Olaf Jansen and his father

Olaf Jansen was born October 27th, 1811 and was nineteen years old when he and his father set on their yearly fishing trip between April and June of 1829.

After having a successful trip the year before, Olaf's father expressed the hope that "this time we might again be fortunate enough to load our little fishing-sloop with ivory, instead of cod, herring, mackerel and salmon".

Leaving Stockholm and arriving in Franz Josef Land, Olaf's father declared that, "There was a tradition that still farther northward was a land more beautiful than any that mortal man had ever known, and that it was inhabited by the 'Chosen.'.". They decided to forge on and find this incredible place!

After escaping a fierce storm and perilous icebergs they sailed smoothly for eleven days, always in what seemed to be a northerly direction. Thirsty, they noticed that they were in fresh water and refilled their drinking casks.

Around the 1st August the sea grew calm and they saw what they assumed was a reflection of the sun or a planet, except that it never moved. A few days later they reached the shores of a mighty river, which further carried them inland for another ten days. Along the banks were great forests, with gigantic trees, that stretched for miles.

It was about the 1st of September when they heard singing voices and sighted a huge ship coming down the river towards them. "It was a larger ship than any we had ever seen, and was differently constructed", Olaf would later declare.

"The immense craft paused, and almost immediately a boat was lowered and six men of gigantic stature rowed to our little fishing-sloop. They spoke to us in a strange language. We knew from their manner, however, that they were not unfriendly. They talked a great deal among themselves, and one of them laughed immoderately, as though in finding us a queer discovery had been made. One of them spied our compass, and it seemed to interest them more than any other part of our sloop."

To read the complete story of this expedition into Our Hollow Earth, click on The Smoky God Or A Voyage to the Inner World by Willis George Emerson.