I am, etc.,

(Signed) Anton Alexander.

Christiania,

September 22, 1912.

CHAPTER V

Oceanography

Remarks of the Oceanographical Investigation carried out by the “Fram” in the North Atlantic in 1910 and in the South Atlantic in 1911.  By Professor Bjorn Helland-Hansen and Professor Fridtjof Nansen

In the earliest ages of the human race the sea formed an absolute barrier.  Men looked out upon its immense surface, now calm and bright, now lashed by storms, and always mysteriously attractive; but they could not grapple with it.  Then they learned to make boats; at first small, simple craft, which could only be used when the sea was calm.  But by degrees the boats were made larger and more perfect, so that they could venture farther out and weather a storm if it came.  In antiquity the peoples of Europe accomplished the navigation of the Mediterranean, and the boldest maritime nation was able to sail round Africa and find the way to India by sea.  Then came voyages to the northern waters of Europe, and far back in the Middle Ages enterprising seamen crossed from Norway to Iceland and Greenland and the north-eastern part of North America.  They sailed straight across the North Atlantic, and were thus the true discoverers of that ocean.

Even in antiquity the Greek geographers had assumed that the greater part of the globe was covered by sea, but it was not till the beginning of the modern age that any at all accurate idea arose of the extent of the earth’s great masses of water.  The knowledge of the ocean advanced with more rapid steps than ever before.  At first this knowledge only extended to the surface, the comparative area of oceans, their principal currents, and the general distribution of temperature.  In the middle of the last century Maury collected all that was known, and drew charts of the currents and winds for the assistance of navigation.  This was the beginning of the scientific study of the oceanic waters; at that time the conditions below the surface were still little known.  A few investigations, some of them valuable, had been made of the sea fauna, even at great depths, but very little had been done towards investigating the physical conditions.  It was seen, however, that there was here a great field for research, and that there were great and important problems to be solved; and then, half a century ago, the great scientific expeditions began, which have brought an entire new world to our knowledge.