Gauss (ship)
The first Gauss was a Barkentine that served the exploration of Antarctica and was used from 1901 to 1903 during the German Gauss expedition under Erich von Drygalski.
History
1899 approved the German Reichstag DM 1.2 million for the construction of a robust research vessel, which was built according to the plans of the Navy Oberbaurat Otto Kretschmer under the supervision of the Navy Office at the shipyard of HDW in Kiel. The plans have been adapted from the Fram polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen. The ship was launched on April 2, 1901 from the stack and baptized by the geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in honor of Carl Friedrich Gauss, the first to recognize the importance of the South Pole of the earth's magnetic research and the location of the south magnetic pole was determined by calculations. The South Pole Expedition was a project of the German Empire and was organized by the Ministry of Interior.
The Gauss was rigged as a three-masted topsail schooner. They also had a screw drive with a dreikurbeligen triple expansion steam engine, electric lighting and steam heating. The ship was 46 m long and 11 m wide. At a depth of 4.8 m the water displacement was 1,450 tons. A ride of seven knots could be achieved under both machine and only under sail.
In order to protect the ship from damage caused by the ice conditions, various measures have been taken. one
- Used a three-fold among themselves firmly connected planking of oak, spruce and American GreenHeart (see also Green heart wood),
- Brought specially designed steel plates at the bow and at the stern,
- Moved inner supports of waxed oak coppice,
- Offset the steerage near the waterline,
- Constructed a relatively circular fuselage cross-section to lift the ship in ice pressure on the ice, and thus to prevent crushing.
The furnishings and equipment of the vessel the latest findings in polar research were considered. The equipment consisted of two steam winches for scientific research and for the anchoring devices, an apparatus for distillation of potable water, a fire-extinguishing system, a naphtha powerboat and five other boats, a number of slides which should be taken of 77 Siberian dogs, two captive balloons with the required hydrogen gas in 455 seamless steel cylinders, a headlamp, the latest fishing equipment and reliable physical instruments. On both sides of the bridge oil tanks were attached to possibly drain shaft calming oil.
The Gauss contained accommodation for five researchers, five officers and the 22 -strong crew. Nautical Guide of the ship was Captain Hans Ruser, who was the scientific expedition leader, Erich von Drygalski assumed.
The Gauss left Kiel on August 11, 1901 and returned on November 24, 1903 there back. In 1904, the ship of the Canadian Government was purchased, renamed Arctic and asked the Captain Bernier for a North Pole ride. As Arctic sailed seven years under the command of Joseph- Elzear Bernier through the northern Canadian Archipelago and Baffin Iceland before wintered 1906-1907, 1908-1909 and 1910-1911 before Melville Iceland in Admiralty Inlet. Due to the five-year presence in these waters Captain Bernier has officially taken the Arctic islands July 1, 1909 for Canada in possession. The Arctic was then used, among other things, as a supply ship for settlements in the far north of Canada to the twenties and reactivated in 1922 for four years for exploration tasks, again under the age of 70 and then Captain Bernier. According to these re- runs, the ship was deeply affected and was sold for demolition. However, the strong wooden structure resisted the efforts of the Abwrackers and so was left to rot, the ship slowly.