60 Chapter II. 



could readily be hoisted up during ice pressure, without 

 being crushed between the floes. Greely, Nares, etc., 

 etc., are certainly right in saying that this is nothing- 

 new. I relied here simply on the sad experiences of 

 earlier expeditions. What, however, may be said to be 

 new is the fact that we not only realised that the ship 

 ought to have such a form, but that we gave it that form, 

 as well as the necessary strength for resisting great ice- 

 pressure, and that this was the guiding idea in the whole 

 work of construction. Colin Archer is quite right in 

 what he says in an article in the Norsk Tidsskrift for 

 Sovtzsen, 1892 : " When one bears in mind what is, so 

 to speak, the fundamental idea of Dr. Nansen's plan in 

 his North Pole Expedition .... it will readily be seen 

 that a ship which is to be built with exclusive regard to 

 its suitability for this object must differ essentially from 

 any other previously known vessel. . . . 



"In the construction of the ship two points must be 

 especially studied, (i) that the shape of the hull be such 

 as to offer as small a vulnerable target as possible to the 

 attacks of the ice ; and (2) that it be built so solidly as 

 to be able to withstand the greatest possible pressure 

 from without in any direction whatsoever." 



And thus she was built, more attention being paid to 

 making her a safe and warm stronghold while drifting in 

 the ice, than to endowing her with speed or good sailing 

 qualities. 



As above stated, our aim was to make the ship as 



