Show BACK FROM ARCTIffSEAS Details of Expedition of Fram Told By Captain VESSEL HAD CLOSE CALL I Serious Fire Occurred on the Steamer in May 1000 and Iras Only by tho Hardest Kind of Work That the Ship Escaped Destruction From tho Flames Winter of Nineteen Hundred Was UnuGually Cold and StormyNo Eskimos Met by embers em-bers of Expedition Christiana Norway Sept OCapt Otto Svcrdrop who reached Stavanger yesterday from the Arctic regions on the steamer Pram In an Interview with a reporter of the Associated Press gave the following details of his expedition I spent the winter of 1S9S00 in winter win-ter quarters at Ellesmereland whence sclcnllllc expeditions were started with seldgcs The summer of 1S9D was unfavorable un-favorable and the Fram was obliged to return and pass the winter at Elles mereland A great part of the surrounding sur-rounding region was mapped out FIRE ON VESSEL There was a serious fire on board the From In May 1900 Tt was started by sparks from the funnel and spread to the kayakn Arctic canoes which were smeared with poralnnc for their protection The rigging and mnst caught lire and the total destruction of the vessel wan threatened but we succeeded suc-ceeded In mastering the flames In August 1000 wo traversed Joness sound and Cardigans strait and took up winter quarters at 764S north and SO west The region was rich In reindeer rein-deer and polar wolves of which we brought back living specimens UNUSUALLY COLD WINTER The following winter was more than ordinarily cold and stormy the average temperature being 13 degrees below zero Sledge expeditions occupied the spring and summer of IDOl and the early part of 1902 On August nth the Fram succeeded In breaking away from the Ice and arrived ar-rived at < Goodhavcn August 18th Wo left Cape Farwell homeward bound on August 2Sth Capt Sverdrop added that the members mem-bers of the expedition met no Eskimos in the regions visited but he said that many of their dwellings belonging to former periods were seen |