The Siege and Conquest of the North Pole

by George Bryce

At last, on the 6th of August, open water was reached. For some time the dogs had been reduced to two in number, and now that open water had been gained, Nansen could not see how the two dogs could be taken farther. He was sorry to part with them; they had been faithful and enduring, and had followed him the whole journey through. A cartridge was sacrificed on each.

The two kayaks were lashed together, and the sledges placed on deck, one in front and one behind. Before going far, the wind rose sufficiently to enable a sail to be used, and soon the margin of a glacier was reached. This was from 50 to 60 feet in height, and landing was therefore impossible. The margin of the glacier was followed towards the west, and it was found necessary to land on a drifting floe in order to obtain sleep. Next day, when they turned out, they found the ice packed around them; but fortunately the open water was not far off to the west, and they reached it without much difficulty. Birds were now plentiful, and it was with great satisfaction that they observed the signs of animal-life, and knew that they could obtain food. Later on they discovered that the land they were coasting along consisted of islands. The first three Nansen named “Eva’s Island,” “Liv’s Island,” and “Adelaide’s Island” respectively. South of these the land had probably been seen by Payer.

On the 11th of August, while Nansen was on a hummock inspecting the waters ahead, a huge monster of a walrus came up near the kayaks. No notice was taken of it, but it came up snorting, sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other, and threatened to thrust its tusks into the frail kayaks. Ultimately Johansen shot it through the eye, and with a terrific bellow it rolled over and disappeared. Not long afterwards, Johansen’s kayak received a violent shock from another walrus, which was shot dead through the forehead by Nansen. With great difficulty, they managed to cut a hole in the thick skin, and obtained some walrus-meat and blubber.

On the 12th of August it was decided to cut off the ends of the sledges, so as to be able to use the kayaks singly. This was done, and better headway was made; but frequently the channel closed, and the sledges had to be hauled over the ice. On the 14th of August an iceberg some 50 to 60 feet in height was seen, and this was the highest met with off Franz-Josef Land. On this day they had bare land under their feet for the first time in two years. The Arctic poppy was here in flower. The imperfections of Payer’s map at this point greatly confused Nansen, and he was not yet certain whether the land reached was part of Franz-Josef Land. A sound to the west, which he at first supposed to be Rawlinson’s Sound, did not at all agree with the description given by Payer. Nothing was to be seen of Dove Glacier, which was supposed to bound the Sound on one side. Nansen reasoned that if they were in Rawlinson’s Sound they must have traversed the glacier and Wilczek Land without seeing any trace of either, for they had travelled westwards a good half-degree south of Cape Buda-Pesth. Nansen, therefore, was inclined to believe that the land was new, and must be to the west of Franz-Josef Land. But the next puzzle was that if this was the case, the new land must be very far to the west, for nothing had been seen of Oscar’s Land. For the present the question was left in a state of doubt.

When they rounded the headland to the west, they were delighted to find open water as far as they could see, and that the land was trending south-west. Their hopes of getting home now ran high, but soon afterwards a storm delayed them four days and three nights, and the ice packed close along the coast. This, at one blow, destroyed all hope of getting home that year. While camping during the storm, a bear came to the tent and was shot by Nansen. As food was becoming scarce, this was a fortunate occurrence.

From the 24th of August till 6th December there was a gap in Nansen’s diary. On the latter date he began to fill up the blank.

After being stopped by the storm, and then drifted out to sea on the ice, they sailed for a whole day in open water in their kayaks. On the following day the weather became stormy, and they were obliged to land. Scarcely had they reached the shore when a bear was seen and promptly shot. Walruses were also seen in great numbers. After feasting on the bear’s flesh, they lay down to sleep, but were awakened during the night by a peculiar sound outside the tent. This was found to be caused by a she-bear and her young one, but as Nansen thought they had already sufficient food for the present, they were allowed to escape. Next day the ice had again been driven against the shore, and as they could not proceed they decided to make themselves more comfortable by building a temporary hut of stone. The roof was made of the silk tent spread over snow-shoes and bamboo rods, and the doorway was closed with their coats. Daylight could be seen between the stones on all sides, but yet they considered it comfortable. The way south was still blocked on the following day, which was the 28th of August, and Nansen finally resolved on remaining here during the winter. He was afraid that if he went much farther south he might not have sufficient time to build a house and obtain food. He therefore decided to begin at once and lay in stores while game was yet plentiful. They first decided to attack the walruses, and as they were emptying the kayaks in order to be prepared, a she-bear and her cub were seen coming along the edge of the ice, and both were shot. This was a good beginning. Next day they tried their luck at walrus-hunting. A walrus was soon found, but nine cartridges had to be expended before the monster was killed, and then, before they could get near enough to use a harpoon, it sank and disappeared. They returned to the shore very much crestfallen.

