of transport, will become a barrack,
and we shall have ample time for scientific observations.

"In this manner the expedition will, as above indicated, probably
drift across the Pole, and onward to the sea between Greenland and
Spitzbergen. And when we get down to the 80th degree of latitude,
or even sooner, if it is summer, there is every likelihood of our
getting the ship free and being able to sail home. Should she,
however, be lost before this--which is certainly possible, though,
as I think, very unlikely if she is constructed in the way above
described--the expedition will not, therefore, be a failure, for our
homeward course must in any case follow the polar current on to the
North Atlantic basin; there is plenty of ice to drift on, and of this
means of locomotion we have already had experience. If the Jeannette
expedition had had sufficient provisions, and had remained on the
ice-floe on which the relics were ultimately found, the result would
doubtless have been very different from what it was. Our ship cannot
possibly founder under the ice-pressure so quickly but that there would
be time enough to remove, with all our equipment and provisions, to a
substantial ice-floe, which we should have selected beforehand in view
of such a contingency. Here the tents, which we should take with us
to meet this contingency, would be pitched. In order to preserve our
provisions and other equipments, we should not place them all together
on one spot, but should distribute them over the ice, laying them
on rafts of planks and beams which we should have built on it. This
will obviate the possibility of any of our equipments sinking, even
should the floe on which they are break up. The crew of the Hansa, who
drifted for more than half a year along the east coast of Greenland,
in this way lost a great quantity of their supplies.

"For the success of such an expedition two things only are required,
viz., good clothing and plenty of food, and these we can take care
to have with us. We should thus be able to remain as safely on our
ice-floe as in our ship, and should advance just as well towards the
Greenland Sea. The only difference would be that on our arrival there,
instead of proceeding by ship, we must take to our boats, which would
convey us just as safely to the nearest harbor.

"Thus it seems to me there is an overwhelming probability that such an
expedition would be successful. Many people, however, will certainly
urge: