"Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship Fram 1893-96 and of a Fifteen Months' Sleigh Journey by Dr. Nansen and Lieut. Johansen ... with an Appendix by Otto Sverdrup, Captain of the Fram".
A crew of thirteen Norwegians holds up quite nicely, thank you, under the physical and psychological stresses of three years frozen into the Arctic icepack. Polar bear hunting, "snow-shoeing" (i.e. skiing), regular scientific data-taking, and plenty of good Norwegian food carry them safely through. With their other accomplishments, the crew of the Fram also holds the honor of celebrating the Seventeenth of May (Norwegian Constitution Day) three times at latitudes above 80 degrees-- complete with procession, band (i.e. one accordionist), speeches, and a banner supporting Universal Suffrage.
Dr. Nansen waxes rapturous over the Northern Lights and philosophical over his bouts of homesickness and depression. He even manages to sound faintly convincing about how their scientific research on the polar basin is far more important than reaching the actual North Pole (which he soon realizes the Fram is not going to do). Nansen's philosophy as an explorer is that if you plans things properly you shouldn't have adventures. He breaks his own rule at one point (reaching the Pole really DOES matter) and has an adventure of his own, but on the whole the Arctic Drift of the Fram shows the soundness of the practical Norwegian approach to exploration.
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