Fram 492721 221793772 2008-06-26T03:27:26Z 76.191.212.109 Hurtigruten MS Fram is in service {{otheruses}} {| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width=300 style="margin-left:1em;margin-bottom:1em" |- |colspan="2" align="center"|[[Image:Amundsen-Fram.jpg|300px|]]<br>''Fram'' in [[Antarctica]] in Roald Amundsen's expedition. |- !colspan="2" style="color: white; height: 30px; background:navy;"|Career |- |Built: |Colin Archer, [[Larvik]], [[Norway]] |- |Launched: |1892 |- |Fate: |Preserved, currently on display at the Fram Museum, [[Oslo]] |- !colspan="2" style="color: white; height: 30px; background:navy;"|General characteristics |- |Displacement: |402 tons |- |Length: |127.8 ft (39 m) |- |Beam: |34 ft (11 m) |- |Draught: |15 ft (4.8 m) |- |Type: |[[Schooner]] |- |Hull: |Wood |- |Propulsion: |220 hp, [[Steam engine#multiple expansion|Triple expansion steam engine]] <br>Sails |- |Speed: |7 knots |- |Range: |— |- |Complement: |16 |- |} '''''Fram''''' ("Forward") is a [[ship]] that was used in expeditions in the [[Arctic]] and [[Antarctic]] regions by the [[Norway|Norwegian]] explorers [[Fridtjof Nansen]], [[Otto Sverdrup]], [[Oscar Wisting]], and [[Roald Amundsen]] between [[1893]] and [[1912]]. ''Fram'' was probably the strongest wooden ship ever built. It was designed by the Norwegian shipwright [[Colin 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 [[Geographic North Pole|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]] in [[Oslo]], 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]] from [[Larvik]] to construct a vessel with these characteristics. ''Fram'' was built with an outer layer of [[Chlorocardium|greenheart]] wood to withstand the ice and almost without a [[keel]] to handle the shallow waters Nansen expected to encounter. The [[rudder]] and [[propeller]] 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: {| cellpadding="3" |- !Explorer !Years !Region |- |[[Fridtjof Nansen]] |1893&ndash;1896 |[[Arctic]] ice sheet |- |[[Otto Sverdrup]] |1898&ndash;1902 |[[Canadian Arctic islands|Arctic Islands]] |- |[[Roald Amundsen]] |1910&ndash;1912 |[[South Pole]] |} ===Through the Arctic ice sheet=== Due to shipwreckage, most notable from the [[USS Jeannette (1878)|USS ''Jeannette'']] as well as driftwood findings in the region of [[Svalbard]], [[Fridtjof Nansen|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 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 at [[Franz Joseph Land]]. Nansen and Johansen survived on [[walrus]] and [[polar bear]] meat and [[blubber]]. Finally meeting a British expedition, they managed to reach [[Norway]] only days before the Fram arrived there. The Fram had spent nearly three years beset in the ice.<ref>Apsley Cherry-Garrard, ''The Worst Journey in the World'', Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1922, p. xxii</ref> ===Sverdrup's scientific explorations=== In [[1898]], [[Otto Sverdrup]] led a scientific expedition to the [[Canadian Arctic islands]]. ''Fram'' was slightly modified for this journey, its [[freeboard]] 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 and [[Oscar Wisting]] initiated efforts to preserve her. In [[1935]] the ship was installed in the museum where it now stands. ==Named after ''Fram''== * [[Framheim]], (Literally "Home of the Fram") Amundsen's Base at the [[Bay of Whales]] in [[Antarctica]] during his quest for the South Pole. * [[Fram Rupes]], an [[escarpment]] on [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] * [[Fram crater]], a small crater on [[Mars (planet)|Mars]], visited by the [[MER-B|Mars Exploration Rover ''Opportunity'']] in [[2004]] * [[Fram Basin]], the deepest point in the [[Arctic Ocean]] * [[Fram Strait]], a passage from the Arctic Ocean to the [[Greenland Sea]] and [[Norwegian Sea]], between [[Greenland]] and [[Spitsbergen]]. *[[Fram, ursul polar]], ("Fram, the Polar Bear"), a Romanian children's book by [[Cezar Petrescu]]. * Fram, a song by British post-rock band [[iLiKETRAiNS]] * FRAM CQ, Southern California soccer club *Fram, a moody Glaswegian indie rock band [http://www.fram.org.uk] * ''[[Fram (play)|Fram]]'', a play by [[Tony Harrison]], premièred at the National Theatre London, 2008 ==Other ships named Fram== * A ship built in 1958 and named after [[Axel Enström]] was later renamed ''Fram''. <ref>[http://www.poosu.net/3fram.html poosu.net on the Finnish ''Fram'']</ref> * [[Harald V of Norway|Harald V]], the [[Norwegian monarchy|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 line [[Hurtigruten]] operates a ship called [[MS Fram|MS ''Fram'']]. ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== *[http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/antarctic_ships/fram.htm Antarctic exploration ship Fram] {{commons|Fram}} *[http://www.fram.museum.no/en/ The Fram Museum website (English version)] {{coor title dms|59|54|12|N|10|41|58|E|region:NO_type:landmark}} [[Category:Exploration ships]] [[Category:Museum ships]] [[Category:Sailboat names]] [[Category:Nautical lore]] <!-- interwiki --> [[da:Fram]] [[de:Fram]] [[fr:Fram]] [[hr:Fram]] [[is:Fram (skip)]] [[it:Fram]] [[ja:フラム号]] [[nds:Fram]] [[nl:Fram]] [[no:«Fram»]] [[pl:Fram (statek)]] [[ru:Фрам]] [[sl:Fram (ladja)]] [[sv:Fram (skepp)]] [[tr:Fram]]