INTRODUCTION

SECRETS OF POLARTRAVELBYROBERT E. PEARYILLUSTRATED WITHPHOTOGRAPHSNEW YORKTHE CENTURY CO.1917Copyright, 1917, byThe Century Co.Published, October, 1917INTRODUCTIONIn my book “The North Pole” appeared a brief résumé, or synopsis, of my system of arctic exploration, which was the evolution of years of continuous practical work and experience in extreme high latitudes, wherein everything that could be thought of in the way of perfecting arctic methods and equipment was worked out.Ideas that in the mind or on paper appeared promising were tested relentlessly under the most hostile conditions. Those that failed under the test were abandoned, and those that gave evidence of containing some meat were perfected, until at last the entire subject of perfected equipment and methods, combined with the thorough knowledge of all conditions to be encountered gained through years of experience, compelled success. This was the résumé:The so-called “Peary System” is too complex to be covered in a paragraph, and involves too many technical details to be outlined fully in any popular narrative. But the main points of it are about as follows:To drive a ship through the ice to the farthest possible northern land base from which she can be driven back again the following year.To do enough hunting during the fall and winter to keep the party healthily supplied with fresh meat.To have dogs enough to allow for the loss of sixty per cent of them by death or otherwise.To have the confidence of a large number of Eskimos, earned by square dealing and generous gifts in the past, so that they will follow the leader to any point he may specify.To have an intelligent and willing body of civilized assistants to lead the various divisions of Eskimos—men whose authority the Eskimos will accept when delegated by the leader.To transport beforehand to the point where the expedition leaves the land for the sledge journey, sufficient food, fuel, clothing, stoves (oil or alcohol) and other mechanical equipment to get the main party to the Pole and back and the various divisions to their farthest north and back.To have an ample supply of the best kind of sledges.To have a sufficient number of divisions, or relay parties, each under the leadership of a competent assistant, to send back at appropriate and carefully calculated stages along the upward journey.To have every item of equipment of the quality best suited to the purpose, thoroughly tested, and of the lightest possible weight.To know, by long experience, the best way to cross wide leads of open water.To return by the same route followed on the upward march, using the beaten trail and the already constructed igloos to save the time and strength that would have been expended in constructing new igloos and in trail-breaking.To know exactly to what extent each man and dog may be worked without injury.To know the physical and mental capabilities of every assistant and Eskimo.Last, but not least, to have the absolute confidence of every member of the party, white, black, or brown, so that every order of the leader will be implicitly obeyed.In “Secrets of Polar Travel” it is the intention to enlarge upon the above synopsis and to give the reader and the present and future polar traveler many details of serious polar work that it was impossible to embody in my former popular narratives without crowding out other and, as it seemed, more important matters.Some of the things that will be described are well known to all polar explorers who have had serious practice, while others will be new to all except those who have had opportunities to obtain the information by personal conversation with members of my parties.In extending the scope of the present book to touch on polar exploration, it seems well to post the reader at the very beginning on the striking antitheses of natural conditions, apparently known to only a few even among the best read and most intelligent people, existing at those mathematical points, the north and south poles, where the earth’s axis intersects the surface of the earth.The north pole is situated in an ocean of some fifteen hundred miles’ diameter, surrounded by land. The south pole is situated in a continent of some twenty-five hundred miles’ diameter, surrounded by water. At the north pole I stood upon the frozen surface of an