﻿42 boats' crews. 1847. 



inch thick ; ashen floors placed 9 inches apart ; 

 stem, stern-posts, and knees of English oak; and 

 gunwales of rock-elm. To admit of their stow- 

 ing the requisite cargo, they were necessarily 

 very flat-floored, but screws and bolts were fitted 

 to the kelson, by which a false keel might be 

 readily bolted on before they reached the Arctic 

 Sea, so as to render them more weatherly. The 

 larger boats when quite empty drew 7J inches of 

 water, and, when loaded with two tons but without 

 a crew, 14J inches. They were constructed of two 

 sizes, that the smaller might stow within the larger 

 ones during the passage across the Atlantic. 



For the voyage on the Arctic Sea, a crew of 

 five men to each boat was considered sufficient, 

 but for river navigation a bowman and steers- 

 man experienced in the art of ruiniing rapids were 

 required in addition. Five seamen and fifteen 

 sappers and miners were selected in the month of 

 May, for the expedition, from a number of volun- 

 teers. They were all men of good physical powers, 

 and, with one exception, bore excellent charac- 

 ters in their respective services. The solitary ex- 

 ception was one of the sappers and miners who 

 had repeatedly appeared on the defaulters' list for 

 drunkenness, but as he was reported to be in other 

 respects a good and willing workman, and I knew 

 that he would have no means of obtaining intoxi- 



