in deep thankfulness will I always remember the names of the three members of the Board with whom I came into direct touch: the president, Dr. Rolf Thommesen, and the two members, Dr. Ræstad and Major Swerre. Thanks to their energetic work, together with the State’s kindly aid, the expedition was soon ready to start. During my stay in America all the winter, the entire organizing of the work fell on these gentlemen, but the technical part of the arrangements fell on First Lieutenant of the Royal Norwegian Navy--Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen. Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen had already taken part in the spring attempt to get the expedition going, so he was quite familiar with everything. It was therefore both with gladness and with trust that I was able to telegraph to him $85,000--James W. Ellsworth’s gift--begging him to order the two seaplanes. From this moment Riiser-Larsen got permission for leave and was able to give himself up entirely to the expedition. As a flying man he is so well known by every person in the land that it is superfluous and stupid to mention more. But he has dozens of other notable qualities which I need not enumerate and which made him specially qualified to fill his difficult post. With such an assistant a difficult trip becomes for the leader a pleasant and light effort. He was assisted in his work by First Naval Lieutenant Leif Dietrichson and Flight Lieutenant Oskar Omdal. Both these gentlemen had been in the spring fiasco and thus knew all the details. It is quite unnecessary to talk about Dietrichson. His skill as a flyer is recognized by all. His bravery and resolution will stand out clearly later in this record. With his light outlook on life, his glad smile, and happy nature, he was an invaluable comrade on the flight. Omdal is known. If things went _with_ him or _against_ him it was all the same. Nothing seemed to depress him. He stood beside me in my two unhappy attempts in 1923 and 1924, and you can believe that it took a real man to show courage and keenness in a third attempt, but Omdal did not disappoint me. “So long as you don’t give in,” he said to me, “you shall always find me ready.” He is a marvelous being; he seems to have several limbs more than the rest of us. He moves slicker and thinks quicker. It is impossible to depress him. With three such men I knew that the technical part of the expedition was in the very best hands. The objective of the expedition was to trek in, as far as possible, over the unknown stretch between Spitzbergen and the Pole in order to find out what _is_ there, or what _isn’t_ there. It was not only to substantiate evidence of land, but to make a geographical research. This substantiation was as equally important as learning the composition of the land. From Nansen’s, the Duke of the Abruzzi’s, and Peary’s discoveries we had certainly good reason to believe that no land existed in that part of the Arctic Ocean, but our knowledge must be built on _certainties_, not on _beliefs_.