The drift during the first year, from September 1893 to September 1894, was 189 miles in a northerly direction, from 78° N. to 82° N. In the second winter Nansen resolved to leave the ship with one companion, make an attempt to reach the Pole, and return by Franz Josef Land and Spitsbergen. Sverdrup was to complete the voyage. Nansen selected Frederik Hjalmar Johansen, a native of Skien, then aged 28, as his companion. He took 28 dogs, intending to feed them on each other. His sledges--which were too narrow--were the same pattern as on the Greenland journey, the runners 3⅙ in. wide and slightly convex, covered with a thin plate of German silver, and with loose well-tarred guard-runners of maple underneath the metal ones[160]. Two kayaks were carried on the sledges, as open lanes of water were sure to be encountered. His clothing was woollen, his shoes made of the skin of the hind leg of a reindeer filled with “senegraes” or sedge (_Carex arenaria_). Leather Lapp boots were used for warmer weather. The tent was square at the base, ending in a point with a central pole, and had a canvas floor. The double sleeping-bags were of reindeer skin. Nansen’s cooking apparatus was rather complicated. Petroleum was found to generate more heat than spirit in comparison with the weight, 4 gallons lasting 100 days with two hot meals a day. The lamp, called a “Primus,” was of German silver with lid and cap of aluminium, and heated two boilers and a vessel for melting snow. For food there was a sort of pemmican, fish flour, dried boiled potatoes, pea soup, butter, chocolate, and biscuit. This was no improvement on M’Clintock’s scale of diet. Starting on the 14th March, 1895, the ship being in 84° N., there was good travelling for the first week. But on the 29th ridges of hummocks commenced, and there was trouble with the sledges, which capsized, and holes were torn in the kayaks. The travelling got worse and worse, with ridge after ridge of hummocks, and occasional lanes of water only covered with thin ice. After 26 days Nansen, who had reached a latitude of 86° 28′ N., had to turn south and make for the land. It was very hard work, the dogs were much reduced both in numbers and in strength, and in May the travellers came to soft snow up to the knees. In June there was water on the floes, the lanes were opening, and the five surviving dogs were nearly starving. On the 5th June they halted for the very necessary business of repairing the kayaks. The open water stopped all progress with sledges and they were now obliged to launch the kayaks with the sledges on them. Two dogs only were left. Land was at length sighted on the 24th July, the Hoidtenland group, as Nansen named it, consisting of Eva, Liv, and Adelaide Isles, all covered with glaciers. These little islets are specially interesting, because Ross’s roseate gull (_Rhodostethia rosea_) was here found to be numerous, and the group appeared to be their breeding place.