Ice Ship: The Epic Voyages of the Polar Adventurer Fram

by Charles W. Johnson

In the golden age of polar exploration (from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s), many an expedition set out to answer the big question--was the Arctic a continent, an open ocean beyond a barrier of ice, or an ocean covered with ice? No one knew, for the ice had kept its secret well; ships trying to penetrate it all failed, often catastrophically. Norway's charismatic scientist-explorer Fridtjof Nansen, convinced that it was a frozen ocean, intended to prove it in a novel if risky way: by building a ship capable of withstanding the ice, joining others on an expedition, then drifting wherever it took them, on a relentless one-way journey into discovery and fame . . . or oblivion.
Ice Ship is the story of that extraordinary ship, the Fram, from conception to construction, through twenty years of three epic expeditions, to its final resting place as a museum. It is also the story of the extraordinary men who steered the Fram over the course of 84,000 miles: on a three-year, ice-bound drift, finding out what the Arctic really was; in a remarkable four-year exploration of unmapped lands in the vast Canadian Arctic; and on a two-year voyage to Antarctica, where another famous Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, claimed the South Pole.
Ice Ship will appeal to all those fascinated with polar exploration, maritime adventure, and wooden ships, and will captivate readers of such books as The Endurance, In the Heart of the Sea, and The Last Place on Earth. With more than 100 original photographs, the book brings the Fram to life and light.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Adventure

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2014

Reviews

[George Ilsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating tale of the Fram and all who sailed on her. This sturdy ship was famous for being the Norwegian explorer Nansen's ship in his Arctic explorations, and then Roald Amundsen took it to Antarctica for his journey to the South Pole.

A little overly detailed at times, and my biggest complaint was the format. Typically coffee table-sized books are full of photos, usually more photos than text. This one was mostly text. I wanted more photos, or else a book that was easier to hold while trying to read all the text. I literally struggled with the weight of this book. It would have been more manageable in a smaller format.

(As a sidebar, while finishing this book, the news reported that the Maud was being lifted in the Canadian arctic. The Maud was, of course, another ship, but was related to the Fram.)

The Fram today, the entire ship, is in a museum in Oslo, Norway. The word is that it looks remarkable small for such a fabled ship who travelled the great oceans and brought explorers to the ends of the earth.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

a 4.5 rounded up.

Of all possible fields of history from which to choose, polar exploration in its heyday is my favorite subject. When I was a kid I was fascinated with explorers and would spend hours upon hours reading about them. In the realm of polar expeditions, I got my start reading Roland Huntford's The Last Place on Earth, a true account of about the rush to the South Pole, and what turned out to be a race between Amundsen and Scott to plant their respective country's flag. It was in that book where I first heard about the Fram and about Fridtjov Nansen, and I remember being quite impressed that Nansen had such foresight in building the perfect ship. In this current book, author Charles W. Johnson provides not only a look at Amundsen's expedition in the Fram, but also at the two other epic expeditions of the ship, its creation, the men who called it home for years on end, and its eventual fate.

Regular readers engaged in histories of polar exploration who are already familiar with Fram's voyages will still find plenty to like about this book. The author picks up on some things Nansen glossed over in his Farthest North, the record of his voyage on the Fram. There are a number of original photographs as well as maps that the reader can reference. Interestingly, it was an article about a few remnants of the USS Jeannette expedition (the subject of Hampton Sides' current book In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette and a great read, by the way) that somehow ended up in a place far, far away from where they should have been that got things going for Nansen. An article written about the finds prompted another article by a Norwegian scientist studying polar currents. His article in turn caught Nansen's eye and after much scientific study, Nansen decided to build a "special ship" that could weather being frozen into pack ice. The idea was that the ship and its crew would be "carried by the same currents that carried the Jeanette's remains over the pole." As the author notes, the ship was to be a sort of "driftwood, of an extraordinary kind." With much careful planning, the Fram was born -- and she was to see two more major expeditions in her lifetime. Not only does the author detail these expeditions and the people who were involved, he also examines what else was going on in the field of polar exploration, north and south, at the time. So the reader ends up with a kind of general but not overwhelming or overdetailed history, also making it perfect for anyone with even just an interest in the field of polar exploration during the period which the author calls "the height of polar fever."

Granted, there are probably people who will take a look at this title and think that a book about a ship has just got to be duller than dishwater, but there's way more than just the ship under discussion here. It's a wonderful book, and by the way, the hardcover copy is beautiful and would make a great gift to someone who is interested in the subject.

Thank you to the publisher, and thank you to Librarything's ER program!

