Ships of Wood and Men of Iron by Gerard Kenney

Author:Gerard Kenney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2005-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

SOURCE: OTTO SVERDRUP’S NEW LAND

The Fram, frozen in the ice, winter of 1901–02.

While they were waiting, the crew sawed and blasted a channel south of the ship. Only a few kilometres of barrier remained before the expedition would once more be in open water, steaming and sailing for home.

But it was not to be. On September 5, a cold north wind closed up a promising lead of open water to the south and the ship was stuck solidly in the thickening ice. And there she remained. The boiler was drained and the engine laid up for yet another winter.

The disappointment of the crewmen is not hard to imagine. It was a heart-wrenching blow. They had been away from home for over three years and they were expected back that autumn. What would their wives, children and other loved ones think when they did not return? “Lost like the Franklin Expedition,” would certainly enter their minds:

The fourth polar night in succession is not a thing to joke about. The worst of all was that we were expected home this year, and perhaps an expedition would be sent out in the summer to look for us.

There was another aspect of the matter. How were we to know that we would get free next year?

But it was too soon to begin that sort of speculation. If we were to stay here another year we must keep the dogs alive and well through the winter, so that we could do more work in the spring. We had more than enough provisions for ourselves, but had to procure walrus-meat for the dogs at any price, and the sooner the better. However, before we could be walrus-catchers again we had to repair our clothes and footgear, so we set to work speedily with needle and thread.

Self-pity and desperation were certainly not among the expedition members’ weaknesses. If they were to spend another year in the Arctic, it would be a year put to good use.

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