I94s WHAI.E-riSHEHY. 



strength, is much preferable to the angular chocks 

 or knees, which usually extend but five or six feet 

 from the stem, and then terminate somewhat ab- 

 ruptly upon the doubling. Ice-knees not only 

 strengthen the front of the bows, and prevent the 

 main planks from being bruised or shattered, as far 

 as they extend, but likewise protect the stem from 

 the twisting eiFect of a side blow. The stem, and a 

 small part of the ice-knees adjoining, are still far- 

 ther defended by plates of half-inch iron, called ice- 

 plates, which are nailed upon the face of the ice- 

 stem, and partly on the ice-knees, to prevent them 

 being cut by the ice. 



Such are the principal requisites for strengthen- 

 ing ships intended for the northern whale-fisheries. 

 There are, likewise, other peculiarities in their struc- 

 ture, which the nature of the trade requires. 



For additional strength as well as convenience, 

 the hold beams of a Greenland ship should be placed 

 low, or at a greater distance from the deck beams 

 than is usual in other merchantmen, leaving a 

 clear space of six or seven feet between decks. The 

 strength derived from hold beams laid in this posi- 

 tion, is principally serviceable when the ship is 

 squeezed between two sheets of ice ; because, the 

 nearer the pressure acts on the extremities of the 

 beams, the greater is the resistance they are calcu- 

 lated to offer. And with regard to convenience, a 

 large space between decks is useful in various points 



