Fram

Fram is the name of a Norwegian ice-strengthened ship famous for its role in early polar exploration during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The name Fram means forward or at the front in Norwegian, reflecting its purpose as a vessel for experimental Arctic and Antarctic travel.

Fram was built for expeditions to the polar regions and was constructed at the Framnæs shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway, in the early 1890s. The hull was designed to withstand repeated pressure from pack ice, allowing the ship to ride up on the ice and be carried with it rather than be crushed. This design made Fram one of the most notable polar ships of its era.

The ship’s notable voyages began with Fridtjof Nansen’s Fram expedition (1893–1896), in which Fram drifted with Arctic ice for about two years in an attempt to reach the North Pole by leveraging natural ice movement. Although the pole itself was not reached, the expedition yielded extensive data on sea ice and high-latitude conditions.

Otto Sverdrup later commanded several voyages aboard Fram (1898–1902) that explored and mapped large portions of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, uncovering new lands and improving geographic knowledge of the region.

In 1910–1912, Roald Amundsen used Fram for his South Pole expedition, achieving the first confirmed arrival at the South Pole on December 14, 1911, and returning with accompanying scientific findings and a new approach to polar travel.

Today Fram is preserved as a museum ship at the Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway, where it remains a symbol of Norway’s pioneering era of polar exploration and is accessible to the public for study and exhibition.