oceanmore than two miles in depth. At the south pole, Amundsen and Scott stood upon the surface of a great, snowplateaumore than two miles above sea-level. The lands that surround the north polar ocean have comparatively abundant life. Musk-oxen, reindeer, polar bears, wolves, foxes, arctic hares, ermines, and lemmings, together with insects and flowers, are found within five hundred miles of the pole. On the great south polar continent no form of animal life appears to exist.Permanent human life exists within some seven hundred miles of the north pole; none is found within twenty-three hundred miles of the south pole. The history of arctic exploration goes back nearly four hundred years. The history of antarctic efforts covers a little more than one hundred and forty years. The record of arctic exploration is studded with crushed and foundering ships and the deaths of hundreds of brave men. The records of antarctic exploration show the loss of only three ships and the death of a score or more men.For all those who aspire to the north pole the road lies over the frozen surface of an ocean the ice on which breaks up completely every summer, drifting about under the influence of wind and tide, and may crack into numerous fissures and lanes of open water at any time, even in the depth of the severest winter, under the influence of storms. For those who aspire to the south pole the road lies over an eternal, immovable surface, the latter part rising ten thousand and eleventhousand feet above sea-level. And herein lies the inestimable advantage to the south polar explorer which enables him to make his depots at convenient distances, and thus lighten his load and increase his speed.CONTENTSCHAPTERPAGEIBuilding a Polar Ship3IISelecting Men40IIISupplies and Equipment58IVIce Navigation84VWinter Quarters126VIPolar Clothing160VIIUtilization of Eskimos and Dogs179VIIIUtilizing the Resources of the Country206IXSledge Equipment240XSledge-traveling267Conclusion310LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSPAGEThe Stars and Stripes Flying from the North PoleFrontispieceBeginning of the “Roosevelt”5Midships Cross Section of the “Roosevelt”5Stem, Forefoot, and Bow Frames11Massive King-Post Trusses Strengthening the “Roosevelt’s” Sides Against Ice Pressure11Bow of “Roosevelt” in Dry Dock18Stern of “Roosevelt” in Dry Dock24Putting on the Greenheart Ice-Sheathing30Bow of the “Roosevelt” in Ice35Launching the “Roosevelt”35Captain Robert Bartlett41Matthew A. Henson47Henson in Full Winter Costume with Snowshoes47Oo-tah53George Borup53Whale Meat for Dog Food64Labrador Whaling Steamer69Off for Whales—Labrador Coast69Dunham Snowshoes76Items of Sledge Rations76Beginning the North Pole Voyage85Drying Sails on the “Roosevelt” at Cape Sheridan95Shear-Poles for Handling the “Roosevelt’s” Injured Rudder95Comparative Pictures of Various Exploring Ships101Ice Navigation before the Advent of Powerful Steamers108The “Roosevelt” Beset in Wrangel Bay108The “Roosevelt” Steaming through the Ice-Pack117Floe in Lady Franklin Bay That Lifted the “Roosevelt” Nearly Clear of Water117The “Roosevelt” Lashed to the Ice Foot123In the Crow’s-Nest123Complete Polar Winter House130A Scene at Hubbardville130After a Winter Blizzard139Unloading Ship at Winter Quarters139An Inopportune Snowstorm150Polar Clothing163A “Tug of War”163Polar Clothing—Spring and Summer Working Costume169Polar Clothing—Full Winter Sledging Costume175Eskimo Dogs175Young Eskimo Mother and Baby181Eskimo Family and “Tupik,” or Summer Tent181Deck Scene on the “Roosevelt” (Not a Pink Tea!)187Some of My Hunters187Eskimo Man, Summer Costume194Eskimo Woman, Full Summer Costume194Eskimo King Dog203Giant Polar Bear Killed in Buchanan Bay, July 4209Bringing Narwhal Ashore216Walrus-Hunters and Their Kill216A Magnificent Bull Musk-Ox225Reindeer of 83° N. Lat.225Securing Birds at the Bird Cliffs236Hare Hunting at 83° N. Lat.236Eskimo Type Sledge245One of the Peary Sledges245Polar Sledge Costume251Compass Course Indicator258Peary Sledge in Action258Hugging the Shore to Get Around Huge Ice Fields271Party Leaving the “Roosevelt” for Cape Columbia271Over a Pressure Ridge281A Halt on the March281Sledge Party on the March with Good Going287Hard Going287Crossing Narrow Lead298Through a Cañon of the Polar Ocean298SECRETS OF POLARTRAVELCHAPTER IBUILDING A POLAR SHIP

