46 Chapter I. 



E. Ingle field, another Captain (now Admiral) Wharton, 

 Director of the Hydrographic Department of England. 



In a letter to the Geographical Society, Admiral 

 Sir George H. Richards says, on the occasion of my 

 address : "I regret to have to speak discouragingly 

 of this project, but I think that any one who can speak 

 with authority ought to speak plainly where so much 

 may be at stake." 



With regard to the currents, he says : " I believe there 

 is a constant outflow (I prefer this word to current) from 

 the north, in consequence of the displacement of the 

 water from the region of the Pole by the ice-cap which 

 covers it, intensified in its density by the enormous 

 weight of snow accumulated on its surface." This 

 outflow takes place on all sides, he thinks, from the polar 

 basin, but should be most pronounced in the tract 

 between the western end of the Parry Islands and 

 Spitzbergen ; and with this outflow all previous expedi- 

 tions have had to contend. He does not appear to make 

 any exception as to the Tegethoff or Jeannette, and can 

 find no reason "for believing that a current sets north 



O 



over the Pole from the New Siberian Islands which 

 Dr. Nansen hopes for and believes in." . . . " It is 

 my opinion that when really within what may be called 

 the inner circle, say about 78 of latitude, there is little 

 current of any kind that would influence a ship in the 

 close ice that must be expected ; it is when we get 

 outside this circle round the corners, as it were into 



