Images of

ANTARCTICA

The Fram

Photos © 2004 Seth White

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After leaving the ice in February, I decided to travel on the way home. One of the real perks of working for the USAP is the airline fare credit. Raytheon buys the airline tickets for nearly everyone coming to the ice, and on the return home you have the option of taking the value of your return ticket and applying it towards other travel. One option is an "around the world" ticket, where you can choose numerous destinations on each continent. You have to keep going in the same direction around the globe, and of course everything is subject to flight availability with American Airlines and its international partner airlines. I wanted to fly to Rome on the way back to the US, and with the fare credit it turned out to be the same price to buy a 4-continent around the world ticket as it would have been to do NZ-Rome-Denver. So after spending a couple weeks road tripping and mountain biking in NZ with my friend Joe and his uncle, I left Auckland and headed to Rome for a couple weeks to see Paola. Although I would have loved to see more of Europe, money (or more precisely, lack of money) didn't allow for that. But since the around the world ticket had a couple more "unused" stops in the continent of Europe, I decided to spend a few days at one more spot. I was pondering where to go when it dawned on me: Oslo. Why Oslo? In reading about Amundsen, I learned that the Fram had been taken to Oslo and put in a museum there. The Fram is one of the most famous ships in the world, and is certainly the strongest wooden ship ever built. It completed three highly successful polar voyages for three of Norway's greatest polar explorers, the most famous of which is Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole. In Amundsen's account of his trip, he has nothing but praise for this ship...and since he's one of my heroes I had to see it. And plus, Oslo seemed to me like a great place to spend a few days. So here is a view of the museum from downtown Oslo. The museum itself is a few miles away on the Bygdoy peninsula (that "o" in Bygdoy should have a line through it but this is an American keyboard). I didn't want to spend the ~$500 NZD (no kidding) to send my bike home from Auckland, so I decided to take it with me on the plane as a second piece of luggage. Another nice perk of the around the world ticket: no charge for bikes. Oslo isn't really that big, so the bike turned out to be ideal transport around the city. I rode out to the peninsula one day to see the famous ship.

This is what you see when walking into the museum: a statue of Fridtjof Nansen in front of the ship. Nansen was Norway's original hero. In addition to being one of the greatest polar explorers and the man behind the Fram, he was an accomplished scientist, ambassador, and influential force in the early days of an independent Norway. He was by far the most famous Norwegian in his day, and I believe he even won the Nobel Peace Prize. He (with Johansen) was the first to cross Greenland, and his voyage through the Arctic Ocean aboard the Fram is one of the most incredible polar expeditions ever undertaken. The Fram was built per his direction for the purpose of researching the currents in the Arctic Ocean. The idea was to put the ship into the ice, let it drift around, and see where it ended up. At the time the directions of the Arctic currents were unknown, but Nansen had a theory based on the discovery of flotsam from a previous failed expedition which drifted ashore thousands of miles from where the ship went down. So he commissioned and sailed the Fram to test his theory.

Innumerable previous expeditions had met with disaster when their ships were trapped and crushed in the Arctic ice pack. The carnage of Arctic voyages is way beyond the more famous stories of Antarctic exploration. Throughout the two centuries before the North Pole was reached, hundreds of men died on these voyages and dozens of ships were lost. But Nansen hired master shipbuilder Colin Archer (Norwegian of Scottish descent) to build a radically different ship which he believed would withstand the immense crushing forces of the ice. The idea was this: the hull of the Fram was constructed very wide and shallow so that as the ice pushed harder against the sides, it would lift the ship above the ice and simply carry it along with the flow. And it worked amazingly well. But in addition to the innovative shape, the Fram was built incredibly strong. Only finest and strongest timbers were used, with the very best Norwegian shipbuilders doing the work. This is the bow of the ship.

Another view of the ship. In addition to captaining the Fram during Nansen's expedition, Otto Sverdrup led the Fram's second expedition. This was voyage resulted in great scientific discovery and the mapping of vast previously unknown lands. With his abilities and the Fram at his command, he sailed an incredible distance in regions which had destroyed many previous expeditions. In his old age, Sverdrup was the main chiefly responsible for preservation of the Fram, and as a consequence the ship was restored to look as it did during his expedition. An interesting tidbit about this guy is that he was described as "the most reticent man in Norway"...and that is saying something. This is probably a big reason why he isn't more famous today.

Another view of the bow.

A picture of the side of the ship and the main mast. The museum says this ship has been farther north and south than any other conventional ship...I would guess this means non-icebreakers and non-submarines, both of which have crossed the exact North Pole.

The ship's rudder and propeller.