SECRETS OF POLARTRAVELBYROBERT E. PEARYILLUSTRATED WITHPHOTOGRAPHSNEW YORKTHE CENTURY CO.1917

SECRETS OF POLARTRAVEL

BYROBERT E. PEARY

ILLUSTRATED WITHPHOTOGRAPHS

NEW YORKTHE CENTURY CO.1917

INTRODUCTION

In my book “The North Pole” appeared a brief résumé, or synopsis, of my system of arctic exploration, which was the evolution of years of continuous practical work and experience in extreme high latitudes, wherein everything that could be thought of in the way of perfecting arctic methods and equipment was worked out.

Ideas that in the mind or on paper appeared promising were tested relentlessly under the most hostile conditions. Those that failed under the test were abandoned, and those that gave evidence of containing some meat were perfected, until at last the entire subject of perfected equipment and methods, combined with the thorough knowledge of all conditions to be encountered gained through years of experience, compelled success. This was the résumé:

The so-called “Peary System” is too complex to be covered in a paragraph, and involves too many technical details to be outlined fully in any popular narrative. But the main points of it are about as follows:To drive a ship through the ice to the farthest possible northern land base from which she can be driven back again the following year.To do enough hunting during the fall and winter to keep the party healthily supplied with fresh meat.To have dogs enough to allow for the loss of sixty per cent of them by death or otherwise.To have the confidence of a large number of Eskimos, earned by square dealing and generous gifts in the past, so that they will follow the leader to any point he may specify.To have an intelligent and willing body of civilized assistants to lead the various divisions of Eskimos—men whose authority the Eskimos will accept when delegated by the leader.To transport beforehand to the point where the expedition leaves the land for the sledge journey, sufficient food, fuel, clothing, stoves (oil or alcohol) and other mechanical equipment to get the main party to the Pole and back and the various divisions to their farthest north and back.To have an ample supply of the best kind of sledges.To have a sufficient number of divisions, or relay parties, each under the leadership of a competent assistant, to send back at appropriate and carefully calculated stages along the upward journey.To have every item of equipment of the quality best suited to the purpose, thoroughly tested, and of the lightest possible weight.To know, by long experience, the best way to cross wide leads of open water.To return by the same route followed on the upward march, using the beaten trail and the already constructed igloos to save the time and strength that would have been expended in constructing new igloos and in trail-breaking.To know exactly to what extent each man and dog may be worked without injury.To know the physical and mental capabilities of every assistant and Eskimo.Last, but not least, to have the absolute confidence of every member of the party, white, black, or brown, so that every order of the leader will be implicitly obeyed.

To drive a ship through the ice to the farthest possible northern land base from which she can be driven back again the following year.

To do enough hunting during the fall and winter to keep the party healthily supplied with fresh meat.

To have dogs enough to allow for the loss of sixty per cent of them by death or otherwise.

To have the confidence of a large number of Eskimos, earned by square dealing and generous gifts in the past, so that they will follow the leader to any point he may specify.

To have an intelligent and willing body of civilized assistants to lead the various divisions of Eskimos—men whose authority the Eskimos will accept when delegated by the leader.

To transport beforehand to the point where the expedition leaves the land for the sledge journey, sufficient food, fuel, clothing, stoves (oil or alcohol) and other mechanical equipment to get the main party to the Pole and back and the various divisions to their farthest north and back.

To have an ample supply of the best kind of sledges.

To have a sufficient number of divisions, or relay parties, each under the leadership of a competent assistant, to send back at appropriate and carefully calculated stages along the upward journey.

To have every item of equipment of the quality best suited to the purpose, thoroughly tested, and of the lightest possible weight.

To know, by long experience, the best way to cross wide leads of open water.

To return by the same route followed on the upward march, using the beaten trail and the already constructed igloos to save the time and strength that would have been expended in constructing new igloos and in trail-breaking.

To know exactly to what extent each man and dog may be worked without injury.

To know the physical and mental capabilities of every assistant and Eskimo.

Last, but not least, to have the absolute confidence of every member of the party, white, black, or brown, so that every order of the leader will be implicitly obeyed.

In “Secrets of Polar Travel” it is the intention to enlarge upon the above synopsis and to give the reader and the present and future polar traveler many details of serious polar work that it was impossible to embody in my former popular narratives without crowding out other and, as it seemed, more important matters.

Some of the things that will be described are well known to all polar explorers who have had serious practice, while others will be new to all except those who have had opportunities to obtain the information by personal conversation with members of my parties.

In extending the scope of the present book to touch on polar exploration, it seems well to post the reader at the very beginning on the striking antitheses of natural conditions, apparently known to only a few even among the best read and most intelligent people, existing at those mathematical points, the north and south poles, where the earth’s axis intersects the surface of the earth.

The north pole is situated in an ocean of some fifteen hundred miles’ diameter, surrounded by land. The south pole is situated in a continent of some twenty-five hundred miles’ diameter, surrounded by water. At the north pole I stood upon the frozen surface of an oceanmore than two miles in depth. At the south pole, Amundsen and Scott stood upon the surface of a great, snowplateaumore than two miles above sea-level. The lands that surround the north polar ocean have comparatively abundant life. Musk-oxen, reindeer, polar bears, wolves, foxes, arctic hares, ermines, and lemmings, together with insects and flowers, are found within five hundred miles of the pole. On the great south polar continent no form of animal life appears to exist.

