The Fram was loaned by the Norwegian government, and about eleven hundred pounds was granted by the “Storthing” for necessary alterations and repairs. The personnel of the expedition was most carefully selected, including Lieutenant Victor Banman of the Norwegian Navy, Lieutenant Ingvald Isachsen of the Army, the botanist Herman Georg Simmons, a graduate of the University of Lund; and Edvard Bay, zoölogist, a graduate of the University of Copenhagen, the latter a member of Lieutenant Ryder’s expedition to the east coast of Greenland in 1891.
The Fram was ready for sea, June 24, 1898, and left her moorings with the quay packed with people and the fiord covered with small craft “which had come to see the last of us and wish us a safe return home.”
Captain Sverdrup’s original plan was to push through Kennedy and Robeson channels and as far along the north coast of Greenland as possible before seeking winter quarters. The unfavourable seasons of 1898-1899 prevented him from carrying out his intentions, and he fortunately turned his attention to Jones Sound, which led to the completion of the most important Arctic work yet remaining; “namely, the discovery of what was hitherto unknown in the wide gap between Prince Patrick Island and Aldrich’s farthest.”
Frustrated in his attempt to enter Kane Basin, Sverdrup wintered in Rice Strait, west of Cape Sabine. Immediate preparations were made for passing the cold season, and scientific observations and exploring trips occupied the autumn.
In describing the sun sinking out of sight, Sunday, October 16, 1898, Sverdrup says:—
“We were looking at the sun for the last time that year. Its pale light lay dying over the ‘inland ice’; its disk, light red, was veiled on the horizon; it was like a day in the land of the dead. All light was so hopelessly cold, all life so far away. We stood and watched it until it sank; then everything became so still it made one shudder—as if the Almighty had deserted us, and shut the Gates of Heaven. The light died away across the mountains, and slowly vanished, while over us crept the great shades of the polar night, the night that kills all life. I think that each of us, as we stood there, felt his heart swell within him. Never before had we experienced homesickness like this—and little was said when we continued on our way.... Here came Franklin, with a hundred and thirty-eight men. The polar night stopped him; and not one returned. Here came Greely, with five and twenty men; six returned.... Well! there lay the Fram, stout and defiant, like a little fairy-house, in the midst of the polar night. It was warm and bright in her cabins, and we worked with a will from morning to night.”
Sledge journeys, including a visit to the Windward, Lieutenant Peary’s ship, and a personal interview with the explorer himself; visits to the Fram by neighbouring Eskimos and a brilliant journey across Ellesmere Land, occupied members of the Sverdrup expedition until May 17, 1899, when those on board the Fram celebrated with true patriotism the Independence Day of Norway.
On one of the early summer sledge journeys, Dr. Johan Svendsen sacrificed his life. Overrating his endurance, he had rapidly failed, and though he persisted in remaining in the field, his strength did not return. After a day’s work, Sverdrup came into camp, where Sclei and Simmons were cooking dinner. “The doctor said he felt much better,” writes Sverdrup; “the pain in his side was gone, and his eyes had so far recovered that he could sit inside the tent without spectacles.... I then asked him for a second time if he would not let me take him on board, now that we had all rested, but he would not hear of it, and said that he should prefer to remain where he was. I then offered to stay behind with him—we could collect insects and shoot seals together. But he would not let me defer the journey to Beitstadfjord, and said that the time would pass quickly, even when he was there alone. He could go out shooting, collect insects, and look after his dogs;—he would have plenty to do.... We got ready for our four days’ trip to Beitstadfjord, and the doctor helped us to carry down our things, lash the loads to the sledges, and harness the dogs. And then we said good-by to one another, little thinking what was about to happen.”
Four days later the absent party returned. “To our great sorrow we found the doctor dead.”
On June 16, 1899, Captain Sverdrup made the entry in his journal:—