The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-02-05

1
sure, progress is not so easy; on one oc-
casion it took me four hours TO make
twS miles, while usually the ship went
by zigzags with speed of three and a
half knots, making good two and half
knots an hour.
There is a great difference in ice
| breaking in the Baltic sea and the po-
lar regions, Hummocks in the Baltic
sea are never high above the level, but
sometimes they are very deep Accord
ing to our measurement they go down
to as much as twenty feet. On one oc-
| casion we measured tWenty-seven feet
down and six feet up, the total being
thirty-three feet. Such hummocks are
composed of pieces one to three feet
! thick Many hummocks are formed at
the time when ice is moved by the
swell; the result of this is that every
piece of ice finds its best position, and
the whole hummock is very compact.
When the ship charges into it it does
not always form long cracks, but breaks
under the ship, producing no heavy eff
| feet upon her skin. When the ship
passes half of its length in such foe,
she touches so many fragments of ice
'iie'b ivy sup tiiS Pioo ~A7H7 VA ettS Siii
by the friction and the pressure upon
the skin of the fore part of the ship.
When the ship stops there is no other
way than to go back and charge again.
This time before the bow of the ship
touches the solid ice it has to run
through one hundred feet or so of
broken ice; that diminishes very much
the speed of the ship, which on a Sec
ond charge may make very little
Roadway. 1t happens sometimes that
after the ship stops going ahead it
won't go back, and it takes half an
hour, until by reversing the engines
ahead and astern one can get the ship
out of this dsagreeable standstill posi-
ton. From time to time it happens
that one has to get the use of an ice
anchor to move the ship astern Moth
ing like this happens in the polar ice,
which breaks into big pieces, and con-
sequently there is not so much slSin-re-
sistance. The moment you stop your
engines the ship goes back herself, and
there will be no fragments left which
could stop her progress when she
charges the second time. For this rea-
son the second charge will be almost as
wanted an ice-cage to move the ship in
the polar region.
1t is most interesting to decide the
question whether my idea of exploring
the polar regions by means of ice break
eFs is sound or not; whether in future /
explorers Of the Arctic should stick to
their sledges and dogs or trust them
selves to the drifting ships of DIR. Nan
sen, or embark upon the strong ice
breakers. 1t looks as if the voyage on |
the ce-breakers is the most expensive
of the three but 1t saves time, which,
If Improperly calculated, is always mon
ey If we come to the conclusion that
the ice breaker is to be used for the ex
plora ton Of the Arctic, then comes the
question what sort of ice-breaker Is
good for that purpose? Shall we re-
peat the Yermak, or shall we give to the
new ice-bheaker another feature, basing
upon the lesson given us by
the experiments of the Yermak in the
polar ice? Surely the Yermak ia not
the last work Of science in that direc-
ton
The distance that one can go through
the ice will depend upon the quantity Of
fuei, and as liquid fuel is more efficient :,
than coal, 1t should be accepted for the
polar ice-breaker, That fuel is easily
put into any compartment of the ship,
so that, on entering the ice, one can
have as much Of that fuel as the ice belt
and the shape of the vessel allows. Ii
quid fuel has another advantage, par
ticularlys applicable to ice-breaking,
where the speed Of the engine is
so often With the liquid fuel
you stop burning instantaneously, while
with the coal, you burn it unnecessarily
every time you Unexpectedly reduce
your full speed to a dead slow. Liquid
fuel is easily pumped from one part of
the ship to the other and can be used
for trimming and heelng processes
LONDON Geographical Journal