amer specially fitted out for navigation among ice:

That the small vessels with which it has been attempted to traverse
this part of the ocean never ventured very far from the coast:

That an open sea, with a fresh breeze, was as destructive for them,
indeed more destructive, than a sea covered with drift ice:

That they almost always sought some convenient winter harbour, just
at that season of the year when the sea is freest of ice, namely,
late summer or autumn:

That, notwithstanding the sea from Cape Chelyuskin to Bearing's
Straits has been repeatedly traversed, no one has yet succeeded in
sailing over the whole extent at once:

That the covering of ice formed during winter along the coast, but
probably not in the open sea, is every summer broken up, giving
origin to extensive fields of drift ice, which are driven, now by a
northerly wind towards the coast, now by a south wind out to sea,
yet not so far but that it comes back to the coast after some days'
northerly wind; whence it appears probable that the Siberian Sea is,
so to say, shut off from the Polar Sea proper, by a series of
islands, of which, for the present, we know only Wrangel's Land and
the islands which form New Siberia.

In this connection it seems to me probable that a well-equipped
steamer would be able without meeting too many difficulties, at
least obstacles from ice, to force a passage this way during autumn
in a few days, and thus not only solve a geographical problem of
several centuries' standing, but also, with all the means that are
now at the disposal of the man of science in researches in
geography, hydrography, geology, and natural history, survey a
hitherto almost unknown sea of enormous extent.

The sea north of Behring's Straits is now visited by hundreds of
whaling steamers, and the way thence to American and European
harbours therefore forms a much-frequented route. Some few decades
back, this was, however, by no means the case. The voyages of
Behring, Cook, Kotzebue, Beechey, and others were then considered as
adventurous, fortunate exploring expeditions of great value and
importance in respect of science, but without any direct practical
utility. For nearly a hundred and fifty years the same was the case
with Spangberg's voyage from Kamschatka to Japan in the year 1739,
by which the exploring expeditions of the Russians, in the
northernmost part of the Pacific Ocean, were connected with those of
the Dutch and the Portug