The museum is designed so that on your way to board the ship, you walk around it three times on different levels. Each level has displays on the wall telling you about the various voyages of the ship, as well as artifacts from each expedition. Here is a display for Nansen's voyage, including a kayak that was built aboard the ship. Although the voyage proved that Nansen's theory about the ice flow was correct, it eventually became clear that the ice pack wasn't going to carry them across the North Pole as they hoped. So Nansen and Johansen set out on a daring attempt to reach it by sledging. However, the ice pack kept moving southward as fast as they were moving northward, so they abandoned the attempt and headed back south. After amazing feats of survival they made it to a group of frozen islands where, incredibly, they met the Frederick Jackson expedition and obtained passage back home. Although from what I have read it's unlikely that they would have been able to survive another winter in the Arctic wastelands if they didn't meet Jackson, their trek across the ice using sledges, skis, and kayaks is one of the most unbelievable journeys in history. The photo above and to the right of the kayaking picture is Nansen meeting Jackson (staged photo after they actually stumbled upon each other). The two to the right are Nansen and Johansen. I don't recall how the kayaking picture was taken...I don't think they would have taken time to set up the camera while they were struggling southward by themselves. I would guess they probably got in their kayaks after meeting Jackson to get the picture.

This is part of the Amundsen display: a bust and a list of his polar journeys. Amundsen is widely considered the greatest of polar explorers, even more so than Nansen and certainly more so than Scott. He was part of the crew on the first winter-over in Antarctica, aboard the ship Belgica. He was the first to sail the Northwest passage, a task which had proven impossible or even fatal for a large number of his predecessors. He did this aboard the Gjoa, which is displayed near the Fram museum. Then there was the South Pole. After that, he sailed the Northeast passage aboard the Maud. This had already been accomplished, but there were legitimate reasons for doing the voyage again. And plus (I'm paraphrasing), he had "nothing better to do". It was a successful expedition, but he did not accomplish as much as he'd hoped due to ice conditions (perhaps the Fram would have given him greater success?). He then tried to be the first to fly to the North Pole but the plane crashed, and they made a narrow escape aboard a second plane. A few years later he did fly over the Pole in an airship "Norge". This actually may have been the first time anyone actually saw the exact Pole. Historians are now quite doubtful that Peary actually reached the Pole, and there is also doubt whether Byrd truly got to the Pole aboard his plane in 1926. Either way, his voyage was just a few days after Byrd's. Then in 1928 he set out to rescue the Italian Nobile, who had crashed on his second polar flight (Nobile was the pilot on the Norge flight). Nobile lived, but Amundsen's plane crashed and the entire crew perished. Later, evidence was found which showed they were able to make a raft after the plane crash and survived for a while longer. But rescue efforts did not locate them in time.

A statue of Amundsen.

A little medallion made two years after his death, commemorating his four greatest journeys. One reason I think this man was so impressive is that he devoted his entire life to making himself the best expeditioner he possibly could. From a young age he trained himself in polar survival and travel. He was extremely capable and thorough, and had a mastery of all things related to the cold. Unlike Scott, he was an admirer of the Inuit and went out of his way to learn from them during his crossing of the Northwest Passage. He was an excellent leader and knew how to choose the right men to accompany him on his journeys (two more areas in which Scott did not excel). Although he was a true Norwegian hero, later in life Amundsen had some financial and personal problems which probably kept him from being more popular in Norway than he was. He became bitter towards the world and often felt underappreciated and betrayed. But when Nobile crashed in 1928 (he did not like Nobile very much after their flight), his reply when he was called to assist with the rescue was "right away".

A knife which Amundsen used on his South Pole expedition. A few years later he ended up selling this knife. The note near the knife is his written statement that the knife is authentic.

A bottle of Ringnes beer, still brewed in Oslo today. I did manage to find Oslo's only brewpub...named Oslo Mikro Bryggerie. The beer was pretty good there, and unique.

Another part of the Amundsen display. Below the picture of his crew at the South Pole is a sledge used during the expedition.

Some rifles from the Fram's travels. One of them was used on all three expeditions. As an aside, I recall Amundsen saying in his South Pole book that during their winter his journal became less and less verbose. One day a stray penguin wandered near the camp....his remark: "soup kettle".

A closeup of a sledge used on Sverdrup's expedition. Edivently this was made by L. H. Hagen, Christiania (former name of Oslo).

A set of plates from the Fram.

This is a Primus stove, invented by our friends the Swedes. This simple-looking thing is considered to be one of the most important, if not the most important advance in polar travel. Before it came along, people had all sorts of trouble with inefficient, dirty, and dangerous cooking apparatuses. This particular stove was owned by Nansen himself, who invented the "Nansen Cooker" which, when combined with the Primus, was the top-notch way to heat your grub and melt water.

