Editing Fridtjof Nansen (section)

=== Into the ice ===
[[File:Nansen Fram Map.png|thumb|upright=1.6|alt=A map of the sea and island archipelagos north of Siberia. Five colored lines indicate the ship's and Nansen's individual routes.|Expedition routes, July 1893&nbsp;– August 1896: {{legend-line|2px red solid|''Fram's'' route into the pack ice, July–September 1893}}{{legend-line|2px blue solid|''Fram's'' three-year drift to Spitsbergen}}{{legend-line|2px green solid|Nansen's marches, March 1895&nbsp;– June 1896}}{{legend-line|2px purple solid|Nansen's return to Vardø, August 1896}}{{legend-line|2px yellow solid|''Fram's'' return to Tromsø, August 1896}}]]

''[[Fram (ship)|Fram]]'' left [[Oslo|Christiania]] on 24 June 1893, cheered on by thousands of well-wishers.<ref>Huntford, pp. 206–207.</ref> After a slow journey around the coast, the final port of call was [[Vardø (town)|Vardø]], in the far north-east of Norway.<ref name="Huntford222" /> ''Fram'' left Vardø on 21&nbsp;July, following the [[North-East Passage]] route pioneered by Nordenskiöld in 1878–1879, along the northern coast of Siberia. Progress was impeded by fog and ice conditions in the mainly uncharted seas.<ref>Scott, pp. 128–135.</ref>

The crew also experienced the [[dead water]] phenomenon, where a ship's forward progress is impeded by friction caused by a layer of fresh water lying on top of heavier salt water.<ref>Huntford, pp. 234–237.</ref> Nevertheless, [[Cape Chelyuskin]], the most northerly point of the Eurasian continental mass, was passed on 10&nbsp;September.

Heavy [[drift ice|pack ice]] was sighted ten days later at around latitude 78°N, as ''Fram'' approached the area in which {{USS|Jeannette|1878|6}} was crushed. Nansen followed the line of the pack northwards to a position recorded as {{coord|78|49|N|132|53|E}}, before ordering engines stopped and the rudder raised. From this point ''Fram's'' drift began.<ref>Huntford, pp. 238–240.</ref> The first weeks in the ice were frustrating, as the drift moved unpredictably; sometimes north, sometimes south.

By 19 November, ''Fram's'' latitude was south of that at which she had entered the ice.<ref>Huntford, p. 246.</ref> Only after the turn of the year, in January 1894, did the northerly direction become generally settled; the 80°N mark was finally passed on 22&nbsp;March.<ref>Nansen 1897, vol.&nbsp;I, p.&nbsp;378.</ref> Nansen calculated that, at this rate, it might take the ship five years to reach the pole.<ref name="Huntford257" /> As the ship's northerly progress continued at a rate rarely above a kilometre and a half per day, Nansen began privately to consider a new plan—a [[dog sled]]ge journey towards the pole.<ref name="Huntford257">Huntford, pp. 257–258.</ref> With this in mind, he began to practice dog-driving, making many experimental journeys over the ice.

In November, Nansen announced his plan: when the ship passed latitude 83°N, he and Hjalmar Johansen would leave the ship with the dogs and make for the pole while ''Fram'', under Sverdrup, continued its drift until it emerged from the ice in the North Atlantic. After reaching the pole, Nansen and Johansen would make for the nearest known land, the recently discovered and sketchily mapped [[Franz Josef Land]]. They would then cross to [[Svalbard|Spitzbergen]] where they would find a ship to take them home.<ref>Reynolds, pp. 105–108.</ref>

The crew spent the rest of the winter of 1894 preparing clothing and equipment for the forthcoming sledge journey. [[Kayaks]] were built, to be carried on the sledges until needed for the crossing of open water.<ref>Fleming, pp. 246–247.</ref> Preparations were interrupted early in January when violent tremors shook the ship. The crew disembarked, fearing the vessel would be crushed, but ''Fram'' proved herself equal to the danger. On 8 January 1895, the ship's position was 83°34′N, above Greely's [[Farthest North|previous record]] of 83°24′N.<ref>Huntford, pp. 275–278.</ref>{{refn|Members of Greely's 1881–1884 expedition had achieved this latitude travelling north from Greenland. Of the original party of 25, only Greely and six others survived the expedition.<ref>Fleming, pp. 232–233.</ref> | group = n }}