NO. i.] THE FRAM. 



there is a powerful centrifugal pump worked by steam, and communicating 

 with each compartment. 



The cabin, which had to give accomodation to the whole crew, is 

 situated under the poop deck over the engine room. The centre saloon is 

 about 13 ft. X 1^ ft. On both sides and abaft the saloon are 6 berths of 

 which 4 are single berths. Special precautions were taken to make the cabins 

 as impervious as possible to the arctic frost. Previous experience shows that 

 it is highly objectionable, however thick the wall, to leave the ends of through 

 bolts, and other fastenings passing through the ships side, exposed in an in- 

 habited part of the ship. The metal, being a good conductor, draws the 

 heat from the adjacent air which is moist from the exhalations of the occu- 

 pants, and, on being cooled, deposits its moisture about the metal in the 

 shape of hoar frost or ice, always accumulating, and after a time becoming 

 very troublesome and destructive to health and comfort. To obviate this, 

 and also add to the thickness of the wall, all bolts and other metal showing 

 on the ships lining were first covered with patches of felt. Three light 

 panelings were next put up parallel to the side one inside the other, with 

 intervals between them and the wall, and between each other, and these 

 intervals were filled with alternate layers of cork shavings, reindeer wool, 

 and thick felt, one interval being left empty as an air jacket. The floor, the 

 ceiling, and the thwatships bulkheads enclosing the cabin were similarly treated 

 but with fewer successive layers, and partly without the air space. The doors 

 leading to the companions were made of double thickness with a space between 

 filled with reindeer wool, and the door sills were raised 15" 1 from the floor to 

 prevent the influx of cold air. In the saloon a stove was fitted with means 

 of ventilation. Light is obtained through a skylight with treble plate glass, 

 placed over the middle of the saloon. 



Contrary to the advice of experienced whalers, who strongly advocated 

 the square rig for maneuvering among ice, the Fram was rigged as a fore 

 and -aft three masted schooner, only carrying on the foremast a flying square 

 topsail and foresail which could be lowered, and in the opinion of Capt. 

 Sverdrup this style of rig proved, under the circumstances in which she 

 was placed, the most suitable for the purpose. Two hands on the watch 

 were sufficient to work the ship under sail, a matter of importance with a 

 a small crew. Her masts, three fine Oregon spars, have a diametre at the 



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