The badge on the side of the Fram. As I write this I am sitting in my cabin aboard the Laurence M. Gould, one of the two USAP research icebreakers. We are headed to Palmer Station, due to arrive May 18. I am again headed down with Biospherical Instruments to work on their UV monitor, which is the same instrument as at McMurdo and South Pole. We are going through the Straits of Magellan on our way out from Punta Arenas, Chile, and ought to enter the Drake Passage about midday tomorrow. I am excited to be going to Palmer Station - it is our smallest station and the only one on the Antarctic Peninsula. I am a little worried about sea sickness though. This is my first time out to sea, and although I have never had motion sickness before, we are headed to the roughest seas on earth. I have heard stories of 60' swells and 100+ knot winds...regularly. I don't have reason to believe I'll get sick, but that's the thing with sea sickness...you don't know until you get there. They have medicine available but I decided not to take any. This could well turn out to be a VERY BAD IDEA, but I'm going to do it anyway. Still think you have to be smart to work in the USAP? Wrong! I have a small comfort in that they do have pills on board that will help a little, even if you start taking them after you get sick. But it would still be pretty miserable. So we'll see. Anyhow, the Gould is much larger than the Fram but is somewhat similar in that it is short in length and has a shallow draft, so it will pitch and roll quite a bit when the waves hit. Hmmmm.

So from the museum's third level you can board the ship. Here is the foreward deck.

Another view looking foreward.

The ship's main mast.

Another one looking up at the main mast.

The bottom of the main mast.

A small part of the ship's rigging. To my untrained eye, this is some very nice work with the rope.

This is an exact replica of the tent that Amundsen, Wisting, Hanssen, Hassel, and Bjaaland used at their South Pole camp (Polheim). It was made by Martin Ronne, the same master sailmaker who made the actual tent (as well as many other items used on their expedition). Not much room in this tent for 5 guys. Oscar Wisting was one of Amundsen's most trusted comrades, and when he was an old man he came to visit the Fram. He walked around the ship, then went below deck, where he laid down and died.

The ship's helm...

...and me with the hero shot.

The ship's bell.

I didn't know ahead of time that you would be able to board the ship, let alone go below into the cargo hold and living quarters. But you can, so I did. You can't get to the engine room, but there is a window looking down where you can see the engine...and this is it. The Fram's engine was more powerful and reliable than that of the Terra Nova, which incidentally only developed about 90 horsepower. In comparison, the Polar Sea and Polar Star both have about 60,000 hp (or more?) and use jet engines when they are breaking thick ice.

There is a little stairway taking you below deck, and as you head foreward this is what you see.

In the middle of the ship is the kitchen.

Aft of the kitchen are most of the the living quarters. There is a central room with some nice couches, tables, and even a piano. I was not expecting to see such a homey environment. Attention to detail is evident all over this ship.

Here is the cabin Nansen used on his voyage. Little brass markers have been placed by each door telling you which people lived in each cabin during the different voyages.

Another view of the living room, with the piano, photos, and various documents from the Fram's past.

In the middle of the living room is a bust of Amundsen, so here is a picture of that with his cabin in the background.

Going farther aft is a display of the typical equipment used: a loaded sledge, snowshoes, skies. Amundsen's men, on his South Pole expedition, took great care to pack the sledges in the absolute optimal way. All supplies were packed in a minimum of space, all items were well organized inside the cases, and the cases were oriented in their lashings to allow the easiest possible access to their contents. It probably didn't matter how they packed the sledges if the weather was good since it might just be a few extra minutes to get at whatever they needed. But in a storm, their thorough preparations and organization made all the difference in the world. The profound differences between Amundsen's and Scott's approaches to polar exploration are amazing.

The area near the sledge display was not very well lit so it took a while to get a clear view of this area w/o people, but I wanted to get a photo of the massive timbers that were used for the skeleton of the ship. The way this wood was shaped was very impressive to me, and no doubt the careful selection and crafting of the timbers contributed immensely to the strength of the ship. These are the timbers on the starboard side.

A view looking more foreward. A lot of thought and skill went into building this ship! Walking around inside, I felt like I was in a ship which, with a little work, could head right back into the polar seas today and survive just as well as it did 100 years ago.

