214 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



ing situations, can duly appreciate the confidence 

 and comfort which this belief is calculated to afford 

 under the most appalling circumstances. 



The class of vessels best adapted for discovery in 

 the Polar Seas, seems to be that of 100 to 200 tons 

 burden. All the great discoveries which have been 

 made in the neighbourhood of Greenland, have been 

 effected, it may be observed, in a description of 

 vessels still smaller ; which kind of ships, in some 

 respects, possesses a material advantage over that 

 of larger dimensions. They are stronger, more 

 easily managed, in less danger of being stove or 

 crushed by ice, and are less expensive. But of these 

 advantages of a small vessel, the most important is 

 its greater comparative strength ; as ships become 

 weaker, it can easily be shown, as they increase in 

 magnitude. A small sloop, carelessly and unscien- 

 tifically built, can lie aground with a full lading of 

 heavy goods on board, on a very uneven surface, and 

 yet sustain little or no injury ; nay, loaded sloops, 

 which have been driven on shore upon a sandy 

 beach, in a storm, accompanied with a heavy sea, 

 have sometimes been launched or floated off with- 

 out having sustained any material damage; where- 

 as a frigate or a line-of-battle ship, though built of 

 the strongest materials, and in the most scientific 

 manner, if laid aground in the very best situation, 

 .and under the most favourable circumstances, is of- 