Permanent human life exists within some seven hundred miles of the north pole; none is found within twenty-three hundred miles of the south pole. The history of arctic exploration goes back nearly four hundred years. The history of antarctic efforts covers a little more than one hundred and forty years. The record of arctic exploration is studded with crushed and foundering ships and the deaths of hundreds of brave men. The records of antarctic exploration show the loss of only three ships and the death of a score or more men.

For all those who aspire to the north pole the road lies over the frozen surface of an ocean the ice on which breaks up completely every summer, drifting about under the influence of wind and tide, and may crack into numerous fissures and lanes of open water at any time, even in the depth of the severest winter, under the influence of storms. For those who aspire to the south pole the road lies over an eternal, immovable surface, the latter part rising ten thousand and eleventhousand feet above sea-level. And herein lies the inestimable advantage to the south polar explorer which enables him to make his depots at convenient distances, and thus lighten his load and increase his speed.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

SECRETS OF POLARTRAVEL

Ofall the special tools that a polar explorer requires for the successful prosecution of his work, his ship stands first and preëminent. This is the tool which is to place him and his party and supplies within striking distance of his goal, the tool without which he can accomplish nothing.

The builder of a polar ship should live with his craft from the time the keel is laid till she is complete and has made her trial trips. He should see that every timber that goes into her is sound, tough, and seasoned. He should see the tests of iron for her bolts, and know that the iron is tough and homogeneous. He should see the bolts driven and upset, or the nuts set tight, as the case may be. He should direct the scarfing and the notching of the timbers in order to secure the maximum strength and binding grip. He should watch the calking and the tarring like a hawk, and see thatno place is slighted, that, when it is done, he may have that delight of a seaman, a tight ship. He should pass sleepless nights going over again and again the calculations for his engines and boilers; and in checking and rechecking weights, dimensions, displacement.

In this way, by following every step of the ship’s growth, and sitting up night after night studying every detail with a view to improving and strengthening it, when the work is done, he will know every inch of his ship inside and out. Later, in the grim, protracted fight with the ice, he will feel in regard to his ship as Sullivan and Willard each felt on the eve of a great battle regarding his powerful body, that it can be depended upon absolutely. It is a wonderfully satisfactory feeling, and it counts far toward success.

A quite general idea regarding the work of a polar ship seems to be that such a ship breaks up the ice of one season, like river and harbor ice-breakers. As a matter of fact, smooth, unbroken ice of uniform thickness is rarely found in Northern voyages except in Melville Bay, or at the end of the season, when new ice is forming. The chief work of a polar ship is to push and pry and wedge its way in and out among cakes and floes ranging from three to twenty or fifty and even up to one hundred and twenty feet thick. A passage cannot be smashed through such ice, and nothing remains but to squeeze and twist and dodgethrough it. A hundred Yermaks (the powerful Russian ice-breaker) merged in one could accomplish nothing in such ice.

BEGINNING OF THE “ROOSEVELT”First frame erected, ship now under construction, Bucksport, Maine, October, 1904

BEGINNING OF THE “ROOSEVELT”

First frame erected, ship now under construction, Bucksport, Maine, October, 1904

MIDSHIPS CROSS SECTION OF THE “ROOSEVELT”Looking aft. Note section nearly a semi-circle

MIDSHIPS CROSS SECTION OF THE “ROOSEVELT”

Looking aft. Note section nearly a semi-circle

Many qualities are necessary in a first-class polar ice-fighter. First, there must be such a generally rounded model as will rise readily when squeezed, and thus escape the death-crush of the ice. Then there must be no projection of keel or other part to give the ice an opportunity to get a grip, or to hold the ship from rising.

When theJeannettewas destroyed northeast of the New Siberian Islands, the ice on one side of her caught and held her firmly, while the floe on the other side, turning down under her side, caught the keel, and with its resistless pressure opened up the ship her entire length along the garboard-strake. She then filled, and when the ice pressure was released she sank.

The polar ship must be most heavily braced and trussed to enable it to withstand terrific pressure of ice-floes, and hold its shape until the pressure is released by the rising of the ship; or to make it possible for her to be supported at each end only or in the middle, or thrown out on to the ice, so she would rest on her bilge during a convulsion of the floes, without strain or injury. Power and strength and solidity to fight a way through ice rather than drift inertly with it, are absolutely essential. For ramming, she must have a sharply raking stem, which will rise on the iceat each blow. This not only makes it possible for a loaded ship to deliver blows at full speed without danger of smashing in her bows or starting her fastenings or seams, but also gives her an initial impetus astern when she backs for another blow.

