358 



APPENDIX I 



adopt a form that would ofPer no vulnerable point on the ship's 

 side, but would cause the increasing horizontal pressure of the ice 

 to effect a raising of the ship, as described above. In the construc- 

 tion of the Fram it was sought to solve this problem by avoiding 

 plane or concave surfaces, thus giving the vessel as far as possible 

 round and full lines. Besides increasing the power of resistance to 

 external pressure, this form has the advantage of making it easy 

 for the ice to glide along the bottom in any direction. 



The Fram was a three-masted fore-and-aft schooner with an 

 auxiliary engine of 200 indicated horse-power, which was calculated 

 to give her a speed of 6 knots, when moderately loaded, with a coal 

 consumption of 2'8 tons a day. 



The vessel was designed to be only large enough to carry the 

 necessary coal-supply, provisions, and other equipment for a period 

 of five years, and to give room for the crew. 



Her principal dimensions are: 



Length of keel 

 Length of waterline 

 Length over all 

 Beam on waterline 

 Greatest beam 

 Depth 



103-3 English feet. 



119 



128 



34 



36 



172 



Her displacement, with a draught of 15*6 feet, is 800 tons. The 

 measurements are taken to the outside of the planks, but do not 

 include the ice-skin. By Custom-house measurement she was 

 found to be 402 gross tons register, and 307 tons net. 



The ship, with engines and boilers, was calculated to weigh 

 about 420 tons. With the draught above mentioned, which gives 

 a freeboard of 3 feet, there would thus be 380 tons available for 

 cargo. This weight was actually exceeded by 100 tons, which left 

 a freeboard of only 20 inches when the ship sailed on her first 

 voyage. This additional immersion could only have awkward 

 effects when the ship came into the ice, as its effect would then be 

 to retard the lifting by the ice, on which the safety of the ship was 



