PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION. 51 



flesh (iny own weight), and say seventy pounds rope, at a 

 height of one hundred and fifty feet, would require a balloon 

 about twenty-two feet in diameter, according to Professor 

 King. To fill this enormous machine requires gas generated 

 from coal, or gas generated from the action of sulphuric acid 

 on iron cuttings : in the first manner we should require a coal 

 mine near at hand, and in the second manner we should need 

 another ship to carry the sulphuric acid and iron cuttings. 

 The second plan is of course impracticable, and the first would 

 come in merely in case we strike a vein of coal in Kellett (or 

 Wrangel} Land. The cost of a balloon would be between 

 seven hundred and eight hundred dollars, and under the cir- 

 cumstances I cannot recommend you to adopt it on either the 

 score of usefulness or economy. While we were digging out 

 coal enough to float the balloon, we might advance twenty-five 

 miles with sledges, or afoot, and reach the extreme horizon to 

 be seen from the prospective elevation." 



No incidental interests of this kind could compare 

 with the importance attaching to the condition of the 

 Jeannette herself, and the commander was unremitting 

 in his attention to the preparations made in the spring 

 and early summer of 1878, when the vessel lay in the 

 shipyard at Deptford. Everything was done which his 

 own experience and that of professional surveyors 

 could suggest for the repair and strengthening of a 

 vessel already well built and equipped for Arctic voy- 

 ages. 



The Jeannette was finally ready for sea, and was 

 taken to Cowes, where she shipped her crew and then 

 crossed the channel to Havre, where she arrived June 

 18, 1878. She lay at Havre for a month, during which 

 time she ^vas inspected by many visitors, and the com- 

 mander completed his equipment of charts, books, and 

 stores. On the 4th of July the vessel was formally 

 christened. Mr. Bennett sailed for New York on the 



