THE "FRAM" 359 



believed to depend In a great measure. Not only was there a 

 greater weight to lift, but there was a considerably greater danger 

 of the walls of ice, that would pile themselves against the ship's 

 sides, falling over the bulwarks and covering the deck before the 

 ice began to raise her. The load would, however, be lightened by 

 the time the ship was frozen fast. Events showed that she was 

 readily lifted when the ice-pressure set in, and that the danger of 

 injury from falling blocks of ice was less than had been expected. 

 The Fr ant's keel is of American elm in two lengths, 14 inches 

 square; the room and space is 2 feet. The frame-timbers are 

 almost all of oak obtained from the Naval Dockyard at Horten, 

 where they had lain for many years, thus being perfectly seasoned. 

 The timbers were all grown to shape. The frames consist of two 

 tiers of timbers everywhere, each timber measuring 10 to 11 inches 

 fore and aft; the two tiers of timbers are fitted together and 

 bolted, so that they form a solid and compact whole. The joints 

 of the frame - timbers are covered with iron plates. The lining 

 consists of pitch-pine in good lengths and of varying thickness from 

 4 to 6 inches. The keelson is also of pitch-pine, in two layers, one 

 above the other; each layer 15 inches square from the stem to the 

 engine-room. Under the boiler and engine there was only room 

 for one keelson. There are two decks. The beams of the main- 

 deck are of American or German oak, those of the lower deck and 

 half-deck of pitch-pine and Norwegian fir. All the deck planks are 

 of Norwegian fir, 4 inches in the main-deck and 3 inches elsewhere. 

 The beams are fastened to the ship's sides by knees of Norwegian 

 spruce, of which about 450 were used. Wooden knees were, as 

 a rule, preferred to iron ones, as they are more elastic. A good 

 many iron knees were used, however, where wood was less suitable. 

 In the boiler and engine room the beams of the lower deck had to 

 be raised about 3 feet to give sufficient height for the engines. 

 The upper deck was similarly raised from the stern-post to the 

 mainmast, forming a half-deck, under which the cabins were placed. 

 On this half-deck, immediately forward of the funnel, a deck-house 



