Books like The First Crossing Of Greenland

Nansen’s account about the first crossing of Greenland is an absorbing insight into a late-19th/early-20th century renaissance man. This is more than an adventure story about an unprecedented expedition; it is full of insights on nature, the environment, zoology, cultural anthropology, emerging technologies like skis, as well as kayaking and hunting. This narrative became a handbook for later polar explorers. Indeed, Amundsen’s use of dogs for transportation and food was inspired by Nansen’s post-journey recommendations. His instincts about the bad effects of tobacco and alcohol were far ahead of his time, but his observations about seal hunting—he explained the dramatic decline of seal population was due to their ability to hide rather than indiscriminate slaughter—reveal a quaint ignorance of the times.Nansen led a six man team that included another great polar explorer, Otto Sverdrup, and two Lapps. They planned be dropped off as close to the eastern coast of Greenland as possible, maneuver their small boats to the shore, and then embark on a northwesterly trek across the ice cap to Christianshaab (Qasingiannguit). After leaving the ship they were driven much further south by the tight ice pack than they anticipated. When they finally reached the coast after 12 days, Nansen poetically describes his joy about being back on solid land: “As I rested there, in the view and mere fact of existence, I heard something come singing through the air and stop in the neighborhood of my hand. It was a good well-known tune it sang, and I looked down at once. It was a gnat, a real gnat, and presently others joined it. I let them sit quietly biting and took pleasure in their attack. They gave me, these dear creatures, sensible proof that I was on land, as they sat there and sucked themselves full and red.” But after a long journey north along the coast to reach their intended starting point for the journey across the ice cap, Nansen hated them and the mosquitoes that swarmed in such great number that his hands sometimes resembled “rough woolen gloves.”In the almost month-long journey northward they encountered nomadic East Greenland Inuit, who were fascinated by the expedition’s reindeer clothing, something they had never seen, and the metal runners under their boats. When they eventually began their ascent to the interior in late August, they had to maneuver through crevasses on the edge of the ice as the ascended more than 6,000 feet. But once they reached solid ice and snow, they realized that their original goal would be too far and instead decided to travel due west toward Godthaab (Nuuk). Their revolutionary use of skis, sledges and occasional sails increased their speed and limited hardships until they finally made it to land again. Eventually they made their way to Godthaab where they lived with and learned from the West Greenlander settlers made up of Inuit, Danish administrators, and German missionaries until April 1889. A Danish ship brought them back to Copenhagen to “the incredible sufferings that those tormentors of the human race, those ghouls of modern life, by courtesy called interviewers, are allowed to inflict on people as innocent as ourselves.” Some professions never change.Nansen was the first hero of the fledgling Norwegian nation and his adventure in Greenland propelled him to greater deeds. He had one more incredible polar journey ahead of him, became one of the founding fathers of modern Norway, was recognized with a Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work with European refugees, and was later the head of the League of Nations. It is trivially interesting to note that this book was published in the same year as Knut Hamsun’s Hunger. Nansen’s work did not have the longevity as Hamsun’s, but each is a classic.