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles W. Johnson's "Ice Ship: The Epic Voyages of the Polar Adventurer Fram" is an attractive, well-constructed book that just found its new home on my coffee table. It is fully illustrated with photos chronicling the ship's adventures and crews.
The Fram was designed and built by Colin Archer for Fridtjof Nansen's Arctic expedition around 1892. It was also used for Otto Sverdrup’s exploration of the Canadian Arctic islands as well as Roald Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole from 1910-1912. The Fram was built with the idea of travelling through icy waters in mind, and is believed to have travelled further south and north than any ship constructed of wood. Since wood was not strong enough to handle the pressure of ice, Nansen came up with the idea to build a ship that could essentially ‘float on’ the top of the ice due to its design. I would say more, but that would spoil the fun of finding and perusing the book.
I would unquestionably recommend this book to history buffs, fans of maritime history, anyone interested in ship building, or people like me, who are just fascinated by old wooden ships and like to look at photos of them.
I am also fascinated that these people could accomplish such remarkable feats in such frigid temperatures and treacherous conditions. This book definitely brings their accomplishments to life.

[Warren Wulff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biographies of ships is an interesting subgenre, one where the author decides how far to stray from the ship itself and into the lives of its passengers. In this case, it is a beautiful balance, as arguably the world's most successful polar ship, Fram, carries the tale of Nansen, Sverdrup, and Amundsen's Norwegian crews to the Arctic and Antarctic over the course of twenty years. I would argue that a bit more attention should have been paid to the architecture, fitting out, and daily work of the ship itself, as there are already very good biographies and histories of the explorers and their missions. However, from this one book it is possible to get a thorough picture of Norway's contribution to polar exploration and science, which is indeed tremendous. The writing is crisp, and except for stating the wrong date for the summer solstice, accurate from what I can see. I appreciate that the author went to the original Norwegian ship diaries of its crew, to get to the real stories behind the sanitized versions produced in official expedition literature from the period. It is a compelling picture, centered on the Fram, of the heroic age of polar exploration.

[zunggg]

"Ice Ship" uses the story of the ship Fram to retell the various epic voyages of exploration and survival in which it was involved. If you've read accounts of those voyages already, especially Nansen's "Farthest North" then you probably won't learn much from this book. It is well-written though and well-produced with sufficient maps and a firm grasp of the chronology. And you do come away knowing the Fram not just as a truly remarkable vessel but as a character in its own right. The story of the expedition around the Greenland coast and into the Canadian Arctic is less well-known and the book may be worth getting for that narrative alone.

[SueSue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have read a lot of stories about the Golden Age of polar exploration, but they've always focused on the people or the places (or both).
This was the first book I found devoted to a ship from that time in history.
I'm not a boat person, or a water person, but boy did I fall in love with the Fram here. So very glad her story had a happy ending, too. Makes me want to go visit her in Oslo. ❤️

[Mark Bergemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

We’ll written

Much too expensive for the read you get. If you are familiar with other Arctic exploration history, it might repetitive. Regardless, I enjoyed the read, and would recommend it. Again, at a reasonable price, it would have been five stars.

[Amerynth · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free copy of Charles W. Johnson's "Ice Ship: The Epic Voyages of the Polar Adventurer Fram" from LT's Early Reviewers program.

First off, this is a pretty nice coffee table style book with loads of great pictures of the Fram mired in the polar ice. Johnson had a good idea for this book too -- uniting all of voyages of the Fram, a boat that was used to launch both North and South Pole expeditions, in one book.

The book gives a good overview of the Fram's three expeditions. I'm a bit of a nut about polar adventures.... I've read first-hand accounts by both Nansen and Amundsen so I was pretty familiar with their stories. Johnson has a few tidbits here and there that Nansen and Amundsen glossed over that add a little to their accounts. Occasionally, Johnson gets a little bit too detailed on inconsequential stuff, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Overall, I'm glad to have read this book.

[Dolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this on GoodReads.

"Ice Ship" by Charles W Johnson tells of the epic artic voyages of the Fram; a ship specially designed for polar expedition starting just before the turn of the century. I was awed and inspired by the bravery of the crews on these voyages. The book was very readable and the pictures wonderful. This book was on my coffee table over Thanksgiving and I almost lost it several times. I absolutely loved this book, a must have.

[Ján · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read that focuses on the ship, Fram, itself, rather than just Nansen or Amundsen. It's very thorough and very engaging, as one rarely realizes the role of the ship when reading just through separate biographies of the men involved. It gets rather long towards the end, but manages to remain engaging.