FRIDTIOF NANSEN. From a Drawing by E. Werenskiold THE LAUNCH OF THE FRAM OTTO SVERDRUP Frontispiece To face page 210 212 215 222 HANS NANSEN BARON CHRISTIAN FREDERIK VILHELM WEDEL-JARLSBERG BARONESS C. F. V. Wedel-JARLSBERG (Nansen's Grandmother) NANSEN'S FATHER NANSEN'S MOTHER. GREAT FRÖEN-THE DWELLING-HOUSE ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT PAGE 3 THE FARM BUILDINGS AT GREAT FRÖEN NANSEN AS A CHILD. NANSEN AS A Boy . NANSEN AS A YOUTH . LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN CHAPTER I ANCESTRY NEARLY three centuries ago, in the same Polar darkness which has now, winter after winter, brooded over Fridtiof Nansen and his ship, a boy of sixteen watched the Northern Lights shimmering and shooting over his head. In his eyes they were vapours which the sun draws up from the earth into the air, some in the upper, some in the lower atmosphere. They then become ignited and burn; whence the many fiery marvels seen in the skies.' 6 It was Fridtiof Nansen's ancestor, Hans Nansen, who had come to the White Sea in his uncle's ship, hailing from Flensborg-in those days quite an adventurous enterprise. They had practically no charts, they were scantily supplied with instruments, and they had to keep cannon and cutlasses in readiness. In the course of the voyage, indeed, they had been twice overhauled and plundered by the English. Now they were fast in the ice at Kola. But the intelligent boy, eager for knowledge, did not permit himself to 1 See Dansk historisk Tidsskrift 3 R. I; Personalhistorisk Tidsskrift, 1892; Yngvar Nielsen, Grev H. Wedel Jarlsberg I. 2 Hans Nansen was born November 28, 1598, at Flensborg, his father's name being Evert Nansen, his mother's Maren Pedersdatter. B |