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Show 40 And accordingly, instead of using the small boats, such as the Government expedition used in 1921, I patterned my boat after the boat used by Powell and by Stanford. My two large boats were 22 feet long, built of half- inch Mexican mahogany, on very heavy oak ribs and keels. The boats had 3 water tight compartments, forward, amidships, and aft, and were intended to be unsinkable. Q How long do you say they were? A 22 feet long, the larger boats, and 5 feet in the beam. The smaller boat was 16 feet long, built of 5/ 8 inch cedar, on the same heavy oak ribs and keels. The small boat was decked over for four feet at each end and had splash-board, but had no watertight compartment. When I began getting my crew together, I put to test a theory that I had developed concerning them; that is, that a man need not be a tough citizen in order to be brave. During the war, I noticed that, in many instance, men with college training stood up under the long, hard stress of war even better than the hard- boiled army sergeant type. So that I sent a call for volunteers to the colleges of the country, and secured about 150 applications to join my expedition. I made it clear that the men must be ables to swim, must have had long experience with boats, and certain other necessary qualifications. From this list of 150 men, I selected my crew of nine men, nine young college men, who formed the nucleus 2001 |