Rucksack
1 change, diary, compass, matches tinder, housewife, snow glasses, cup & spoon, pipe & tobacco, linen thread, sail-cloth gloves, 1 pr. ski-shoes, 1 long knife, 1 pr. skis, 2 staves, 1 pole, 1 sleeping-bag
Equipment Principally for the Machines
1 boat, 1 sledge, 1 tent, 1 medicine case, 1 Primus, petroleum, reserve belts, 1 Meta cooking stove with plates, 2 sextants, 1 level, navigating equipment, six small and 4 large smoke bombs, 1 cooking pot, motor spare parts, tools, 2 snow shovels, 1 ice anchor, 1 log, 1 sun compass, 1 pair of glasses, ten plugs, meteorological instruments, 1 shot gun, 1 rifle, 400 cartridges, Colt revolver, 25 shots, senna grass, benzine pump, hose and bucket, camera, films and plates, soldering lamp.
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On the 29th of April the “Fram” attempted to go to Green Harbour to fetch and take the mail. However, she did not get far before the ice stopped her. By dinner time the next day she had returned.
Ellsworth and I now went every day to the wireless station in order to take the time signal from the Eiffel Tower so that we might check our watches. We had each three watches for use on the flight. Fortunately they never went wrong. We checked the time signals for fourteen days before our departure and thus we were absolutely certain of the correctness of our watches.
On the 4th of May, a strange restless and unsettling sort of day, we began to long for the moment when we could leave. The meteorologists announced that that particular morning would be a fine opportunity to go and we were not long in replying, “All is ready.” “Fram” and “Hobby” got orders to make ready to sail northwards and all hands were called on deck to help to get everything in order. In the meantime a northeasterly wind sprang up and retarded the mechanics from completing the final little “finishing-off” touches. We were therefore compelled to put off our intended start until the weather improved. In the meantime the boats made ready and on the next evening—May 5th—“Fram” and “Hobby” steered northwards in order to reconnoiter round the Danske Öen to see if they could find a good place for us to start off from on the ice. That evening we had -18° c. No work could be done. On the 6th we received a wireless from the “Fram” from South Gate which announced that the weather was very uncertain and that we ought to wait. They announced also that they had found no suitable starting place on the ice. The ice all around was uneven and banked up and consequently useless for our purpose.
After the machines were ready to start we saw clearly that the maximum weight of 2,600 kg., which the factory said we could carry, was going to be considerably increased. We could see that if we had to make the flight we must at least carry 3,000 kg.—perhaps more. The two, Riiser-Larsen and Dietrichson, thought that it would be quite possible to rise with this from the ice. Director Schulte-Frohlinde doubted the possibility of this. The two former, however, had great experience in rising from the ice and my trust in them was complete. To rise from the water with this weight would hardly have been possible. On the eighth evening “Hobby” came back announcing that the ice conditions were bad, the weather was stormy and the temperature as low as -23° c.
We decided, therefore, to wait some time hoping for an improvement in the weather and a more reasonable temperature.