With the aid of a few wealthy persons and the assistance of the King of
Sweden, Nansen was able to have a suitable vessel built, and to make
preparations for the undertaking.

The greatest danger to Arctic travel is the pressure of the ice. When
the winter comes on, and the sea tries to freeze over, the currents and
the tides, and the unthawed blocks of ice that have been left from the
last winter, cause a terrible disturbance. The ice, in its endeavor to
pack itself solidly together, slides over itself with groans and creaks
that sound like human cries.

The force the ice exerts under these circumstances is enormous, so great
indeed that it can crush big ships, and crack their sides as though they
were no stronger than eggshells.

Nansen could not hope to build a ship which should be strong enough to
withstand this pressure, but he did hope to make one that would be able
to rise above the ice, and escape the crushing altogether.

His object was to have the sides so shaped that the ice would encounter
a rounded surface on which it could not get any hold, and would
therefore slide lower and lower down the sides of the ship until it at
last met under the keel, lifting the ship above the dangerous pressure.

The vessel, which Nansen called the _Fram_, was built according to his
own plans, and when finished was a clumsy-looking craft.

In an ordinary sea she pitched and rolled so badly that everybody on
board was seasick, and during the first few days of her trip the sailors
were one and all afraid that she would roll completely over and go to