OCR Text |
Show i f RUSSIAWILLTRYTO REACH TIIEPOLE Ice Breaking Steamer to Start for the North in June. Most remarkable of all polar expedl tloni, and In many reapecta the moat carefully ooncilrot, will be Ihe one that la to Mart from Ht I'eteraburB next June To auxgnt a new method for reich-Ine reich-Ine (he pole If In llaelf a feat worthy of attention 1'eary and Ihe Duke of Abrunl with their dog alcdgea Naneen with till drifting ablp and Andree with his Ill-fated Ill-fated balloon, would neem to hive ex hauatcd the list of potlh!lltloi. tlut timet aa itrong of those of lie usual commercial steel ship Bbe amM bo lifted by tackle placed around acr uow and ttern without breaking U two In the middle and aha Is the 'r "'''P In the world that could aurvtte audi a teat Sho can run backward is eaaliy aa forward Her propeller ean bo brought abort up against tin net formidable for-midable obttrULlloti with ctllnen nt speed and not damaged by lit contact In short, tho Ilrmack comes fry near signer, which was tu produtt a veeei'l ajmmctrlcally strong unlrrtkable In every patt In tho building nf the Hrwork this Idea was kept alradlly In nhd Hpeed, beauty and carrying capacRf all wero sacrlllced to atrcngth Al Admiral .Makarotf said to mo In explaining this point It Is Impossible to oako a ship too strong to dual with thjlce I.vcn Aj sha Ilea In the water sho la an odd looking affair, with her blunt, rounded bow, and extraordinary beam of seventy-ops feet, which Is nearly twice what It would be for an ocean liner of her strength 30! feet It Is when she Is In dry dock, however, that one can best see how extraordinary extraordi-nary a departure she presents from tho accepted line of ship construction. Sho appears top-heat), for her Low, stern and tides nre all cut nny sharply to her keel. In tho cato ot tho bow the slant la setenly decrees. Most surprising In appearance nt all. the extraordinary features of tho vesnel Is a forward propeller In addition addi-tion to lha three at her atern. This fore propeller la nn American Invention Inven-tion which Admiral Makarotf has adopted Ita purpoao Is to reduce the retlstanro of the Ice by sicking away the water underneath It. The device baa been found ery effective In dealing deal-ing with ordinary Ice, but In the great thlckncMca which are encountered In tho Arctic It was discovered to be a hlndranco rather than on aid, and Iff. JWftB , elSL-n r -j k itttp of ovvoc set- 7?,rav77c l fnnnlyJr r admiuai. maiurokf and his icb ihikakino sikameii. the neurit mlieme Is unique ns well as bold In design It lontemplntes neither neith-er using nor avoiding thu Ice thnt forms the great harrier before tho goal Umes as strong aa thoso of tho utual of all polar research It Is nothing less than a plan to break a path through this encircling xono ot lco with tho strongeat and strangest ahlp that ever wua hulll The plan Is n lltisklnn one It was originated by a dlstlngtiUhed Illusion commander, Vice-Admiral Makarcff ot the Imperial navy It will bounder-taken bounder-taken by a Itusslan ship, the famous Ice-breaker ISrmack It lll be carried out with Itusslan thoroughneas and nobody need be greatly surprised It Ilussla wins lha coveted honor for which the representatives ot many nations' na-tions' have striven the distinction ot being the first to rraih latitude 90 degrees de-grees north At tho very beginning It may bo said thcrefjre, that tho I.rnmck Is no ordinary ordi-nary vessel Sho Is extraordinary In every reepict Iter aides aro fifteen the I.rmack Is not so strong as I should wish her to be, although she can chargo anything sruller than an Iceberg without danger tf serlou- In-Jury." In-Jury." At that time the Kraick had Just returned from a voyapot 200 miles through tho froien Antic. Sho had cut her way through sotl Ice fourteen feet In thickness, and through heaped heap-ed up or "hummocky'lco of more than twlco that depth At that tlmo her (ctnmandcr was superintending a few (Iterations Intended In-tended to fortify tho fnllh of tho vessel, ves-sel, and this year sttf Is being still further strengthened) to that by the tlmo she Is called upn to undertake tho supreme test otjiular navigation, next aprlng, alio will)" aa nearly perfect per-fect aa human lnsfefty and skill can make her. i It la worth whll to take a glanco at the ronstriktlou ot this unusual vessel to form aa ettlmato of tho pow-V pow-V which the can roaster for her battles bat-tles with tho let therefore, when the I.rmack starts on her oyago toward Ihe polo It will be unshipped and stored on board. Inside tho vessel Is as unusual ns alio la In her external nppearanco. Shu has u double skin throughout, the outaldo ono compoaed nf steel p'ates nn inch and n quarter thick, and the inner one of abnut hair this thickness. She has n don Mo deck alto, and even I n doiihlo set ot cabin skylights, so that she really Is two ships, ono In- , closed wllhln the other Tho two walls of the teasel aro firmly braced I by stcd supports, and the space be- I tween them Is dUlded Into forty-eight watertight compartments extending I entirely around the ship Although tho largest ot her class, the Krmack la not remarkable for slro when compared com-pared with tome of tho Atlantic ves-sels, ves-sels, having a dlspheement of about 8,000 tons, but she Is a brawny antagonist, antago-nist, for she possesses n driving strength of 10 000 horso power distributed distri-buted between four independent engines |