12'.

To continue onward would have meant certain death, so they turned back.

When their watches ran down Providence guided them, and the marvelous physique of both sustained them through fog and storm and threatened starvation until they reached Franz Josef Land, late in August.

There they built a hut of stones and killed bears for meat for the winter.

In May, 1896, they resumed their southward journey, when fortunately they met the Englishman Jackson, who was exploring the Archipelago.
Meanwhile the _Fram_, after Nansen left her, continued her tortuous drifting across the upper world.