Side by side these two gigantic birds flew northwards towards the unknown, cold, inhospitable polar regions, which for centuries have been the scene of so many men’s cravings and strugglings, where so many defeats have been borne after unbearable sufferings, privations and vain endeavors, and where also a few mighty victories have been won.
One could not avoid thinking about the difference between our present journey and the previous expedition. Roald Amundsen thought of the new element—the air as the connecting link—making use of it for the first time in polar exploration (if one excludes the congenial Swedish explorer Andre’s trial with his balloon in 1897, the result of which has been lost to the world’s records). Would the world gather new knowledge from our experiences? How far it would benefit depended, in my opinion, on the landing possibilities. If we should be lucky in finding suitable landing-places, at not too lengthy distances apart, our undertaking would certainly succeed. If the opposite should be the case, the chances would of course be small. But just the question of landing-places gave an element of uncertainty to our expedition. The presumptuous “specialists” gave distinctly opposite opinions regarding the conditions of the water-lanes of the ice regions. All these opinions showed one common result, namely, that we could not depend upon any of them. Nobody had so far observed the conditions from a flying-man’s point of view. This we were quite clear about, but we depended upon the material at our disposal, namely, our flying-boats, which, if the worst should happen, ought to be able to take us back home without our making a landing.
I believe we all sat there thinking how previous expeditions had advanced laboriously, kilometer after kilometer, had climbed over high icebergs and passed water-lanes during exciting marches which lasted days, sometimes their path was blocked by waterways which must be crossed with the aid of the frail equipment which the explorers could carry with them. In contrast to this we were now, three men in each plane, steering, with slight touches and very little work, these flying boats, which not only carried us but also our equipment high over all obstacles with a speed of some kilometers per minute. Frithjof Nansen mentions several times in his reports about his and Johansen’s journey towards the North Pole that he wished he had wings in order to pass the countless icebergs. The dream has become true. As long as we can remain in the air the icebergs cannot hinder us.
But to return to the business of our flight. The fog extended further north than we expected, and although this did not interfere with our flying, it interfered with the deviation and speed observations—a matter which was very annoying.
THE Sjoliv, THE SEALER THAT PICKED THEM UP
Mr. Ellsworth told me later that he had been very impressed by the flight over the fog-belt. Wherever our plane threw a shadow on the fog-belt below, a double halo in all the colors of the rainbow appeared, and in the midst of this the silhouette of N 24 could be seen quite clearly. This phenomenon accompanied us all the time we were over the fog-belt and was very impressive. Roald Amundsen had observed the same thing in connection with the flight of N 25.
AT BRANDY BAY, NORTH-EAST LAND, ON THE WAY HOME
Just after we had passed 82° north the fog disappeared and we continued to fly over these boundless icefields, which stretched monotonously as far as the eye could see. We flew at different heights, varying from 1,000 to 3,000 meters.