18 THK JKANNETTK ARCTIC KXPEDITION. 



vessel. The Secretary of the Navy was authorized to accept 

 and take charge of the ship for the use of the proposed 

 expedition, and to use any material on hand in fitting her 

 for the voyage; but upon condition that the Department 

 should not be subjected to any expense on account thereof. 



The Jeannette was taken from Havre, in France, through 

 the Straits of Magellan to San Francisco, by Lieutenant 

 DeLong, with Lieutenant Danenhower as navigating officer, 

 and there delivered to the naval authorities at Mare Island. 

 After a thorough examination it was deemed advisable, on 

 account of the hazardous nature of the contemplated voyage, 

 that her capacity to resist the pressure of the ice should be 

 increased. " This conclusion," says the Secretary of the 

 Navy, " was precautionary, merely, inasmuch as she had 

 been well constructed, and was believed to possess ordinary 

 strength." 



A large amount of work was subsequently done upon the 

 ship at the expense of Mr. Bennett. She was furnished 

 with new boilers ; iron box beams were put in abaft and 

 forward of the boilers to strengthen her sides ; trusses were 

 strengthened ; additional wooden hooks were introduced and 

 fastened through and through ; her extreme fore end, to the 

 extent of about ten feet from the spar deck down, was filled 

 in with solid timber and caulked; additional strakes and 

 planks six inches thick were introduced to strengthen her 

 bilge ; and her deck frame was renewed wherever required. 

 The cabin and forecastle were padded with layers of felt to 

 keep out the cold, and the poop deck was covered with 

 several thicknesses of stout painted canvas. Boats, tents, 

 extra sails, two extra propellers, extra pumps, a distilling 

 apparatus, a hoisting engine rigged on the spar deck to be 

 employed in warping, all kinds of machinery that might 

 possibly be of use, and everything that could be devised to 

 give safety to the explorers and efficiency to the expedi- 

 tion, were provided. The vessel was fully provisioned and 

 equipped for a three years' voyage. 



