Before they left Sardis, preparations had been made for an
appropriate and permanent designation of the exact position of
the northern end of the earth's axis. If this should be
discovered to be on solid land, there was a great iron standard,
or column, on board, in detached parts, with all appliances for
setting it up firmly in the rocks or earth or ice; but if the end
of the said axis should be found to be covered by water of not
too great depth, a buoy had been provided which should be
anchored upon the polar point.

This buoy was a large hollow, aluminium globe, from which a tall
steel flag-post projected upward to a considerable height,
bearing a light weather-vane, which, when the buoy should be in
its intended position, would always point southward, no matter
which way the wind might blow. This great buoy contained various
appropriate articles, which
had been hermetically sealed up in it before it left
Sardis, where it was manufactured. All the documents, books,
coins, and other articles which are usually placed
in the corner-stones of important buildings were put in this,
together with the names of the persons who had gone
on this perilous expedition and those who had been its projectors
and promoters. More than this, there was an appropriate
inscription deeply cut into the metal on the upper part of the
buoy, with a space left for the date of the discovery, should it
ever take place.

But the mere ceremony of anchoring a buoy at the exact position
of the pole was not enough to satisfy the conscientious ambition