a voyage to the Arctic. Algarsson's voyage proved short-lived, as his ship collided with floating wreckage while in the North Sea. Undeterred, he set about preparing an expedition for the following year and invited Worsley, who had provided advice for his previous voyage, to join him. The plan was to sail to Spitzbergen, in the Arctic Circle, and Algarsson was to fly from there to the North Pole where he would crash the plane, and, with his pilot, sledge back. Worsley was to captain the ship that Algarsson had purchased for the expedition, a 30m (99 foot) diesel-engined brigantine called the Island. A lack of funds resulted in the cancellation of the planned flight as a suitable plane could not be found. However, the 15-man expedition, known as the Algarsson North Polar Expedition, went ahead with mapping and scientific objectives, among them a search for Gillis Land, northeast of Spitzbergen, which was not known to have been sighted since 1707, and sounding the continental shelf between Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land. With the plane flight no longer viable, and the focus of the expedition now primarily on maritime matters, Algarsson offered Worsley co-leadership of the expedition, which he accepted. The Island sailed on 21 June 1925 from Liverpool. When sailing the western side of Spitzbergen, a blade of the propeller of the Island was damaged in a collision with an ice floe. When the engine was run, severe vibration was felt and this forced Worsley to continue northwards under sail, searching for Gillis Land until the ship reached the pack ice. While doing so, soundings were taken which confirmed the presence of a submarine plain between Spitzbergen and the island group of Franz Josef Land. Turning south and sailing along the northern coast of Spitzbergen, a previously uncharted harbour was found, which Algarsson named after Worsley. The ship then sailed north, still seeking Gillis Land, but became trapped in the ice. Worsley took the opportunity to create an ice dock to facilitate repairs to the rudder, which had become damaged. After two weeks beset in the ice, he used the engine to break free but the last blade of the propeller was lost in the process. The Island was now effectively without an engine, a prospect that did not daunt Worsley as he sailed for Franz Josef Land. He described it as "sail's last unaided battle with the polar pack