NEW FEATURES IN THE 'DISCOVERY' 41 



position of the engines and boilers necessitated the omission 

 of many of the crossbeams. 



Next to this came the stern, which, with the rudder and 

 screw, must always form the weakest and most vulnerable part 

 of a Polar ship. Nansen aptly defines it as the Achilles' heel. 

 Our screw was capable of being detached and lifted up 

 through the deck ; this is a common enough device, though, 

 as I shall remark later, the manner in which it was done in 

 the ' Discovery ' was new. 



But Mr. Smith made an entirely new departure in providing 

 us with a rudder which likewise lifted up through the deck. 

 This plan had the single disadvantage that the rudder possessed 

 only one pintle and brace instead of the several that are cus- 

 tomary ; on the other hand, its advantages in the facilities it 

 offered for shifting a damaged rudder were great and easily 

 seen. As I shall tell, we had occasion to be exceedingly 

 grateful for these advantages. 



Protection for our keel was afforded, firstly, by making 

 every part as strong as possible ; the rudder-post was an 

 enormous piece of timber, and was secured to the keel with 

 extra strengthening-pieces placed beneath the propeller ; it 

 would have taken tremendous forces to have strained or 

 distorted these fixtures. But protection to this part was given 

 yet more by the overhanging stern, an entirely new feature in 

 this class of vessel. As can be imagined, the building of the 

 ' Discovery ' excited the keenest interest in the whaling com- 

 munity of Dundee. Few novelties passed unnoticed, and the 

 peculiar shape of our stern gave rise to the strongest criticism ; 

 all sorts of evils were predicted, the commonest being that we 

 should one day come down so heavily that it would be broken 

 off ! As events showed, this stern was a distinctly good 

 feature : in a heavy seaway, as long as we were travelling 

 through the water, it tended to keep the ship drier by causing 

 her to lift more readily to the waves ; to a certain extent it was 

 a disadvantage if we happened to be becalmed and stationary, 

 as then the rounded under-surface would come down with 

 terrific violence, shaking the ship throughout ; but these 



