- Fram
"Fram" ("Forward") is a
ship that was used in expeditions in theArctic andAntarctic regions by the Norwegian explorersFridtjof Nansen ,Otto Sverdrup ,Oscar Wisting , andRoald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912. "Fram" was probably the strongest wooden ship ever built. It was designed by the Norwegian shipwrightColin Archer for Fridtjof Nansen's 1893 Arctic expedition in which "Fram" was supposed to freeze into the Arctic ice sheet and float with it over the North Pole."Fram" is said to be the wooden ship to have sailed farthest north and farthest south. "Fram" is currently preserved in whole at the
Fram Museum inOslo , Norway.Construction
Nansen's ambition was to explore the Arctic farther 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 commissioned the shipwright
Colin Archer fromLarvik to construct a vessel with these characteristics. "Fram" was built with an outer layer of greenheart wood to withstand the ice and almost without akeel to handle the shallow waters Nansen expected to encounter. Therudder andpropeller were designed to be retracted into the ship. The ship was also carefully insulated to allow the crew to live onboard for up to five years.Expeditions
Fram was used in several expeditions:
Through the Arctic ice sheet
Due to shipwreckage, most notable from the USS "Jeannette" as well as driftwood findings in the regions of
Svalbard andGreenland , Nansen speculated as to whether there was anocean current flowing beneath the ice sheet from east to west, bringing driftwood from theSiberia region to Svalbard and further west. When Nansen had "Fram" built, he could explore this.Nansen undertook 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 spend the winter atFranz Joseph Land . Nansen and Johansen survived onwalrus andpolar bear meat andblubber . Finally meeting a British expedition, they managed to reachNorway only days before the Fram arrived there. The Fram had spent nearly three years beset in the ice. [Apsley Cherry-Garrard, "The Worst Journey in the World", Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1922, p. xxii]verdrup's scientific explorations
In 1898,
Otto Sverdrup led a scientific expedition to theCanadian Arctic islands . "Fram" was slightly modified for this journey, itsfreeboard being increased."Fram" left harbour
June 24 , 1898, with 17 men onboard. Their aim was to chart the land of the Arctic Islands, and to sample the geology, flora and fauna.Amundsen's South Pole expedition
"Fram" was used by
Roald Amundsen in his polar expedition from 1910 to 1912.Preservation of Fram
The ship was left to decay in storage between 1912 and the late 1920s, when
Lars Christensen , Otto Sverdrup andOscar Wisting initiated efforts to preserve her. In 1935 the ship was installed in theFram Museum where it now stands.Named after "Fram"
*
Framheim , (Literally "Home of the Fram") Amundsen's Base at theBay of Whales inAntarctica during his quest for the South Pole.
*Fram Rupes , anescarpment on Mercury
*Fram crater , a small crater on Mars, visited by the Mars Exploration Rover "Opportunity" in 2004
*Fram Basin , the deepest point in theArctic Ocean
*Fram Strait , a passage from the Arctic Ocean to theGreenland Sea andNorwegian Sea , betweenGreenland andSpitsbergen .
*Fram, ursul polar , ("Fram, the Polar Bear"), a Romanian children's book byCezar Petrescu .
* Fram, a song by British post-rock bandiLiKETRAiNS
* FRAM CQ, Southern California soccer club
*Fram, a moody Glaswegian indie rock band [http://www.fram.org.uk]
* "Fram", a play byTony Harrison , premièred at the National Theatre London, 2008Other ships named Fram
* A ship built in 1958 and named after
Axel Enström was later renamed "Fram". [ [http://www.poosu.net/3fram.html poosu.net on the Finnish "Fram"] ]* Harald V, the King of Norway has had a number of sailboats for
regatta use named "Fram". He became world champion in sailing with "Fram X" in 1987 and is currently racing in "Fram XVI" (2006).
* The Norwegian passenger and freight lineHurtigruten operates a ship called MS "Fram".Notes
References
* [http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/antarctic_ships/fram.htm Antarctic exploration ship Fram]
* [http://www.fram.museum.no/en/ The Fram Museum website (English version)]
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