FREPARArJONS AND EQUIPMENT 67 



strength must be many times sufficient to withstand the 

 pressure necessary to lift her. This calculation was 

 amply borne out by experience. 



The principal dimensions of the ship were as fol- 

 lows: Length of keel, 102 feet; length of water-line, 

 113 feet; length from stem to stern on deck, 128 feet; 

 extreme breadth, 36 feet ; breadth of water-line, exclusive 

 of ice - skin, 34 feet ; depth, 1 7 feet ; draught of water 

 with light cargo, i2i feet; displacement with light cargo, 

 530 tons; with heavy cargo the draught is over 15 feet 

 and the displacement is 800 tons ; there is a freeboard of 

 about 3 feet 6 inches. The hull, with boilers filled, was 

 calculated to weigh about 420 tons, and with 800 tons 

 displacement there should, therefore, be spare carrying- 

 power for coal and other cargo to the amount of 380 

 tons. Thus, in addition to the requisite provisions for 

 dogs and men for more than five years, we could carry 

 coal for four months' steaming at full speed, which was 

 more than sufficient for such an expedition as this. 



As regards the rigging, the most important object was 

 to have it as simple and as strong as possible, and at 

 the same time so contrived as to offer the least possible 

 resistance to the wind while the ship was under steam. 

 With our small crew it was, moreover, of the last import- 

 ance that it should be easy to work from deck. For this 

 reason the Fram was rigged as a three-masted fore-and- 

 aft schooner. Several of our old Arctic skippers dis- 

 approved of this arrangement. They had always been 



