thp: '^yermak" ice breaker/ 



B}^ Vice- Admiral Makaroff, of the Russian Imperial Navy. 



The old way of traveling in the polar regions was by means of dogs 

 and sledges. Dr. Nansen proposed to travel with the ship, making 

 her so strong as to resist the pressure of the polar ice. He succeeded 

 in this perfectly well; his ship could stand the attacks of the polar ice, 

 and his defensive tactics proved to be very efficient. Just at the time 

 when Dr. Nansen proposed to build his Frain, I had the idea of adopt- 

 ing ofi'ensive tactics against the polar ice. I was engaged at that tune 

 with m}^ service, and did not then see my way to disclose my ideas, 

 but I made some preliminarj^ preparations. I wrote to Dr. Nansen a 

 letter, in which 1 stated that I was entirel}^ of his opinion, that he 

 would be carried b}^ the currents somewhere in the direction he 

 imagined, and advised him that help should be sent for him to Franz 

 Josef Land. My letter to him and his answer were duly published in 

 the Russian newspapers and in geographical publications. I thought 

 it quite possible that he would not complete his voyage in three >-ears; 

 I also thought that, if in four years nothing was heard of him, people 

 would be anxious to send help, and that would be a good pretext for 

 collecting money. 



In my opinion the best way to penetrate into the Arctic i-egions is 

 by means of a powerful ice breaker. Certainly I did not wish to men- 

 tion in my letter to Dr. Nansen that I would go and help him, because 

 being on Government service, I could not dispose of myself. But I 

 asked him in my letter if he had any intention of leaving any trace of 

 his voyage. He replied that he intended to put on every island that 

 he might discover a pole with a small Norwegian flag on it, and under 

 that pole a letter with information about the voyage of his ship. 

 Fortunately for Dr. Nansen, the current carried him on very well, and 

 on my return from the Pacific station I was happy to learn that he 

 and his Fram had safely returned home. Of course that deprived me 

 of my excuse for collecting the necessary money for building a large 

 ice breaker, but I found another motive, this time purely commercial. 



From The Geographical Journal, London, Vol. XV, No. 1, January, 1900. 



449 

 m. 1900 32 



