42 FARTHEST NORTH 



to keep close to a coast line, and that the farther we 

 advance from civilization, the more desirable it is to 

 insure a reasonably safe line of retreat. Totally dis- 

 regarding these, the ruling principle of the voyage is 

 that the vessel — on which, if the voyage is in any way 

 successful, the sole future hope of the party will depend — 

 is to be pushed deliberately into the pack-ice. Thus, her 

 commander — in lieu of retaining any power over her 

 future movements — will be forced to submit to be drifted 

 helplessly about in agreement with the natural move- 

 ments of the ice in which he is imprisoned. Supposing 

 the sea currents are as stated, the time calculated as 

 necessary to drift with the pack across the polar area is 

 several years, during which time, unless new lands are 

 met with, the ice near the vessel will certainly never be 

 quiet and the ship herself never free from the danger of 

 being crushed by ice presses. To guard against this the 

 vessel is said to be unusually strong, and of a special 

 form to enable her to rise when the ice presses against 

 her sides. This idea is no novelty whatever ; but when 

 once frozen into the polar pack the form of the vessel goes 

 for nothing. She is hermetically sealed to, and forms a 

 part of, the ice block surrounding her. The form of the 

 ship is for all practical purposes the form of the block of 

 ice in which she is frozen. This is a matter of the first 

 importance, for there is no record of a vessel frozen into 

 the polar pack having been disconnected from the ice, 

 and so rendered capable of rising under pressure as a 