They now found two walruses lying asleep on the shore-ice, and stole cautiously up to them. Nansen fired at the back of the neck of one, and killed it with the first shot. The other one was struck too far forward in the head, and required three bullets to kill it. They had now to skin them, but as there was a danger of being sent adrift, the wind having risen, Nansen took the wise precaution of bringing up the kayaks and sledges. It was as well he did so, for while they were busily engaged skinning the animals, the wind rose rapidly, and they suddenly discovered that the ice had broken off and that they were adrift. They hurriedly cut off as much walrus-flesh as possible and flung it into the kayaks, but it was a hard pull to reach the shore in the storm. Meanwhile the ice on which the bodies of the walruses were, drifted out to sea and disappeared. During the following night they were again awakened by a bear outside the hut. It was a she-bear with two large cubs. The mother was shot, but the cubs took to the water, where they reached a piece of floating ice. Nansen decided to go out in the kayaks after the cubs. When they went to get the kayaks, they found that the bears had been at the walrus-meat and devoured every piece of fat and blubber on it. One of the kayaks was thrown half into the water, and the other high up among the stones, but fortunately they were still seaworthy. The kayaks were launched, and the cubs chased to land, where they were shot. Three bears in one day was good work, and to add to their satisfaction, the sunken walrus shot on the previous day was found floating at the edge of the ice. It was towed into a place of safety in a creek and made fast. After skinning the bears and covering up the flesh, they turned in for sleep, as they had obtained little the two previous nights. On the 2nd September they set to work on the skinning of the walrus. Another walrus, evidently curious to see what was going on, came into the channel where the dead walrus was lying, and approached right up to the edge of the ice where Nansen and Johansen stood. Its curiosity cost it its life, and there were now two walruses to skin instead of one. This work was far from agreeable: they had to lie on the animals and cut down as far as they could reach below the water, and they were soon saturated from head to foot with blubber and oil and blood. To make matters worse, they had no chance of changing their clothes during the winter; but it was a work of necessity, as the walrus-blubber was needed for fuel.

On 7th September the building of the permanent winter-hut was commenced. Stones were quarried from among the débris at the foot of a cliff near by, and part of a sledge-runner had to do duty as a pick. A spade was made out of a shoulder-blade of a walrus tied to a piece of a broken snowshoe-staff. The walls were built of stone, with moss and earth between, and were finished in one week. They were scarcely 3 feet in height, but an equal distance had been dug into the ground, so that the hut was high enough to stand in. The forming of the roof was the greatest difficulty. However, a piece of driftwood had been found on the shore, and after a day’s work Johansen succeeded in cutting it in two with a small axe. These formed the ridge-piece, and walrus-hides formed the rest. In one corner of the hut a little hearth was made to cook upon, and above this a round hole was cut in the walrus-hide. A smoke-board was made of a bear-skin. The hearth had not been used long before it was found necessary to build a chimney. This was erected on the roof, and as the only materials were ice and snow, it was not altogether free from the drawback of sometimes dripping down on the hearth. Lamps were made by turning up the corners of some sheets of German silver. These were then filled with crushed blubber, and wicks were made from bandages. They gave a good light, but assisted very little in raising the temperature. A sleeping-shelf made of stone was erected along the back wall of the hut, but although bear-skins were spread on this it always remained hard and uncomfortable. The door consisted of an opening at one corner of the wall, which led into a short passage, dug out in the ground, and then roofed over with blocks of ice. The inner opening was covered with a bear-skin, and another skin was laid over the outer opening. The hut was 10 feet long and 6 feet wide. The cooking was very simple: it consisted in boiling bear’s flesh and soup in the morning, and frying steak in the evening. Large quantities were consumed at every meal, and yet they never tired of it, and had always good appetites.

While building the hut an anxious look-out was kept for bears, as none had been seen for some time, and too little meat had yet been obtained to last during the winter. On the 23rd September one was found beside a walrus-hide which had been put in water to thaw. Soon afterwards a second bear was seen gnawing at the hides on the roof of the hut. Both were shot. On the 24th September two more walruses were shot, and from these they obtained all the blubber they now required. On the 26th September a bear was seen out on the ice, but when Nansen approached it made off. He fired twice at long range, the second shot wounding the animal. It leaped and struck the ice, and finally broke through into the water. It then made desperate efforts to regain the ice, but the ice always broke under its weight, and ultimately it died in the water. Nansen and Johansen by means of a rope attempted to haul the bear up on to the ice, but they found the weight beyond their powers, and the ice always gave way. By making a narrow crack sufficient to allow the rope to pass, they dragged the bear under the ice to the shore, where they made a hole and managed to draw it out. After skinning the animal, they carried as much of the meat as they could to the hut. When they neared the place where their blubber was heaped, they were astonished to see three bears tearing at it—a she-bear and two young ones. The mother was killed, but the two young ones escaped. On the morning of 28th September a large bear was found sleeping on the blubber-heap, and was shot. It had eaten an enormous quantity of the blubber, and had also killed the two young bears which escaped.