Outside the museum near the water is the Gjoa, which Amundsen used on his crossing of the Northwest Passage. This ship is much smaller than the Fram and only has a single mast. Unfortunately the caretakers had covered the ship up for the winter, so I couldn't get onboard. This little ship, under the expert handling of Amundsen and his crew, managed to do what dozens of other explorers had failed to do: navigate from Greenland to Alaska. It was thought that if a way could be found to get from one side of North America to the other without going around South America, the benefits for trade would be huge. Amundsen did it, but it took him over three years. But although the Northwest Passage was not commercially viable, they did bring back a good deal of new knowledge of the northern edge of Canada and Alaska. It was in large part due to the success of this expedition that Nansen let Amundsen use the Fram for his next journey.

Another view of the Gjoa.

And another. If I ever go back to Oslo in the summer, I would like to see inside this ship. Another thing I couldn't do since I was there during the winter was tour Amundsen's house. It is about 25 km from Oslo, and they will do tours during the summer. However, winter tours are by appointment only and I found this out too late to set one up. His house "Uranienborg" was kept just as he left it in 1928 when he departed on the search for Nobile.

The Bygdoy peninsula is a very nice area of Oslo. Well, actually I rode all over the city and didn't really see any crappy areas. The people of Oslo seem to do alright financially. The taxi cabs are all Mercedes, and it's $8 USD for a pint of Guinness for crying out loud. However, you don't tip in Norway, which is nice. Another thing is that every single woman there seemed to be drop-dead gorgeous. And without exception, every single person I talked to spoke English. A few of the middle-aged or older people were not fluent, but all the younger people spoke perfect English. I had been told that students in Norway learn English starting in gradeschool, but I really didn't think that I would be able to converse effortlessly with EVERYONE in a foreign country. What a nice surprise. They were also very hospitable, which made my stay in Oslo a great experience. But Bygdoy is particularly nice - it is full of small streets, gorgeous houses, and forests, and the end of the peninsula is a pretty park called Huk. I spent the better part of a day just riding around the area...and even found a couple nice little trails. The peninsula also has a good number of museums, including the Viking Ship Museum. Here, they have three of the best preserved Viking ships ever found. Each of them was dug up from a burial mound, where they were buried with their (wealthy) owners. There are also other extremely rare Viking artifacts, including jewelry, chairs, and wagons. This ship in particular was impressive: The Gokstad Ship, named after the location where it was found.

Another pic of the Gokstad ship. Evidently they are going to move these ships from this museum to a bigger national museum sometime in the near future. This is a real shame, because the museum building itself is absolutely beautiful, and is the perfect structure in which to show off these ships.

Another one of the ship in its wing of the museum.

On this ship, they found the ends intact. The spiral design on the front is the head of a snake, and the rear of the ship is its tail coiled up...

...like this. The Vikings were master shipbuilders and only today are people really figuring out how their designs worked so well. It seems the norsemen have known how to build ships for quite a long time. The Polar Duke was a Norwegian ship used by the US prior to the L.M. Gould, and people I have talked to who served on it say it was an excellent vessel. When the Gould was originally put into the water, they discovered it was so top-heavy that it was very easy to roll over. The shipbuilders then added large flared metal pieces on each side to keep it more stable! Hmmmm.

Below are a few random pictures from around Oslo. This is Akershus Castle, part of a large complex on the shoreline which goes back to the early days of the city. It is now a park with some museums, although it still has some operating facilities.

A picture of a nice spot I took one night while walking around the city.

A main attraction on the Bygdoy peninsula is an open-air Norwegian history museum. They have taken historic buildings from around the country, restored them, and moved them to a large park. The buildings date from the medevial ages up through the early part of the 20th century. There is an entire village from the Telemark region, a tiny old post office, and many other buildings, like this Stave Church, which dates from about 1200. I saw this building from the road as I was riding to the Fram museum, and just had to see it. Talk about a classic Viking building. Wow.

Some wood carvings from the Stave Church. How cool is this?

More carvings. I couldn't go inside, but looking through the gated door I could see an altar and some more excellent carvings and paintings.

Another major attraction in Oslo is a park filled with sculptures by this fellow Viegland (I think I have the name spelled right but can't get on the internet from the Gould to check). Anyhow, almost all of his works are displayed here at the park. I didn't think I'd like it very much, but I pedaled out there one day to have a look anyway. I was wrong about this - his sculptures are incredible. There are metal and stone works, all of which are nudes depicting scenes from life. Old people, young people, friends, enemies, lovers, humorous scenes, and sad scenes. The last pictures here are some of my favorites. This is the centerpiece of the park, a large stone column with people in different scenes, surrounded by more stone portraits.

Another good one, with part of the city in the middle of the view.

The column again, with a beautiful sculpture of a man and woman.

Another excellent sculpture.

Yet another. The poses and expressions this artist chose are captivating.

One last sculpture - a guy being attacked by a bunch of little faries or something?