed, preparations were not begun until a few months before the expedition sailed. The present expedition, however, could not be equipped in so short a time, and if the voyage itself took three years, the preparations took no less time, while the scheme was conceived thrice three years earlier.
Plan after plan did Archer make of the projected ship; one model after another was prepared and abandoned.
Fresh improvements were constantly being suggested. The form were finally adhered to may seem to many people by no means beautiful; but that it is well adapted to the ends in view I think our expedition has fully proved. What was especially aimed at was, as mentioned on page 29, to give the ship such sides that it could readily be hoisted up during ice-pressure without being crushed between the floes. Greely, Nares, etc., etc., are certainly right in saying that this is nothing new. I relied here simply on the sad experiences of earlier expeditions. What, however, may be said to be new is the fact that we not only realized that the ship ought to have such a form, but that we gave it that form, as well as the necessary strength for resisting great ice-pressure, and that this was the guiding idea in the whole work of construction. Colin Archer is quite right in what he says in an article in the Norsk Tidsskrift for Sövæsen, 1892: “When one bears in mind what is, so to speak, the fundamental idea of Dr. Nansen’s plan in his North Pole Expedition ... it will readily be seen that a ship which is to be built with exclusive regard to its suitability for this object must differ essentially from any other previously known vessel....
“In the construction of the ship two points must be especially studied: (1) that the shape of the hull be such as to offer as small a vulnerable target as possible to the attacks of the ice; and (2) that it be built so solidly as to be able to withstand the greatest possible pressure from without in any direction whatsoever.”
And thus she was built, more attention being paid to making her a safe and warm stronghold while drifting in the ice than to endowing her with speed or good sailing qualities.