When it is understood that this ramming may continue for hours (I have used my ship in this way continuously for twenty-four hours in crossing Melville Bay), striking a blow, backing, then going ahead full speed for another, the value of this little assistance with each blow will be appreciated. The shape of the bow is also important in ramming. If too bluff, headway is deadened, and the force of the blows is lessened. If too sharp, the ship may stick at each blow, and require more time and power to back out each time. The run of the polar ship should be full rather than fine, to keep the passing ice away from the propeller as much as possible.

The ship must be as short as practicable and have a lively helm to enable her to twist and turn rapidly and sharply through the narrow, tortuous lanes of water among the ice-fields.

It will be seen at once that a ship for arctic or antarctic work must be as small as the size of the party and the amount of supplies, equipment, and coal for the proposed work will permit. The smaller a ship can be built, the greater will be her strength and the ease with which she can be handled.

Finally the polar ship must be a good sea boat to ride out the furious autumn gales of the North Atlantic and polar oceans.

This is especially important in South Polar work with its long voyage and cyclonic blizzards.

Many are under the impression that steel should be used in constructing polar ships. This idea is erroneous, for though a ship so made would be strong structurally, she would be particularly vulnerable to the ragged, sharp corners of heavy ice. Wood, with its elasticity and toughness, is the prime essential in the construction of a ship of this kind. It is also virtually impossible to repair injury to a steel ship during the voyage. But steel and methods of composite ship building, used in a vessel’s interior, may reduce weight and increase her strength.

Numbers of failures and catastrophes in polar work are directly attributable to the unsuitable model of the ship. Particularly striking examples of this were thePolarisand theJeannette. Neither of these ships should ever have been allowed to go into the ice, as their straight sides gave them no possible chance to lift when squeezed by the ice, and their destruction was only a matter of time, when they should be squarely caught between two floes. In the case of theJeannetteMelville’s engineering skill postponed the catastrophe for a time, but the final result was inevitable.

TheEsquimauxof the Ziegler Expedition and the Duke of the Abruzzi’sStella Polarewere scarcely better, but the skill of the Italians enabled their ship to pull through and bring the party home.

Virtually all the ships used in the history of ice navigation have been the sailing-vessels built in Scotland, Norway, and the United States for the whaling and sealing industries. These whalers were short, stocky, heavily sparred, and square rigged. TheVictory, used by John Ross, in 1829, was fitted with auxiliary steam-power, and was the first attempt to utilize such motive power for ice work. The innovation of steam with paddle-wheels, than which nothing could have been more impracticable for ice navigation, proved a decided failure, and the engine was finally torn out and thrown overboard, and the voyage continued under sail.

The Norwegians operating in the waters about Spitzbergen, Jan Mayen, and Nova Zembla; the Americans, in Bering Sea and Hudson Bay, encountered ice conditions strikingly different from those met by the Scotch whose region of operations was chiefly in Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, Lancaster Sound, together with their tributaries, and the seas about eastern Greenland. Broadly speaking, the work of Norwegians and Americans was carried on among floes and broken ice drifting in open seas, through which they had to thread theirway, while the Scotch in Melville Bay encountered an almost solid stretch of one season’s ice, and in the narrow, landlocked channels to the westward the currents of which are notoriously strong, they had to contend with old and heavier ice. Some one has very aptly said that American whalers used steam to avoid ice, the Scotch, to go into and through it.

STEM, FOREFOOT, AND BOW FRAMESJanuary 11, 1905

STEM, FOREFOOT, AND BOW FRAMES

January 11, 1905

MASSIVE KING-POST TRUSSES STRENGTHENING THE “ROOSEVELT’S” SIDES AGAINST ICE PRESSUREThe horizontal timber in center of picture is 14 in. × 16 in.

MASSIVE KING-POST TRUSSES STRENGTHENING THE “ROOSEVELT’S” SIDES AGAINST ICE PRESSURE

The horizontal timber in center of picture is 14 in. × 16 in.

The following average proportions of beam to length among these whalers is rather interesting: Scotch, 1:5.75; Norwegian, 1:4.7; American, 1:4.5. The average ratio in modern schooners built in Bath is 1:4.78.

