After their epic struggles in remote regions, not every explorer relished being in the spotlight on their return to civilisation…

It’s wonderful to be interviewing and corresponding with so many incredible people to gather material for my new book, ’Voices of the Earth’.   I’m really touched by their generosity and enthusiasm.  Quite apart from the fascinating stories that they have to share, it strikes me for about the hundredth time that everyone is so uniquely different - in their life experience, in their skills and interests, in their motivation, and in the geographical regions that they are drawn to.  What they all have in common is absolute passion for what they do.

Taking this a step further, it’s interesting to see how the great explorers of the past dealt with the experience of worldwide fame on their return from some far-flung destination. In many cases they’d seen no other humans for months - sometimes years - and then suddenly they were expected to deliver eloquent speeches in crowded lecture theatres and at sumptuous banquets.  For many of them, the experience must have been terrifying, and they could have been forgiven for pining unexpectedly for the solitude that they had left behind. 

In the case of the Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, I came across an insight just by chance at RSGS the other week. Concluding the second volume of his book, ‘The First Crossing of Greenland’, he wrote:

‘On May 21 [1889] we were in Copenhagen.  To describe the welcome and hospitality accorded us here, as well as in Norway afterwards, my pen would be far too feeble, and I will forbear to make the attempt.  Nor will I try to account to the reader for all the speeches that had to be heard, and all those that had to be made in return;  nor for all that had to be eaten and drunk on such occasions;  nor to give him an idea of the incredible sufferings that those tormentors of the human race, those ghouls of modern life, by courtesy called interviewers, are allowed to inflict on people as innocent as ourselves.’

 

Fridtjof Nansen, portrait by Henry van de Weyde

Nansen often comes across as the epitome of gritty resilience and self-confidence, an impression that is reinforced, if anything, by photos taken at the time.  So it’s interesting to see that, although he acknowledged the hospitality, he didn’t necessarily enjoy the seemingly endless round of lectures and interviews.   If he regarded interviewers as the ‘ghouls of modern life’, I can’t help wondering what they were asking him.

And as for the lavish meals that he was expected to consume, his problem was no doubt exacerbated because, unlike his fellow diners, he just wasn’t used to the quantities involved.  I remember that Shackleton and his companions reported being physically unable to eat all the delicious food that they had been dreaming about for so long, when they’d returned from the Antarctic.  Their bodies had adapted to near-starvation conditions. 

 

Nansen and his team of 1888-89.  With skis, snow shoes and sledges, they made the first ever crossing of the Greenland ice cap

Nansen’s Greenland team consisted of Otto Sverdrup, Oluf Dietrichson, Kristian Kristiansen Trana, Samuel Balto and Ole Ravna, and it seems that they, too, had mixed feelings about their new celebrity status.  As the boat approached the harbour, they could see that the quayside was packed with thousands of people eagerly waiting to greet them.  According to Nansen: 

‘Dietrichson said to Ravna:  “Are not all these people a fine sight, Ravna?”  “Yes, it is fine, very fine; —but if they had only been reindeer!” was Ravna’s answer.’

 

This menu for a seven-course banquet hosted by RSGS shows that Nansen faced a similar challenge after returning from his second Arctic expedition in 1896.  Speeches were an important feature - the Toast List is shown on the right.  Earlier, in a lecture to about 3,000 people in the Synod Hall, Edinburgh, he had said:  ’If any one who had got tired of the bustling life of Europe were to go to the Far North, he would get plenty of rest for his strained nerves.’  (Image: RSGS Collections)

 

Quotes:  

 

Fridtjof Nansen, ‘The First Crossing of Greenland’ (1890)

The Scotsman, 13th February 1897