Farthest North, Vol. II / Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896

by Fridtjof Nansen

Our medicine-chest consisted, on this occasion, of a little bag, containing, naturally, only the most absolutely necessary drugs, etc. Some splints and some ligatures, and plaster-of-Paris bandages, for possible broken legs and arms; aperient pills and laudanum for derangements of the stomach, which were never required; chloroform in case of an amputation, for example, from frost-bite; a couple of small glasses of cocaine in solution for snow-blindness (also unused); drops for toothache, carbolic acid, iodoform gauze, a couple of curved needles, and some silk for sewing up wounds; a scalpel, two artery tweezers (also for amputations), and a few other sundries. Happily our medicines were hardly ever required, except that the ligatures and bandages came in very handily the following winter as wicks for our train-oil lamps. Still better for this purpose, however, is Nicolaysen’s plaster, of which we had taken a supply for possible broken collar-bones. The layer of wax we scraped carefully off and found it most satisfactory for calking our leaky kayaks.

List of the Equipment

Sledge No. 1 (with Nansen’s Kayak)

	Lbs.	Oz.	Kilos.
Kayak	41	2	18.7
Pump (for pumping kayaks in case of leakage)	1	2	0.5
Sail	1	9	0.7
Axe and geological hammer	1	5	0.6
Gun and case	7	4	3.3
Two small wooden rods belonging to cooker	0	14	0.4
Theodolite and case	4	13	2.2
Three reserve cross-pieces for sledges		0	0.9
Some pieces of wood	0	11	0.3
Harpoon line	0	8.4	0.24
Fur gaiters	1	3	0.55
Five balls of cord	2	9	1.17
Cooker, with two mugs, ladle, and two spoons	8	13	4.0
Petroleum lamp (Primus)	0	4½	0.1
Pocket-flask	0	6	0.17
Bag, with sundry articles of clothing	8	13	4.0
Blanket	4	6	2.0
Jersey	2	8	1.15
Finn shoes filled with grass	3	1	1.4
Cap for fitting over opening in kayak	0	7	0.2
One pair “komager”	2	1	0.95
Two pair kayak gloves and one harpoon and line	1	5	0.6
One waterproof sealskin kayak overcoat	3	1	1.4
Tool-bag	2	10	1.2
Bag of sewing materials, including sailmaker’spalm, sail needles, and other sundries	2	10	1.2
Three Norwegian flags	0	4	0.1
Medicines, etc.	4	15	2.25
Photographic camera	4	10	2.1
One cassette and one tin box of films	3	14	1.75
One wooden cup	0	3	0.08
One rope (for lashing kayak to sledge)	2	0	0.9
Pieces of reindeer-skin to prevent kayaks fromchafing	3	15	1.8
Wooden shovel	2	3	1.0
Ski-staff with disk at bottom	1	9	0.7
One bamboo staff	1	0	0.45
Two oak staffs	2	10	1.2
Seven reserve dog harnesses and two reserve haulingropes	2	10	1.2
One coil of rope	0	6	0.18
Four bamboo poles for masts and for steeringsledges	8	13	4.0
One bag of bread	5	15	2.7
One bag of whey-powder	3	5	1.5
One bag of sugar	2	3	1.0
One bag of albuminous flour	1	12	0.8
One bag of lime-juice tablets	1	10	0.73
One bag of Frame-food stamina tablets	2	7	1.1
As boat’s grips, under the sledges,were:
Three sacks of pemmican (together)	238	1	108.2
One sack “leverpostei,” orpâté made of calf’s liver	93	15	42.7

Sledge No. 2. On this were carried, in strong sacks:

	Lbs.	Oz.	Kilos.
Albuminous flour	14	15	6.8
Wheat flour	15	6	7.0
Whey-powder	16	15	7.7
Corn flour	8	13	4.0
Sugar	7	1	3.2
Vril-food	31	4	14.2
Australian pemmican	13	0	5.9
Chocolate	12	12	5.8
Oatmeal	11	0	5.0
Dried red whortleberries	0	14	0.4
Two sacks of white bread (together)	69	5	31.5
One sack of aleuronate bread	46	10	21.2
“Special food” (a mixture of pea flour, meat-powder, fat, etc.)	63	13	29.0
Butter	85	13	39.0
Fish flour (Våge’s)	34	2	15.5
Dried potatoes	15	3	6.9
One reindeer-skin sleeping-bag	19	13	9.0
Two steel-wire ropes, with couples for twenty-eight dogs	11	0	5.0
One pair hickory snow-shoes	11 0	5.0
Weight of sledge	43 5	19.7

Sledge No. 3 (with Johansen’s Kayak)

	Lbs.	Oz.	Kilos.
Kayak	41	6	18.8
Two pieces of reindeer-skin, to prevent chafing	1	12	0.8
A supply of dog-shoes	1	3	0.55
One Eskimo shooting-sledge with sail (intended for possible seal-shooting on the ice)	1	10	0.73
Two sledge sails	2	10	1.2
Pump	0	14	0.4
Oar-blades (made of canvas stretched on frames, and intended to be lashed to the ski-staffs)	1	2	0.5
Gun	7	2.7	3.26
Flask	0	5.9	0.17
Net (for catching crustacea in the sea)	0	5.2	0.15
One pair “komager”	1	15.7	0.9