Did this "sledge rigged like a sloop" vehicle ever exist, or was it an invention of Jules Verne?

Question

In Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, the main character Phileas Fogg misses his train in the American north and ends up hitching a ride on a curious invention, as described here:

There Mr. Fogg examined a curious vehicle, a kind of frame on two long beams, a little raised in front like the runners of a sledge, and upon which there was room for five or six persons. A high mast was fixed on the frame, held firmly by metallic lashings, to which was attached a large brigantine sail. This mast held an iron stay upon which to hoist a jib sail. Behind, a sort of rudder served to guide the vehicle. It was, in short, a sledge rigged like a sloop. During the winter, when the trains are blocked by the snow, these sledges make extremely rapid journeys across the frozen plains from one station to another. Provided with more sails than a cutter, and with the wind behind them, they slip over the surface of the prairies with a speed equal if not superior to that of the express trains.

(From Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days from Sterling Publishing, New York.)

^{Picture from the Golden Picture Classic edition, Tom Gill illustrator.}

Did this invention actually exist, or did Jules Verne make this vehicle up? I have read that authors from this era often invented strange contraptions to make the story more interesting, especially if the story took place in America.

Answer 1

Yes, and this wikipedia article and this other one describe it. The first article talks about ice boats in America (invented in Poughkeepsie, etc), but the second makes it clear that the Dutch had this technology down cold a very long time ago. Verne, one suspects, read 19th century equivalents of Wikipedia for plot elements; maybe he read an equivalent of the first article I cite and was hooked by the American connection, and so put it in his novel.

Added: Of course, Verne's version travelled over land, and real ice-boats over frozen water. As Pieter Geerkens remarks, ice boats are very rapid, as (I suppose) the drag on the runners on ice is far less than the drag on the hull in the water.

Answer 2

Here's a reference to an attempt to use a "ski sledge" by Fridtjof Nansen during his crossing of Greenland in 1887. This is fourteen years after the book was published, so this obviously isn't the inspiration for the plot point. But at least someone tried it, though in a more ad hoc fashion than described in the book.

Answer 3

To add context to other answers, there's also Arthur Ransome's book "Winter Holiday", mentioning "ice yachts" sailing over a frozen lake in England. Though the book was published in 1933, its inspiration was the Great Frost of 1895, when there was even held a silver cup ice yacht competition on Windermere. (See Arthur Ransome wikia)

Answer 4

Actually, I'd say it's doubtful that a wind-powered sledge can be practical on snow. Other answers have linked to ice- and ground-based wind-powered craft. However, both of these have practical ways to counter lateral forces. Where a conventional boat has a keel, an ice boat has skate-like "runners" that resist lateral movement, and "ground boats" can use wheel traction to counter the lateral forces. A "snow keel" would, however, have orders of magnitude more drag. So one would have to conclude a wind-powered sledge can only efficiently travel downwind and cannot take an angle to the wind like a real boat can.