In the summer Sverdrup found the ice in Sir Thomas Smith’s Channel closely packed, and therefore resolved to attempt discoveries up the channel named by Baffin after Sir Francis Jones, taking with him an abundant supply of walrus meat. Jones Sound had previously been visited by whalers, and in August 1851 Captain Austin had entered it with the Pioneer and Intrepid and proceeded up it until he was stopped by ice extending from shore to shore. Captain Inglefield had the same experience in 1852. Sverdrup was more fortunate, and on September 3rd found winter quarters on the northern shore, at a place which was named Havnfjord.
The autumn travelling during October was devoted to laying out depôts. Sverdrup had two-man tents, double-lined, 6 ft. by 5 ft. and 5 ft. high in the middle, the lower part of the sides being vertical for a foot. There was just room for two men and the cooking apparatus. They had a capital smith and metal-worker on board, named Olsen, who made odometers for the sledges. The diet for travelling was unusually varied. Besides pemmican, biscuit, cocoa, and sugar, which are necessaries, there were coffee, butter, pea-soup, vegetables, dried fruit, egg powder, groats, potatoes, meat fat, golden syrup, and fish flour.
The main depôt was at a place which was named Björnberg. The spring travelling parties, with 55 dogs in splendid condition, started in March, limited parties accompanying them to Björnberg and beyond. There were three extended parties, Sverdrup and Fosheim; Isachsen and Hassel; and the geologist Schei and Hendricksen, who had been in the Fram with Nansen. Very interesting discoveries were made. The west coast of Ellesmere Island was found to be indented with deep winding fjords, afterwards explored by the scientific staff. The great island named after Consul Axel Heiberg was discovered, and as islands were seen to the westward, the two extended parties separated, Sverdrup going north and Isachsen west. Axel Heiberg Island consists of high precipitous cliffs, and there were pressed-up hummocks off the coast of extraordinary height. The two islands discovered by Isachsen and named after the brothers Ringnes were of low altitude. The extended parties made very fine journeys, resulting in important discoveries. Sverdrup was 76 days away, Isachsen 92 days, and the scientific party 78 days.
When the Fram got out of her winter quarters Sverdrup proceeded westward up Jones Sound. Its western end is blocked by land with two narrow channels leading to the Polar Sea. Some of the names are those of Sir Edward Belcher, who made a journey in 1853 along the north coast of Grinnell Peninsula, from the winter quarters of the Assistance in Northumberland Inlet. The coast of North Devon turns north, forming the Colin Archer Peninsula, followed by North Kent Island with Cardigan Strait on the North Devon side, and what Sverdrup called Hell Gate on the Ellesmere Island side. Both these straits lead north and south.
The Fram entered Cardigan Strait and reached the north end against a strong current. She was ultimately drifted out of the strait, and excellent winter quarters were found near Hell Gate on the north side of Jones Sound, a long narrow inlet free of ice which was named Gaasefjord. Around it there were grassy stretches with small tarns and a lake three miles long, and the country abounded in game. The third winter passed with all in good health. As many as 20 walrus and 18 musk oxen had been obtained.
The travellers started on the 1st April to continue their very important discoveries. This time Sverdrup had Schei the geologist with him as a companion, while Isachsen again took Hassel. Sverdrup discovered the whole west coast of Ellesmere Island to within a short distance of Aldrich’s furthest on the north coast, naming the north-west point Lands Lowk. He also discovered the whole east coast of Axel Heiberg Island, and the northern point facing the Polar Sea was named Svartevæg. The channel between these two points was named after Fridtjof Nansen. Isachsen explored Ellef Ringnes and Asmund Ringnes Islands, as well as the west coast of Axel Heiberg Island.
The travelling parties returned in June, but the ice blocked up the Gaasefjord and the Fram was far up. A few months hard work blasting and cutting enabled them to get the ship several miles nearer the water, but six miles still remained when they realised that their work was in vain. The boats were accordingly sent away for walrus meat, and a fourth winter had to be faced.
When the spring once more returned, Captain Sverdrup decided upon sending a party down Wellington Channel to examine the state of the depôts at Beechey Island. They found the house in ruins, old Sir John Ross’s boat wantonly injured, and the depôt robbed. Isachsen and Buy meanwhile explored the south coast of Jones Sound, and all the parties had returned to the ship by July.
This year the ice cleared out of the fjord and the Fram was soon beyond Gaasefjord on her return home, after four winters. The explorers arrived in Christiania in September 1902. Captain Sverdrup had very ably conducted a most successful expedition, Lieut. Isachsen had specially distinguished himself as a sledge traveller. Meteorological, magnetic, and tidal observations were regularly taken throughout the long period, and the biological and geological collections were of quite exceptional interest.
The discoveries of Sverdrup and Isachsen complete the delineation of the great Parry Archipelago, for Axel Heiberg and the Ringnes Islands must be included in it, especially from a geological point of view. Ellesmere Island, North Devon, and Baffin Island stand apart as more allied to Greenland in character. The Parry Archipelago presents quite a different aspect, both geologically and physiographically, and is fairly uniform in structure, with similar strata representing different geological periods, when wanting in one place supplemented in another. Thus the indications of the has formations discovered by M’Clintock on Prince Patrick Island, and by Sherard Osborn on the north point of Bathurst Island, were repeated in the discoveries of Sverdrup’s expedition. On the other hand in Baumann Sound, on the west coast of Ellesmere Island, there was a coal field and impressions of tertiary plants such as are found on Disco Island and the Noursoak Peninsula in Greenland.