30 FARTHEST NORTH 



vessels. Instead of nipping the ship, the ice must raise 

 it up out of the water. No very new departure in con- 

 struction is likely to be needed, for the Jcaunettc, not- 

 withstanding her preposterous build, was able to hold 

 out against the ice pressure for about two years. That 

 a vessel can easily be built on such lines as to fulfil these 

 requirements no one will question who has seen a ship 

 nipped by the ice. For the same reason, too, the ship 

 ought to be a small one ; for, besides being thus easier to 

 manoeuvre in the ice, it will be more readily lifted by the 

 pressure of the ice, not to mention that it will be easier 

 to give it the requisite strength. It must, of course, be 

 built of picked materials. A ship of the form and size 

 here indicated will not be a good or comfortable sea-boat, 

 but that is of minor importance in waters filled with ice 

 such as we are here speaking of. It is true that it would 

 have to travel a long distance over the open sea before it 

 would Q:et so far, but it would not be so bad a sea-boat as 

 to be unable to get along, even though sea-sick pas- 

 sengers might have to offer sacrifices to the gods of 

 the sea. 



" With such a ship and a crew of ten, or at the most 

 twelve, able-bodied and carefully picked men, with a full 

 equipment for five years, in every respect as good as 

 modern appliances permit of, I am of opinion that the 

 undertaking would be well secured against risk. With 

 this ship we should sail up through Bering Strait and 

 westward along the north coast of Siberia towards the 