The Scotch, thanks to the shrewdness of their seamen and builders and over one hundred years of experience in whaling work, where the best ships secured large financial returns, have gradually evolved the more powerful and efficient type of ship, and this type has been used exclusively by the British even in their latest expeditions.

It had long been a recognized fact that a form of hull which would permit a ship to rise readily and easily under pressure was desirable; yet theFramwas the first ship built to meet this requirement. TheFramwas built with a special view to drifting in and with the ice. Her beam was about one-third her length, and her hull was so designed as to allow her to rise easily under pressure. While she was well adapted for this work, she would have been still better fitted for it if shehad been bowl-shaped. Moreover, appearance, speed, ability to push through the ice, and virtually everything that goes to make a ship seaworthy was sacrificed to insure this quality.

TheGauss, the German antarctic ship, was much like theFram, though less pronounced in type, having a broad beam of 36 feet, but with a greater length to make her more seaworthy for the long voyage to the antarctic regions. Her ratio is 1:4.25 as compared with theFram’sratio of 1:3.25.

The BritishDiscovery, built for antarctic exploration, was also of the sailing type, with auxiliary steam-power. She was built with a little broader beam and a draft slightly less than that of the Scotch whalers, with a ratio of 1:5.27. She differed from theFramand theGaussin that she was not specially constructed to rise under pressure, and the rake of her stem was somewhat greater than in previous ships.

With the building of theRooseveltcame a complete reversal of former practice in ships for the arctic and antarctic regions. She was the first Polar ship built that was first of all a powerful steamer. All her predecessors had been sailing-vessels, usually full-rigged barks, with steam as a secondary consideration. This was done to economize on coal and enable the ship to cover long distances at slow speed and be gone for years, if necessary.

In theRooseveltsail power was a mere auxiliary, and everything was given over to making steam-power first and foremost and her strength sufficient to withstand the ice. This is undoubtedly the correct principle on which to build any Polar ship for effective results. For this method the Smith Sound route is specially advantageous, affording a coasting voyage, ample facilities for caching coal, as well as presenting opportunities to obtain coal en route.

As theRooseveltwas to be built for navigating the very seas where the Scotch gained their valuable experience and for which their ships were specially designed and improved, the Scotch model seemed the proper one to use as a base for studies.

In the case of Nansen, and the British and German polar expeditions, the size of the ship was determined by fixing the size of the party, the length of the expedition, and the amount of coal which would be consumed by the engines and the cargo to be carried, all of which factors, when the dead weight of the ship and machinery was added, would give the displacement required.

In the case of theRooseveltI believed it advisable to settle in advance the size and proportions which would come nearest to balancing and meeting the various requirements, allowing the difference between her displacement and her dead weight to go for cargo capacity, chief of which would be coal. The size determined was 184 feetover all, with 35 feet beam and 16 feet draft, loaded, and a load water-line of 166 feet. These dimensions make her almost as long as, but with a slightly greater beam than, theDiscovery, the British antarctic ship. Her length ratio, while not quite as fine as that of the Scotch model, is much finer than the Norwegian or American averages.

After determining her length and beam, came the question of draft. For the ship navigating the waters of Smith Sound a light draft is far better than a heavier one, permitting her to hug the shore in order to get round barriers, or, when crowded by heavy ice, to retreat close to the shore and let it ground outside the ship. Another distinct advantage of light draft in a ship is the greater ease with which she will rise under the heavy pressure of ice-floes. The greater her draft, the harder it is for her to rise and avoid the grip of the ice.

So much depends on the ship in the serious work of ice navigation that it may be well to describe in detail the ship which I consider the ablest of ice fighters.

BOW OF “ROOSEVELT” IN DRY DOCKNote massiveness and rounded, egg-like curves

BOW OF “ROOSEVELT” IN DRY DOCK

Note massiveness and rounded, egg-like curves

The official measurements of theRooseveltare as follows: length, 184 feet; breadth, 35.5 feet; depth, 16.2 feet; gross registered tonnage, 614 tons; maximum load displacement, about 1500 tons. The keel, main keelsons, stem- and stern-posts, frames, plank sheer, waterways, and garboard-strake,are white oak. Beams, sister-keelsons, deck clamps, ’tween-deck waterways, bilge-strakes, ceiling, and inner course of planking, are yellow pine. The outer planking is white oak and the decks of Oregon pine. Both the ceiling and the outer course of white-oak planking are edge-bolted from stem to stern, and from plank sheer to garboard-strake. The fastenings are galvanized iron bolts, going through both courses of planking and the frames, and riveting up over washers on the inside of the ceiling.

