64 Chapter II. 



sealers with a crew of over 60 men several hours, or 

 even a whole day, to ship a fresh rudder. 



The stern is, on the whole, the Achilles' heel of 

 ships in the polar seas ; here the ice can easily 

 inflict great damage, for instance, by breaking the 

 rudder. To guard against this danger, our rudder was 

 placed so low down as not to be visible above water, so 

 that if a floe should strike the vessel aft. it would 

 break its force against the strong stern-part, and could 

 hardly touch the rudder itself. As a matter of fact, 

 notwithstanding the violent pressures we met with, we 

 never suffered any injury in this respect. 



Everything was of course done to make the sides of 

 the ship as strong as possible. The frame timbers were 

 of choice Italian oak that had originally been intended 

 for the Norwegian navy, and had lain under cover at 

 Horten for 30 years. They were all grown to shape 

 and 10-11 inches thick. The frames were built in two 

 courses or tiers, closely wrought together, and connected 

 by bolts, some of which were riveted. Over each joint 

 flat iron bands were placed. The frames were about 

 21 inches (56 cm.) wide, and were placed close together, 

 with only about an inch or an inch and a-half between ; 

 and these interstices were filled with pitch and sawdust 

 mixed, from the keel to a little distance above the water- 

 line, in order to keep the ship moderately watertight, 

 even should the outer skin be chafed through. 



The outside planking consists of three layers. 



