The Washington times., 1907-08-02
PREPARED FOR THE ARCTIC.
Captain Amundsen's Story of the Sue
cessful Voyage of His Little Vessel.

Captain Raold AFnundsen, in Harper's
tells for the frsttime the story of the
successful voyage of his little vessel
through the Northwest Passage and his
discovery Of the north magnetic pole:
''The sloop Gjoa-a vessel % feet long,
&c feet beam, drawing II feet Of water
when laden, and of AZ tons net burden
was built in Norway. in the Hardanger
district, In 1872 Originally not intended
for the Arctic, she subsequently, drifted
into the sealing trade, and for several
years sailed from Tromso in that ca
pacity.
"Cn my purchase OF her I had her en-
tire fittings removed. and strengthened
her with a number of stout wooden and
/ iron beams and CrOss-ties, and as well
ns other necessary improvements sho
also received an outside skin OF two-inch
( oak planlCing. reaching from the keelson
( 70 the water-line. Finally L put in a pc
I troleum engine of thirty-nine indicated
horse power, with a two-bladed propel-
,aer. such as is customary In vessels in
tanded for arctic waters. A special ap-
paratus was placed near the man at the
tiller, enabling him 10 control the engine.
70 start or reverse II as occasion re,
iQuired and this proved Invaluable and
of almost constant necessity after we
had entered the ice. The engine was
the bump, and haul in the deep-sea lead
! line The last, however, proved TO be
use ess through the shallow waters OF
the Northwest Passage. The propeller,
I should explain was only to be consid-
G; ed in the light Of an auxiliary, the
Sails being intended as the principal mo-
i've power Of the vessel, as indeed they
were throughout the voyage
i MY provisions consisted mainly OF
! timed foods. which were packed in tin
i1ined cases of uniform size. copped nails
I@.F-, u1A f~n fenfw Of
the empty wooden cases might be util-
tied in the building OF the magnetic OBJ
servatiOn stations without affecting the
magnetic needle. In this way solved Il
problem which had long puzzled me, my
vessel being too small 10 carry an extra
ISoad Of building materials. The plan
proved TO be a perfect one. With the
lempty wooden boxes filled with sand we
tconstTucted not only excellent observa-
Mon stations, but also comfortable dwell
Bngs, which did excellent service and sur
!passed all expectations.
The wearing apparel for the mem
Hbers Of my expedition consisted Of pure
lwoolen underciothing with outside gar
lSnents OF reindeer and sealsl<in- With
iregard to the former I may mention
ithat followed their manufacture from
the carding OF the wool to the compile
fion of the product thereby guarding
kRgainst Rdulteration. and securing n
ksuperior mako of warm garments for
Ifny people
Cook, Of Brooklyn, and myself, and may
be said 70 have contained the results of
our experiences with the Belgian ant
,artic expedition, Of which we both were
members during the years 1S97-99. These
tents which somewhat resemble those
of the Eskimo, were intended for the
$lse of two persons were built of light
duck. and could be pitched by one man
even when a gale was blowing.
1T may sound almost incredible when
7 state that our small vessel contained
provisions and ammunition for five
gears. Nevertheless such was tho case;
and the Gjoa brought back with her
considerable quantities Of nearly every
kind of provisions and stores, despite
the fact that l gave some ice-bound
whalers at Herschei Island some 25O0
pounds of -four.
For fuel. lighting. and cooking pur-
poses I took with me about 1000 gallons
OF refined petroleum OF the highest
grade. OF this we stiA had about 30
per cent left on our arrival at San
Francisco. Guncotton. ice saws, extra
fine and strong hawsers. several hun
dred volumes OF books. and many
games to help while away the time dur
ing the long Arctic nights, as well as
everything else necessary TO a we'll
equipped Arctic expedition, completed
our outfit on board the Gjoa.
The games for some reason or other
were never taken into use by the MEM
.bers OF the expedition. but were eagerly
accepted by our many Eskimo friends.
who became quite adopts at some OF
them"