The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-03-30
HOW AMUNDSEN PREPARED FOR
 HIS WONDERFUL ARCTIC VOY- AGE


 
 HOW AMUNDSEN PREPARED FOR HIS WONDERFUL ARCTIC VOY- AGE.
 Captain Ronald Amundsen, in Har- per's, tells for the first time the story of the successful voyage of his little vessel through the Northwest Passage and his discovery of the north mag netic pole
 The sloop Gjoa-a vessel seventy three feet beam, drawing eleven feet of water when laden, and of forty-seven tons net burden-was built In Norway, in the Hardanger district, in 1872 ' Originally e-si not intended for the Arctic, she subsequently, drifted into the seal- ing trade, and for several years sailed from Tromso in that capacity.
 "On my purchase of her I had her entire fittings removed, and strengtd- eneh her with number of stout wood- en and iron beams and crossties; and as well as other necessary improve ments, she also received an outside skin of two-inch oak planl1ing, reach Ing from the keelson to the water line. Finally I put in a petroleum engine of thirty-nine indicated horsepower with two-bladed propeller, such as is GUS tomary in vessels intended for Arctid waters. A special apparatus was placed near the man at the tiller, ena- bling him to control the engine to start or reverse it as occasion required, and this proved invaluable and of a1- most constant necessity after we had entered the ice The engine was also fitted to hoist sails and anchor, run the pump, and haul in the deep-sea lead- line. The last, however, proved to be useless through the shallow waters of the Northwest Passage. The propeller, I should explain, was only to be con- sidered In the light of an auxiliary, the sails being intended as the principal motive power of the vessel as indeed they were throughout the voyage.
 My provisions consisted mainly of timed foods, which were packed in tin lined cases of uniform size, copper nails being used in their construction so that the empty wooden cases might be utilized in the building of the mag netic observation stations without af- fecting the magnetic needle. In this way solved problem which had long puzzled me, my vessel being too small to carry an extra load of building ma- terials The plan proved to be a per feet one With the empty wooden box es filled with sand we constructed not only excellent observation stations, but also comfortable dwellings, which did excellent service and surpassed all ex- peotations.
 "The wearing apparel for the mem bers of my expedition consisted of pure woolen underclothing, with outside garTnentsof reindeer and sealsldn. With regard to the former may men tion that I followed their manufacture from the carding of the wool to the completion of the product, thereby guarding against adulteration, and se- curing a superior make of warm gar- ments for my people.
 tour tents were made after pattern invented by my friend, Dr. Frederick IA Cook of Brooklyn, and myself, and may be said to have contained the re- suits of our experience with the Bel gian antarctic expedition, of which we both were members during the years 1S97-99. These tents, which somewhat resemble those of the Eskimo, were in-
 
 tended for the use of two persons, were built of light duck, and could be pitched by one man even when a gale was blowing.
 Ut may sound almost incredible when state that our small vessel con / tained provisions and ammunition for |, five years. Nevertheless such was the case, and the Gjoa brought back with her considerable quantities of nearly every kind of provisions and stores, de- spite the fact that I gave some ice bound whalers at Herschel Island some twenty-five hundred pounds of flour.
 "For fuel, lighting and cooking pur- poses I took with me about seven thousand gallons of refined petroleum of the highest grade. Of this we still had about thirty per cent, left on our arrival ct San Francisco. Guncotton,