FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 25 
bow and high in the stern, reminding one of the ships 
in the pictures of Vandervelde. Her length is 117 feet, 
beam 28 feet, draught 18 feet, and engines 40 horse- 
power. The Diana, like the Balsena, was built in 
Drammen, and bought from the Norwegians : length 
135 feet, beam 29 feet, draught 16 feet, engine 40 
horse-power. 
Then c#mes the Polar Star, a pretty vessel to look 
at, but very small, and as old as the hills, I 'm told. 
She has a most diminutive engine that just moves 
her. The funnel is about the size of a pipe-stem. 
I nearly signed before the mast on her, but from 
what I hear of her now, I am rather glad I did 
not. All four vessels are barque-rigged, with single 
patent reefing topsails. With their small, buff-coloured 
funnels, they look like old-fashioned men-of-war at a 
distance. 
Before the expedition started, the newspapers got hold 
of these dry facts, and apparently found them rather too 
dry for general consumption, so they flavoured them 
highly, and then the public took them and passed them 
round till they became very sensational indeed. One of 
the accounts that was whispered from lip to ear in the 
shipping offices, and bandied amongst the men about the 
docks, was that the four ships were being sent out never 
to return. Only one of them, it was said, would possibly 
come back, and it was comforting to hear that probably 
this would be the Balsena. The others were heavily 
insured, and their fate was expressed by a shrug and a 
wink. 
