1902.] BRYANT— DRIFT CASKS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 155 



Other agencies for some years past. But in such cases the mes- 

 sages have been enclosed in an ordinary bottle and have been dis- 

 tributed along the ordinary routes of ocean travel. But the idea 

 of investigating circumpolar currents by means of specially con- 

 structed drift casks originated, I believe, with Admiral Melville, 

 and the project possesses certain features which will commend it to 

 that large body of students who are interested in the problems of 

 oceanography. On another occasion I outlined some of the pre- 

 liminaries of this experiment, and in this connection I venture to 

 quote from that statement of the subject : ^ 



''This proposed method of studying Arctic currents without 

 endangering human life having been brought to the notice of the 

 Geographical Society of Philadelphia, that body determined to un- 

 dertake the project. In view of the exigencies of a long voyage on 

 the floe ice, special attention was given in the construction of the 

 casks to shape and strength of materials. Thus, to more readily 

 escape crushing by the ice, as intimated above, their shape con- 

 formed to that of a parabolic spindle, while they were made of 

 heavy oak staves one and one-quarter inches think, encompassed 

 by iron hoops three sixteenths of an inch thick and two inches wide. 

 A coating of black ' half stuff ' (pitch and resin mixed) was then 

 applied. In addition to the preservative qualities of this coating, 

 the thickness of the wood and metal used is believed to be sufficient 

 to resist the attrition of the ice and the effects of corrosion during 

 the long drift. The staves, so tapered as to form the spindle, were 

 covered on the ends by light galvanized cast-iron caps, held in 

 place by an iron rod five-eighths of an inch in diameter, extending 

 the length of the cask and secured by conical nuts at each end. As 

 above stated, a heavy coating of black water-proofing material was 

 applied to the casks to guard against corrosion and decay. From 

 the color used they will be more easily seen, and will also the more 

 readily sink — under the action of the summer sun— into the body 

 of the ice and be preserved from destruction by crushing. The 

 number of each cask was etched into the wood, as well as painted 

 on the outside. In accordance with the instructions of the origin- 

 ator of the plan, the vessels must be placed on the heavy floe ice. 

 If set adrift in open water they would be too much at the mercy of 

 winds and waves, whereas by being deposited on heavy ice, which 



1 " Drift Casks to Determine Arctic Currents," by Henry G. Bryant, Ver- 

 handlungen des Siebenten Internationalen Geographen-Kongresses, Berlin, 

 1899, Zweiter Theil, Seite 663. 



