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Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
which allows of always keeping a look-out from a height of 100 
feet in order to find the best way through the ice. 
The ice-breaker is now almost ready to go to the Baltic and to 
commence her work. 
Doubtless you wish to question me as to whether with this ship 
I propose to proceed to the North Pole. To this question I may 
answer, that in my first proposition I imagined it would be 
necessary to have two such ships to go into the middle of the 
Arctic Ocean ; we have now built one, and the trial of it will 
show how much the ice-breaker can do in the polar ice, which I 
shall try to negotiate if circumstances permit. 
The Arctic Sea in summer is certainly full of ice, but this ice is 
in the shape of islands, divided by the canals which are mostly 
filled with broken ice. The islands are of different sizes, some 
being as much as five miles in diameter ; the others are smaller, and 
the great majority of them do not exceed hundreds of feet. Some- 
times these islands are pressed against each other, and there may 
be days during which it is difficult to proceed, but with a change 
of weather and current the ice islands may become separated from 
each other so as to render a passage possible. I do not think that 
going with the ice-breaker into the Polar Eegion it would be 
necessary to keep a straight course and cut the ice ; I believe that 
the ship should go in a “ zig-zag ” line, shaping her course between 
ice-floes. In some cases it will be necessary to apply the full 
power, but in other places the ship will proceed easily. 
I spoke on this subject with Captain Sverdrup of the “Fram” 
and Dr Nansen. Captain Sverdrup is entirely of my opinion, but 
Dr Nansen did not wish to express his views ; he only said that 
he wished me success, and he would be the first to congratulate 
me upon it. 
The near future will show whether my proposition and calcula- 
tions are sound or not. 
