In returning, a course was made across Fridtjof Nansen Sound to the northern extremity of Axel Heiberg Land. In passing south they proved that Schei Island was really an island, and not a peninsula. Some polar oxen were shot and the dogs feasted, and the way south was covered at a good speed. When Bay Fiord was reached, they entered it and explored it to its head, where they arrived on 29th May. The _Fram_ was reached on 16th June, after an absence of seventy-seven days. Isachsen, Fosheim, and Hassel had left the records as arranged, and had returned to the ship on 18th April; and on the 23rd April, Baumann, Fosheim, and Raanes started for Beechy Island, which was reached on 4th May. It is really not an island, but constitutes the south-west corner of North Devon. The dépôt was found destroyed. The cutter _Mary_, which had been left there, was a wreck; whether the work of Eskimo or seal-catchers could not be said with certainty. They discovered that Arthur Strait was really a fiord. The return journey was started on the 6th May, and the _Fram_ was reached on the 20th May. On the 12th April, Isachsen and Bay made a trip to North Devon, and did not return till 21st May. On 25th May, Isachsen and Simmons set out to examine a bed of coal discovered by Baumann, and returned on 9th June. The work of exploration was now over. The usual summer dredging was begun, and the geologist hunted for fossils. Olsen managed to fall from a pressure-ridge and dislocate his other shoulder. This time it was reduced without the assistance of brandy. On 20th July the _Fram_, with steam up, began to leave her winter harbour, but it was not until the 6th August that she entered Jones Sound. On the 10th the _Fram_ was in Baffin’s Bay, heading for the Devil’s Thumb. Godhavn was reached on the 17th August, and here they were well received. They left on the 21st, and although there was a break-down of the engine, Norway was sighted on 18th September. Stavanger was reached on the 19th, and soon they received a most enthusiastic reception wherever they went. The owners of the expedition incurred expenses to the amount of £12,014. This expedition, although it unfortunately was prevented from carrying out its original plans, did important work. It not only explored the whole of Jones Sound, but discovered the existence of large islands extending toward the north. The fact that no palæocrystic ice was met with in this region makes it highly probable that land exists still farther to the north.[2] ----- [2] The discovery of Crocker Land and Bradley Land proves that this view was correct. CHAPTER XII ITALIAN EXPEDITION (1899−1900)