From 1893-1896 Nansen's North Pole expedition took the 39m, 3-masted schooner to Russia's New Siberian Islands, passing within a few degrees of the N Pole on their trip back to Norway - a record. Nansen had wanted to prove that there was an E-W current over the Arctic Ocean, so the "Fram", enveloped in pack ice, drifted with the current and withstood the pressure of the ice. Otto Sverdrup saile the ship around S Greenland to Canada's Ellesmere Island between 1898 and 1902, covering over 18 000 km. In 1910 Roald Amundsen set sail in the "Fram" (meaning "forward"), intending to be the first explorer to reach the N Pole. Unfortunately for him, Robert Peary had beaten him to it. So Amundsen, not to be outdone, decided to aim for the S Pole instead, racing Robert Falcon Scott the whole way. He and his men beat Scott to the pole, the latter and his crew dying of hunger and cold.