But Nansen adhered to his own opinions, and we see him in the intervening years occupied with the equipment required for an expedition to the polar regions—a work so stupendous that the preparations for the Greenland expedition were but child’s play in comparison.
[1] Kröderen, a lake about forty miles to the northwest of Christiania. Norefjeld, a mountain on the west side of the lake. Olberg, a farmhouse at the foot of the mountain.
[2] Lysaker, a railroad station about four miles west of Christiania.
Chapter VII.
Preparations for the Polar Expedition.—Starting from Norway.—Journey along the Siberian Coast.
Nansen’s theory as regards the expedition to the North Pole was as simple as it was daring. He believed that he had discovered the existence of a current passing over the pole, and of this he would avail himself. His idea, in fact, was to work his way into the ice among the New Siberian Islands, let his vessel be fast frozen into the drift-ice, and be carried by the current over the Pole to the east coast of Greenland. There articles had been found on ice-floes that had unquestionably belonged to former Arctic expeditions, a fact that convinced him of the existence of such a current.
It might take some years for a vessel to drift all that way; he must, therefore, make his preparations accordingly. Such at all events was Nansen’s theory—a theory which, it must be said, few shared with him. For none of the world’s noted explorers of those regions believed in the existence of such a current, and people generally termed the scheme, “a madman’s idea!”
Nansen, therefore, stood almost alone in this, and yet not altogether alone, either. For the Norwegian people who would not sacrifice $1,350 for the Greenland expedition gave him now in a lump sum 280,000 kroner ($75,600). They were convinced of his gigantic powers, and when the Norwegians are fully convinced of a thing, they are willing to make any sacrifice to carry it out. They believed in him now!