Nansen's Theories of Arctic Currents and Shipbuilding--His Theories adopted--The _Fram_ built--A Start made--The Kara Sea reached--Good Hunting--The Ice Current reached--Frozen in--A Raid by a Bear--Will the _Fram_ stand the Pressure?--Preparing for Calamity--A Conclusive Test--Causes of Ice Movements--Life on the _Fram_--Nansen and Johansen leave the _Fram_--They reach their "Farthest North"--Incidents of their Return Journey--Some Narrow Escapes--The Meeting with Jackson--Arrival of the _Fram_. In 1879 the _Jeannette_, an American yacht commanded by Lieutenant de Long, of the United States Navy, was beset in the ice in latitude 71° 35' N. and longitude 175° 6' E. So firmly was she frozen that it was found impossible to liberate her, and on June 12, 1881, she was so badly crushed in a break up of the pack that she foundered. In the meantime she had drifted with the ice to 77° 15' N. latitude and 154° 59' E. longitude, a point to the north of the New Siberian Islands. In 1884 articles undoubtedly belonging to members of her crew were found in floating ice off the coast of Greenland. [Illustration: MAP OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS SHOWING ROUTE OF NANSEN AND THE _FRAM_.] These facts caused a very great deal of discussion among Arctic explorers, and the general opinion expressed was that a strong and steady current evidently flowed along the course taken first by the _Jeannette_, and secondly by the relics. To arrive at that conclusion was not very difficult; to utilise the knowledge thus gained, and profit by it, was the point, and only one man in the world was possessed of the necessary amount of insight, backed up by intellect and courage, to enable him to do so. This man was Fridtjof Nansen. As a student of Arctic phenomena, and as one who had crossed Greenland from east to west, the existence of this current was full of suggestive possibilities. It seemed to him that if a vessel were built of sufficient strength to withstand the pressure of the winter ice, and provisioned for a sufficiently long period, there was every chance of it drifting along the entire course of the current, perhaps to within a measurable distance of the Pole, and certainly well within that region which had hitherto been unexplored. The area affected by the current would have to be entered as near the outside edge as possible, so as to participate in the full sweep of its curve, and, in order to avoid the terrible crushing pressure of the winter ice, the vessel would have to be so built as to enable it to slip upwards from the ice, when the pressure became too severe, and rest always on the top.