Farthest North, Vol. I: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896Nansen, Fridtjof
History
Farthest North, Vol. I: Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896
Nansen, Fridtjof
"Fram" Expedition (1893-1896); Arctic regions -- Discovery and exploration; Nansen, Fridtjof, 1861-1930 -- Travel -- Arctic regions
"Here, too, there is sentiment in nature. How often, when least
thinking of it, do I find myself pause, spell-bound by the marvellous
hues which evening wears. The ice-hills steeped in bluish-violet
shadows, against the orange-tinted sky, illumined by the glow of
the setting sun, form as it were a strange color-poem, imprinting an
ineffaceable picture on the soul. And these bright, dream-like nights,
how many associations they have for us Northmen! One pictures to one's
self those mornings in spring when one went out into the forest after
blackcock, under the dim stars, and with the pale crescent moon peering
over the tree-tops. Dawn, with its glowing hues up here in the north,
is the breaking of a spring day over the forest wilds at home; the
hazy blue vapor beneath the morning glow turns to the fresh early
mist over the marshes; the dark low clouds on a background of dim
red seem like distant ranges of hills.
"Daylight here, with its rigid, lifeless whiteness, has no attractions;
but the evening and night thaw the heart of this world of ice;
it dreams mournful dreams, and you seem to hear in the hues of the
evening sounds of its smothered wail. Soon these will cease, and the
sun will circle round the everlasting light-blue expanse of heaven,
imparting one uniform color to day and night alike.
"Friday, April 6th. A remarkable event was to take place to-day which,
naturally, we all looked forward to with lively interest. It was an
eclipse of the sun. During the night Hansen had made a calculation that
the eclipse would begin at 12.56 o'clock. It was important for us to be
able to get a good observation, as we should thus be able to regulate
our chronometers to a nicety. In order to make everything sure, we
set up our instruments a couple of hours beforehand, and commenced to
observe. We used the large telescope and our large theodolite. Hansen,
Johansen, and myself took it by turns to sit for five minutes each at
the instruments, watching the rim of the sun, as we expected a shadow
would become visible on its lower western edge, while another stood
by with the watch. We remained thus full two hours without anything
occurring. The exciting moment was now at hand, when, according to
calculation, the shadow should first be apparent. Hansen was sitting
by the large telescope when he thought he could discern a quivering
in the sun's rim; 33 seconds afterwards he cried out, 'Now!' as did
Johansen simultaneously. The watch was then at 12 hrs. 56 min. 7.5
sec. A dark body advanced over the border of the sun 7 1/2 seconds
later than we had calculated on. It was an immense satisfaction for us
all, especially for Hansen, for it proved our chronometers to be in
excellent order. Little by little the sunlight sensibly faded away,
while we went below to dinner. At 2 o'clock the eclipse was at its
height, and we could notice even down in the saloon how the daylight
had diminished. After dinner we observed the moment when the eclipse
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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