For some months no animals had been seen, and the appearance of two bears on 28th February caused some excitement. When about 150 yards from the ship, they stood for a time, but as it was still very dark, Sverdrup waited in the expectation that they would come nearer. Instead of coming nearer, they went off. Pettersen was asked whether he had something to fry which would smell strongly, so as to entice the bears back. After the bears had been long out of sight, Pettersen produced a pan of fried butter and onions. Before long, the bears were seen coming back, and both were shot by Sverdrup. It was sixteen months since they last shot a bear, and during that time they had very little fresh meat.
Soundings were taken several times during the winter, but the bottom was not reached with a line over 9000 feet in length.
An interesting experiment was made on the 13th April. Scott-Hansen and Sverdrup took an observation with the theodolite, and Nordahl an observation with the sextant, on the natural horizon. According to the theodolite, the latitude was 84° 11.5′, and by the sextant 84° 13′. It had previously been ascertained that there was a difference of about two minutes between the artificial and natural horizons.
As spring advanced, the openings in the ice became larger, and preparations were made for forcing the Fram ahead as soon as the opportunity offered. Everything that was on the ice was taken on board, and on the 18th May the engine was made ready for getting up steam.
Towards the end of May blasting operations were begun to release the Fram from the ice, and on 2nd June, Sverdrup and his crew had the satisfaction of seeing the ship once more free. There was still, however, too much ice all around for the Fram to make much use of her freedom. It was not until the 12th June that a movement could be made, and then only for a short distance. On the 27th June the Fram was forced ahead about 2 miles. On the 3rd July 3 miles were made, and on the 7th about 1 mile. On the 8th July, in latitude 83° 2′, the bottom was reached at 1841 fathoms. On the 19th July the Fram made about 10 miles, and on the following day it advanced from 83° 14′ to 82° 39′. Good progress was now made, and at midnight on the 27th July latitude 81° 32′ had been reached. During the next fortnight they made little headway, and on the 9th August the latitude was found 16′ farther north than on 27th July.
On the 13th August the Fram steered through the last ice-floes into open water, north of the 80th degree of latitude.
Nansen’s expedition lifted the veil of mystery from a large portion of the Arctic regions. It proved that no land existed over the long zigzag route traversed by the Fram from the New Siberian Islands to a point north of Spitzbergen within 350 miles of the Pole, nor over the long sledge-route traversed by Nansen and Johansen. It discovered that the Polar Sea, instead of being shallow as hitherto supposed, is a deep basin, exceeding in many places 11000 feet.
The Fram drifted very near the route sketched by Nansen before the expedition set out, and although Nansen had to admit that the real force which caused the drift was the wind—an opinion previously formed by De Long from the drift of the Jeannette—this did not alter the final result.
The drift of the Fram also forcibly proves that the great mass of ice in the Polar Sea is in a constant state of movement. It was found that in the sea north of Siberia the prevailing winds were south-easterly or easterly, and therefore the drift was towards the north-west or west. On the other hand, to the north of Spitzbergen the winds are north-easterly, and the drift is to the south-west.