Norwegian polar exploration vessel
Fram ("Forward") is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912. It was designed and built by the Scottish-Norwegian shipwright Colin Archer for Fridtjof Nansen's 1893 Arctic expedition in which the plan was to freeze "Fram" into the Arctic ice sheet and float with it over the North Pole.
"Fram" is preserved as a museum ship at the Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway.
Construction.
Nansen's ambition was to explore the Arctic farther north than anyone else—to the North Pole, if possible. To do that, he would have to deal with a problem that many sailing on the polar ocean had encountered before him: the freezing ice could crush a ship. Nansen's idea was to build a ship that could survive the pressure, not by pure strength, but because it would be of a shape designed to let the ice push the ship up, so it would "float" on top of the ice.
"Fram" is a three-masted schooner with a total length of and width of . The ship is both unusually wide and unusually shallow in order to better withstand the forces of pressing ice. A disadvantage of this design is that it rolled more than most ships in heavy seas.
Nansen commissioned the shipwright Colin Archer from Larvik to construct a vessel with these characteristics. "Fram" was built with an outer layer of greenheart wood to withstand the ice and with almost no keel to handle the shallow waters Nansen expected to encounter. The rudder and propeller were designed to be retracted. The ship was also carefully insulated to allow the crew to live on board for up to five years. The ship also included a windmill, which ran a generator to provide electric power for lighting by electric arc lamps.
Initially, "Fram" was fitted with a steam engine. Prior to Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole in 1910, the engine was replaced with a diesel engine, a first for polar exploration vessels. The new engine allowed for a longer voyage without refueling.
The ship was launched on 26 October 1892.
Expeditions.
"Fram" was used in several expeditions:
Nansen's 1893–1896 Arctic expedition.
Wreckage found at Greenland from , which was lost off Siberia, and driftwood found in the regions of Svalbard and Greenland, suggested that an ocean current flowed beneath the Arctic ice sheet from east to west, bringing driftwood from the Siberian region to Svalbard and further west. Nansen had "Fram" built in order to explore this theory.
He undertook an expedition that came to last three years. When Nansen realised that "Fram" would not reach the North Pole directly by the force of the current, he and Hjalmar Johansen set out to reach it on skis. After reaching 86° 14' north, he had to turn back to spend the winter at Franz Josef Land. Nansen and Johansen survived on walrus and polar bear meat and blubber. Finally meeting British explorers, the Jackson–Harmsworth expedition, they arrived back in Norway only days before the "Fram" also returned there. The ship had spent nearly three years trapped in the ice, reaching 85° 57' N.
Sverdrup's 1898–1902 Canadian Arctic islands expedition.
In 1898, Otto Sverdrup, who had brought "Fram" back on the first Arctic voyage, led a scientific expedition to the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. "Fram" was slightly modified for this journey, its freeboard being increased. "Fram" left harbour on 24 June 1898, with 17 men on board. Their aim was to chart the lands of the Arctic Islands, and to sample the geology, flora and fauna. The expeditions lasted until 1902, leading to charts covering , more than any other Arctic expedition.
Amundsen's 1910–1912 South Pole expedition.
"Fram" was used by Roald Amundsen in his southern polar expedition from 1910 to 1912, the first to reach the South Pole, during which "Fram" reached 78° 41' S.
Preservation of "Fram".
The ship was left to decay in storage from 1912 until the late 1920s, when Lars Christensen, Otto Sverdrup and Oscar Wisting initiated efforts to preserve it via the Fram Committee. In 1935, the ship was installed in the Fram Museum, where it now stands.
References.
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