BACKGROUND AND ORIGIN OF THE EXPEDITION 



15 



-4'* 



The research ship Dana II at Plymouth, igjo. 



in 1 94 1 Dr. Anton Bruun gave a lecture on the possibility of the existence 

 of sea serpents, and a report of it was read by the author Hakon Mielche. 

 Mr. Mielche approached Dr. Bruun, and the idea of the Galathea Expe- 

 dition grew out of their talks. Mielche felt that the general public should 

 be kept better informed about the work of such expeditions and he sugges- 

 ted that the programme should include the taking of film-strips, lecturing 

 to Danes overseas, and other work of an educational and national charac- 

 ter. As a result of private discussions with interested scientific circles it 

 seemed possible that the expedition could be launched in June 1945, the 

 centenary year of the first Danish world expedition on the corvette Gala- 

 thea. The duration of the war, however, necessitated the postponement of 

 the expedition. 



As the Danish x\dmiralty had shown great interest in the project, it 

 had been envisaged that the expedition might take the form of an ordi- 

 nary naval cruise, the cost of the ship's upkeep being met out of the 

 Admiralty's normal budget. Other costs, which would be comparatively 

 moderate, it was hoped to cover privately. At a meeting held for this 

 purpose shortly after the war the Danish Expeditions Fund was founded, 

 with an energetic general secretary in Leif B. Hendil. Through gifts 



