TENTS 77 



We had six three-man tents, all made in the navy 

 workshops. The workmanship could not have been 

 better; they were the strongest and most practical 

 tents that have ever been used. They were made of 

 the closest canvas, with the floor in one piece. One 

 man was sufficient to set up the tent in the stiffest 

 breeze; I have come to the conclusion that the fewer 

 poles a tent has, the easier it is to set up, which seems 

 quite natural. These tents have only one pole. How 

 often one reads in narratives of Polar travel that 

 it took such and such a time often hours to set up 

 the tent, and then, when at last it was up, one lay 

 expecting it to be blown down at any moment. There 

 was no question of this with our tents. They were up 

 in a twinkling, and stood against all kinds of wind; we 

 could lie securely in our sleeping-bags, and let it blow. 



The arrangement of the door was on the usual sack 

 principle, which is now recognized as the only serviceable 

 one for the Polar regions. The sack patent is quite 

 simple, like all patents that are any good. You cut an 

 opening in the tent of the size you wish; then you take 

 a sack, which you leave open at both ends, and sew one 

 end fast round the opening of the tent. The funnel 

 formed by the open sack is then the entrance. When 

 you have come in, you gather up the open end of the 

 funnel or sack, and tie it together. Not a particle of 

 snow can get into a tent with the floor sewed on and an 

 entrance of this kind, even in the worst storm. 