The great oak timbers of the keel, false keel and keelsons, bolted and strapped and scarfed together in every way that experience and ingenuity could suggest formed a rigid backbone over six feet high. The oak timber sources were searched to secure these timbers, and some of them perhaps could not be duplicated to-day.

Massive oak timbers formed the stem, stern and rudder posts, bolted and strapped to each other and to the keel.

The frames or ribs of theRooseveltwere placed almost close together, each made of three courses of selected timbers bolted together.

At the stem the ribs were close together and the triangular space at the bow between the port and starboard ribs was filled in solid for a distance of some ten feet aft of the stem with oak timbers bolted and scarfed together to make a solid ram, or fighting head or cæstus.

Main deck beams and ’tween deck beams were unusually large and spaced unusually close together. The latter were placed on a water line instead of with a sheer, so that they were just below the load water line where the severest and most frequent ice pressure would come.

Each main deck beam together with the ’tween deck beam below it, and four stout diagonal braces to the ship’s sides and a 2½″ vertical steel tie-rod from the bottom of the keel to the upper side of the deck binding all together, formed a double king post truss, one superimposed upon the other.

This truss arrangement was made possible by my method of housing the personnel of the expedition in light roomy quarters on deck, rather than below the decks.

The sides of the ship varied from twenty-four to thirty inches in thickness. These sides, supported at every four feet of the ship’s length by the truss system above described, and still further reinforced by three solid timber transverse bulkheads, were immune from being crushed in.

To avoid unnecessary weight, no planking was used between decks; there were no interior fittings; and spars and rigging were as lightly made as possible. The hatch coamings were of stout white oak, built almost as high as the top of the bulwarks, to add to the safety of the ship in heavy weather.

To protect her planks from the gnawing of theice while steaming through it, as well as to reduce friction, the ship was surrounded at the water line with an armor belt of dense slippery greenheart.

This wood imported from Guiana expressly for the purpose, is so tough and dense that spikes or bolts cannot be driven into it but must have holes bored for them.

The shipyard which puts on the greenheart usually has to get a new set of saws, planers and drills for the next job, and the echoes of profanity linger for a long time.

The massive construction of theRooseveltso impressed the inhabitants of Bucksport, accustomed to usual ship building, that one of the village oracles is said to have delivered himself around the glowing stove of the “hotel” office of the following, “By heck there’s so much wood in the d—— ship that she’ll sink when they launch her.”

After the hull of theRooseveltwas completed, she was put into dry-dock and “watered”; that is, water was pumped into her to detect any bolt-holes that had not been filled with a bolt, or any seam that had been overlooked in calking, just as one would test a pail by filling it with water to see if it leaked.

By this test leaks are located that cannot be detected in any other way, and the explorer during his voyage is saved the maddening annoyance of listening to the trickling of incoming water as helies in his bunk at night, of the daily clank of the pumps, and of a ship with bilges full of ice at the end of the Polar winter.

In regard to engine power, my ideas have been radically different from those of other navigators. I have believed in all the power it was possible to get into the ship. I know of few more comfortable feelings for the commander of a ship beset in the ice than the knowledge that he has beneath his feet the power that with the least slackening of the ice pressure will enable him to force his ship ahead on her course.

The motive power of theRooseveltconsisted of a single, inverted, compound engine, capable of developing a thousand horse-power, and driving an eleven-foot four-blade propeller. Two water-tube boilers and one Scotch boiler supplied steam.

Two specially distinctive features of the machinery of theRooseveltwere a large “by-pass,” by means of which, by turning a valve, steam from all the boilers at full pressure could be turned directly into the big fifty-two-inch low-pressure cylinder, more than doubling the power for a short time; that is, as long as the boilers could meet this excessive demand. The object of this was to give me a reserve of power with which to extricate the ship from a particularly dangerous position. On at least two occasions this device accomplished all that was expected of it,and, by resistlessly forging the ship ahead a length or two against all odds, removed her from the line of deadly pressure, and so saved her.

STERN OF “ROOSEVELT” IN DRY DOCKNote rounded curves, massiveness of propeller, skeg and rudder, and lavish use of steel plates. Rudder is of white oak timbers 16 in. × 16 in.

STERN OF “ROOSEVELT” IN DRY DOCK

Note rounded curves, massiveness of propeller, skeg and rudder, and lavish use of steel plates. Rudder is of white oak timbers 16 in. × 16 in.

