| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Contents | ||
Fram was a ship used in expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctic regions by Norwegian explorers 1893– 1912. Fram was probably the strongest wooden ship ever built; it was built by the British shipwright Colin Archer for Fridtjof Nansen's 1893 expedition where Nansen planned to let Fram freeze into the Arctic ice sheet and float through the ice sheet, via the North Pole.
Fram is said to be the ship to have sailed furthest north and furthest south. Fram is currently preserved in whole at the Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway.
Nansen was a dedicated Polar explorer and wanted to explore the Arctic further north than anyone else. To do that, he would have to deal with a problem that many sailing in the polar ocean had encountered before him: the freezing ice would press and 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 in a shape designed to let the ice push the ship up, so it would "float" on top of the ice.
Nansen called upon the shipwright Colin Archer from Larvik to construct him a unique vessel. Fram was built with a wood called greenheart as the outer layer to withstand the ice, and built almost without a keel to handle the shallow waters Nansen thought he would encounter. The rudder and propeller were made so that they could be pulled into the ship to protect them from damage. The ship was also extraordinarily insulated, as Nansen planned for living in it up to five years.
Fram was used in several expeditions:
| Explorer | Years | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Fridtjof Nansen | 1893–1896 | Arctic ice sheet |
| Otto SverdrupOtto Neumann Sverdrup ( 1854 1930) was a Norwegian Arctic explorer. Sverdrup joined Fridtjof Nansen's expedition of 1888 across Greenland. In 1893 he was given command of the Fram and in 1895 he was left in charge of it while Nansen attempted to reach the | 1898–1902 | Arctic IslandsThe Arctic islands of Canada make up most of the territory of Nunavut and part of the Northwest Territories. Ellesmere Island, Victoria Island, and Baffin Island are three of the largest islands in the world. The Arctic islands make up the former Northwes |
| Roald AmundsenRoald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen ( July 16, 1872 June 18, 1928?) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the Antarctic expedition of 1911 1912 which was the first to reach the South Pole. Amundsen was born to a family of Norwegian shipowners a | 1910–1912 | South PoleAntarctic Treaty signatories are arrayed around it, and the Pole Station's old dome is in the background. The polar ice cap and the South Pole station on it are constantly moving relative to the actual, Geographic South Pole. The South Pole is the souther |
Due to driftwood findings in the region of SvalbardSvalbard a part of the Kingdom of Norway, including one municipality (Longyearbyen), lies in the Arctic Ocean north of mainland Europe. It consists of a group of islands ranging from 74 ° to 81° North, and 10° to 34° East; it forms the northernmost part o, Nansen speculated as to whether there was an ocean current flowing beneath the ice sheet, bringing driftwood from Siberia to Svalbard. With Fram built, Nansen could explore this.
Nansen laid out on the expedition that came to last for three years. When Nansen understood that Fram would not pass the North Pole directly by the force of the current, he and Hjalmar Johansen set out to reach the pole by ski. Reaching 86° 14' northern latitude, he had to turn back to overwinter at Franz Joseph Land. Nansen and Johansen survived on walrus and polar bear meat and tran. Finally meeting a british expedition, they could reach Svalbard only days before the Fram arrived there.