Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Nansen's Voyage', Herald (Melbourne), 25 August 1896, p. 3. It is introduced by 'The following is the draft of a letter from the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, signed by some of the leading geographists amongst us, for transmission to Dr. Nansen, whose name may now be fairly called historical:—'.

[Melbourne, 20th August. 1896.

To Dr. Frldtjof Nans e n, commander of the expedition from Norway to the Northern Pole, Christiana, Norway.

Dear Sir,— Immediately on the news being flashed by the electric wire (five days since) to this colony, of your safe arrival at Vardo, a meeting of the council of this society was called, that no time might be lost in conveying to you the cordial congratulations of Australian geographers, at the gratifying results of your late remarkable voyage.

2

Nansen (1897) gives an account of his expedition, in which the Fram was frozen in the Arctic drift ice but did not, as hoped, reach the North Pole.

Since then we have heard with pleasure of the return in safety of the rest of your comrades and of their celebrated little ship. This must afford to yourself, as well as to the whole civilised world, the deepest gratification. The council and members of this society, by whom we have been deputed to offer to you these words of welcome, will look forward with the utmost anxiety to th e publication of the details of your expedition. It Is almost three years to a day that in your last communication, written on board the Fram, you concluded your letter by saying, " When years have passed I hope you will some day g e t the news that we have all safely returned, and that the knowledge of man has advanced another step northward" . H ow nobly you and your gallant shipmates have performed the duty you undertook, will be the enthusiastic theme of geographers and explorers in the years that are to come. To yourself, your officers, and ship's company, this society offers its cordial congratulations on the undying reputation you have already achieved in Arctic seas, and if, as there is some reason to hope, Fate may lead you hereafter to command an expedition towards the Southern Pole, you may rest assured of the hearty sympathy and support from the Royal Geographical Society, of which, we are proud to say, you are an honorary member.

Since 1 5 96

3

Presumably a reference attributing the beginnings of European understanding of the region from the second voyage of John Davies from Dartmouth, Devon, to the western shores of the strait (Davis Strait) between Greenland and what is now known as Baffin Island, Canada (D. Smith (1877), pp. 20-21).

much has been attained in advancing towards the Northern Pole, and It has fallen to you to have actually realised one of th e ardent dreams of enthusiastic geographers, you have led the way to and discovered those wide oceanic spaces partially and temporarily open towards the North Pole. We trust that the final triumph may yet be yours, and that you will have the honor to penetrate at last to the culminating point of our globe, and that through your sagacity and courage the map of the Arctic regions to their remotest extent will be completed, and the physiographic phenomena, bearing so closely on all branches of natural science, will become thoroughly elucidated. For the three years' observations, duplicated during several months by yourself and the officers on board the Fram, cannot fail to be of considerable scientific value.

All honor to Norway, who, in such an enlightened and courageous spirit, sustained your glorious task; all honor to your compatriots, who sh a red your aspirations and your perils; all honor to your own brave will, which never faltered , but followed out your indomitable purpos e to so successful and noble an end.