
The frozen north has long beckoned daring souls, its endless ice fields promising both peril and discovery. From the tragic loss of Franklin to the daring breakthroughs of Nordenskjöld, the quest for a sea route around America has become a legend whispered in fjord towns. As a boy watching Frithiof Nansen’s triumphant return, the narrator feels the call of the Northwest Passage stir deep within him, a dream that refuses to fade.
Years later he finds himself aboard modest vessels, first hunting seals on the ice and then steering a Belgian Antarctic expedition. Each voyage sharpens his knowledge of the polar seas and fuels his resolve to carve a new path through the treacherous waters. With counsel from renowned explorers and a modest fund gathered from his own savings, he prepares to present his daring plan to Nansen, hoping to turn childhood reverie into a real‑world venture toward the elusive western route.
Full title
De Noordwestelijke Doorvaart De Aarde en haar Volken, 1909
Language
nl
Duration
~3 hours (218K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/
Release date
2007-06-20
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1872–1928
Drawn to the harshest corners of the world, this Norwegian explorer became one of the great figures of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration. He is best known for leading the first expedition to reach the South Pole and for remarkable voyages through both the Northwest and Northeast Passages.
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