The other was an enormously heavy and strong propeller and shaft. The shaft was a twelve-inch diameter solid steel forging, a shaft big enough for a 2000-ton tramp steamer. The propeller was correspondingly heavy. The object of this was to prevent the complete crippling of the ship by breaking of shaft or propeller.

This idea entailed unusual weight and expense, but it served its purpose and was never regretted.

When in July, 1906, theRooseveltwas smashed against the unyielding ice-foot at Cape Union, tossed about like an egg-shell, and treated generally as if she were of no account, a particularly vicious corner of an old floe struck her astern, broke one propeller-blade square off, tore off the ponderous white-oak skeg, or after stern-post, and, catching under propeller and projecting end of shaft, lifted the whole after part of the ship as a man would lift a wheel-barrow, until her heel was out of water, and held her in this way for several hours until the tide changed. Had propeller and shaft been of usual proportions, neither would ever have made another revolution. As it was, my twelve-inch shaft was not even thrown out of line, and barring the broken propeller-blade, the machinery suffered no damage.

Another device which added to the effectivenessof theRooseveltis the arrangement for raising and lowering the rudder while at sea, or lifting it when under pressure in the ice. A large open well was provided, reaching through to the main-deck. This was large enough to permit the massive rudder to be drawn up and hoisted on the deck for repairs, or into the overhang of the stern, out of the way of the ice. Instead of having to send a diver down to unfasten the gudgeons, these worked in an upright groove arranged in the after end of the stern-post, something like a window-sash. Heavy bolts attached the pintles to the rudder-post, and in unshipping the rudder, the gudgeons came up with the rudder itself, leaving the raking steel-clad stern-post as smooth and clean as the stem, with nothing for the ice to get a grip upon.

The problem of protecting the propeller-blades and keeping ice away from them, was solved partly by the full counter and overhanging stern of theRoosevelt, and partly by the design of the propeller. The blades of the propeller, though short, were large in sectional area, and particularly strong and massive. Their extremities were so shaped as to make it difficult for a cake of ice to get between them, and the blades were so arranged that either two or four of them could be used.

Powerful deck appliances were the windlass, steam-capstans forward and aft, and steamwinch, which enabled the ship to float herself shouldshe get aground, or to warp herself out of a dangerous spot.

The special features of theRoosevelt’smodel are a smooth and rounded form not readily gripped by the ice; midships transverse section that is a semi-circle; a sharply raking heavily steel clad stem and stern post giving large deck room, sufficient water line displacement and a short keel which makes the ship quick and handy in turning; an overhanging stern to assist in protecting rudder and propeller from the ice.

Her peculiarities of construction include unusually massive and close arrangement of beams and bracing to withstand pressure on the sides; filling the bow in almost solid with iron and timbers, where it gets the brunt of blows; strong and unusual reinforcement of the rudder-post; the introduction of a lifting rudder; heavy steel plates for stem and bow; a course of greenhart ice-sheathing to protect the outer planking.

Her peculiarities of rig are pole-masts; three-masted schooner rig, with big balloon staysails; and a very short bowsprit, which, when navigating through ice of some height, can be run inboard.

Her sail-plan is an American three-masted schooner rig, of light weight (a decided advantage when every pound saved in weight in rigging or fittings means an extra pound of coal on board), large enough to assist the engines considerably infavorable weather, or to get the ship home in case of her supply of coal becoming depleted.

The whole scheme on which theRooseveltwas built was to place all her strength, power, weight, carrying capacity below the main-deck; to make everything above deck, such as bulwarks, spars, sails, rigging, whale-boats, with their equipment, and deck-houses, as light as possible, in order to allow more coal to be stowed on board, and to waste no money on frills or fittings, but to use every dollar in the interests of strength, power, and effectiveness.

Constructed of southern oak and yellow pine, New England white pine and Oregon pine, by New England labor, theRooseveltas a thoroughly American ship combines the qualities of shape which as in theFraminsure her rising under heavy ice pressure, with the splendid ramming qualities of the best of the Scotch whalers. These permit the ship to be fearlessly driven into the ice with all the force of her powerful engines.

TheRooseveltembodies all that a most careful study of previous polar ships and my own years of personal experience could suggest.

With the sturdiness of a battleship and the shapely lines of a Maine built schooner, I regard her the fittest ice-fighter afloat.

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