Meanwhile, Dr Rink, the learned and accomplished Danish Inspector of Greenland, had warmly advocated further research as far back as 1876. The Danish savant Steenstrup observed the rate of movement of glaciers in 1876 and 1877, and in 1878 an expedition was undertaken into the interior by Lieutenant Jensen. This was a very interesting journey and revealed the character of the inland ice in the far south. Jensen entered by the Fredrickshaab iisblink, and crossed the expanse of snow as far as the Nasuasak nunatak, which was one of the peaks seen by Dalager, 4700 feet above the sea. He had three small one-man sledges with three weeks’ provisions. The ice was very rough and broken, and the men suffered from snow blindness. But the nunataks were reached, and Jensen ascended one of them to a height of 5000 feet, obtaining an extensive view. They are known as the Jensen nunataks. The journey on the inland ice occupied 31 days, from July 3rd to August 3rd.
The next attempt was made in 1886 by Peary in Disco Bay, in the same place that Whymper had previously selected. Robert Peary was a civil engineer employed in the American naval dockyard service; a very resolute and determined man who had conceived the ambition of taking a share in Arctic discovery. His companion was the Danish lieutenant Maigaard. Their point of entrance was in 69° 30′. They took thirty days’ provisions, which were carried on two sledges, 9 feet long and 13 inches wide, weighing 23 lb. each, their shelter for the night being a tarpaulin between the sledges. They advanced over the inland ice for 24 days, from June 8th to July 2nd, meeting with a “fohn” wind which made the snow soft and sticky, and they were also delayed by snowstorms. In returning, the wind was at their backs, so they rigged up the tarpaulin on some alpenstocks and sailed back at great speed, 22, 27, and even more miles a day. They returned on July 24th.
The name of Fridtjof Nansen will for ever be coupled with the first crossing of the inland ice of Greenland. It was here that his genius in conceiving a great plan for discovery, his ability as a leader, and his mastery of details first began to develop. From the first he was something more than an explorer. Born on the 18th of October, 1861, young Nansen was of good lineage on both sides, and in his after life he proved the truth of Holberg’s saying “Det er min tro noget i at vaere kommen af godt folk.” He became a naturalist, and as his character developed its chief points were devoted patriotism, breadth of view, and love of science, above all of scientific accuracy. He had reached the age of 27, when, after a study of the labours of Jensen and Nordenskiöld, he resolved to achieve the crossing of Greenland, conceiving that science would benefit more especially by discoveries respecting the meteorology of the inland ice.
Nansen, who had determined on crossing from east to west, had already been for a cruise on the east coast of Greenland and had made acquaintance with the character of its difficult navigation. The study of the necessary equipment was undertaken with his never-failing care and intelligence. His party was to number six, and he had to consider the nature of the ground and the climate, while, as in all Arctic travelling, lightness had to be the main consideration. His sledges, of which he took five, were of ash, the upper part light and slender. They weighed 28 lb., and were 9½ feet long by 20 inches wide, the runners shod with thin steel plates. They were turned up at both ends, with a chair-back-like bow for pushing and steering, and every joint was lashed, no metal being used.
The tent was in five pieces of waterproof canvas, with two uprights and one cross pole of bamboo, the guy-ropes made fast to crampon-like hooks. The sleeping bags were of reindeer skin, with hood-shaped flaps to button over the head, each to hold three men.
Nansen rightly decided that woollen clothes were the best, as avoiding condensation. He paid specially close attention to the foot gear. Woollen stockings were worn next the skin, then thick goat’s-hair socks, and over these came the finneskos of the Lapps with the hair outside, stuffed, as is the Lapp custom, with a grass (Carex vesicaria). Large woollen mitts were used, and fur caps with ear-flaps. The cooking apparatus consisted of a spirit-lamp with a copper tin-lined boiler above, tall and cylindrical, with a copper flue carried through the centre, by which the hot air passed to a broader and shallower copper vessel over the boiler to melt snow in, all cased in thick felt. With this apparatus and 12 oz. of spirits a gallon of chocolate and rather less of water was obtained in an hour. The provisions consisted of Beauvais dried meat (which contained insufficient fat), meat biscuits, chocolate with meat powder, pea soup with fat, and tea. Some luxuries such as condensed milk and whortleberry jam were taken, but Nansen was very strongly opposed to the use of spirits and tobacco, as being injurious stimulants. The instruments consisted of a theodolite and stand, a pocket sextant, artificial horizon, azimuth compass, four watches, thermometer, boiling-point thermometer, and aneroids. Four of the sledges when loaded had a weight of 200 lb. each, the fifth of 400 lb.
Nansen was a master of ski-travel. This method of winter locomotion has been used by his countrymen from time immemorial, and by himself from childhood, and truly the speed attained and the feats performed by Norwegian experts are marvellous. On very soft snow, however, the Canadian snow-shoe is preferable.
Of his five comrades Otto Sverdrup was the son of a Helgeland farmer with forest property, and was born on October 31st, 1855. He had been 17 years at sea. Olaf Dietrichsen, a surgeon and a keen sportsman, was aged 25, and Kristian Trana, aged 24, was a forester. The others were two Lapps, both young men.
The expedition started in June, 1888, and the Jason, a Norwegian sealer, took them to the edge of the ice on the east coast of Greenland and some distance into it. The explorers then took to their boats, but it was long before they could reach the land. Drifted to the south, they came to an Eskimo encampment at Cape Bille, and having reached the inner lead of water on the 15th August, boats were at length hauled up on the beach and the great journey was commenced. From the 17th to the 20th they were detained by storms with heavy rain, but the 22nd saw the ascent commenced in fine weather. The ice was heavily crevassed and nunataks were visible here and there.
By the 26th the party had reached a height of 6000 ft., and by the end of the month the elevation was 7930 ft. Hitherto they had worn Canadian snow-shoes, but on September 2nd it was found that ski could be used, even when dragging the sledges, and the national mode of progression was gladly adopted for the remaining nineteen days. The explorers were surprised at the great difference between the temperature of day and night on this lofty plateau in September. The thermometer showed -4° in the day, and -40° Fahr. at night. Furious gales of wind were frequent.