There were two prevailing philosophies for ice navigation: the Atlantic theory and the Alaska or Beaufort Sea theory. The bolder Atlantic theory held that the farther away from land you stayed, the better your chance of finding more open, scattered ice. The downside was that if you were iced in, you were much farther from land. The more cautious Beaufort Sea approach was to hug the coast, staying along the shore if you could, “and if you don’t get there this year you may have another chance the next.”
