, and general efficiency.

[Headnote: _THE SHIPS._]

The "Resolute" and "Assistance" were sailing ships rigged as barks;
their hulls strengthened according to the most orthodox arctic rules,
until, instead of presenting the appearances of a body intended for
progress through the water, they resembled nothing so much as very
ungainly snuff-boxes; and their bows formed a buttress which rather
pushed the water before it than passed through it. The remark made by
an old seaman who had grown gray amongst the ice was often recalled to
my mind, as with an aching heart for many a long mile I dragged the
clumsy "Resolute" about. "Lord, sir! you would think by the quantity of
wood they are putting into _them_ ships, that the dock-yard maties
believed they could stop the Almighty from moving the floes in Baffin's
Bay! Every pound of African oak they put into them the less likely they
are to rise to pressure; and you must in the ice either rise or sink.
If the floe cannot pass through the ship it will go over it."

Internally the fittings of the ships were most perfect: nothing had
been spared to render them the most comfortable vessels that ever went
out avowedly to winter in the Polar ice. Hot air was distributed by
means of an ingenious apparatus throughout lower deck and cabins.
Double bulkheads and doors prevented the ingress of unnecessary cold
air. A cooking battery, as the French say, promised abundance of room
for roasting, boiling, baking, and thawing snow to make water for daily
consumption. The mess places of the crew were neatly fitted in
man-of-war style; and the well-laden shelves of crockery and hardware
showed that Jack, as well as jolly marine, had spent a portion of his
money in securing his comfort in the long voyage before them. A long
tier of cabins on either side showed how large a proportion of officers
these vessels carried; but it was so far satisfactory, as it proved
that the division of labour, consequent upon numbers, would make arctic
labours comparatively light.

A large captain's cabin, with a gunroom capable of containing all the
officers when met together for their meals, completed the
accommodation. The crews consisted of sixty souls each, of which a
fourth were officers.

The vessels chosen to be the first to carry the novel agent, steam,
into hyperborean climes, were the "Pioneer" and "Intrepid," sister
vessels, belonging, originally, to the cattle conveyance company; they
were propelled b