38 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY 



will get some idea of the internal arrangements, but he will 

 scarcely realise the extraordinary solidity of the structure. 

 Most people who have voyaged in modern ships know that 

 between them and the sea there has only interposed a steel 

 plate the fraction of an inch in thickness ; they may, therefore, 

 be interested to know what the side of the ' Discovery ' was 

 like. The frames, which were placed very close together, were 

 eleven inches thick and of solid English oak ; inside the frames 

 came the inner lining, a solid planking four inches thick ; whilst 

 the outside was covered with two layers of planking, respectively 

 six and five inches thick, so that, in most places, to bore a hole 

 in the side one would have had to get through twenty-six 

 inches of solid wood. 



It will give some idea of the complexity of the construction 

 of such a ship to name the various woods that were employed 

 in the side, for in each place the most suitable was chosen. 

 The inner lining was of Riga fir, the frames of English oak, the 

 inner skin, according to its position, of pitch pine, Honduras 

 mahogany, or oak, whilst the outer skin in the same way was of 

 English elm or greenheart. The massive side structure was 

 stiffened and strengthened by three tiers of beams running 

 from side to side, and at intervals with stout transverse wooden 

 bulkheads ; the beams in the lower tiers were especially solid, 

 being eleven inches by eleven inches in section, and they were 

 placed at intervals of something less than three feet. 



All this went to give the ship a frame capable of resisting 

 immense side strains, but, strong as she was in this respect, 

 the rigid stiffness of the sides was as nothing to that of the 

 bows. Some idea of the fortification of this part can be 

 gathered from the drawing, which shows the numerous and 

 closely placed girders and struts that went to support the 

 forefoot. Such a network of solid oak stiffeners gave to this 

 portion of the vessel a strength which almost amounted to 

 solidity. It will be seen, too, how the keel at the fore-end of 

 the ship gradually grew thicker till it rose in the enormous 

 mass of solid wood which constituted the stem. No single 

 tree could provide the wood for such a stem, but the several 



