INTRODUCTION. 3 



inconsiderable expenditure which the new voyage of exploration 

 would render necessary. This is the sixth expedition to the 

 high north, the expenses of which have been defrayed to 

 a greater or less extent by Dr. O. Dickson.^ He became 

 the banker of the Vega Expedition, inasmuch as to a con- 

 siderable extent he advanced the necessary funds, but after 

 our return the expenses were equally divided between His 

 Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, Dr. Dickson, and 

 Mr. Sibiriakoif. 



I very soon had the satisfaction of appointing, as superin- 

 tendents of the botanical and zoological work of the expedition 

 in this new Polar voyage, my old and tried friends from previous 

 expeditions, Docents Dr. Kjellman and Dr. Stuxberg, observers 

 so w'ell known in Arctic literature. At a later period, another 

 member of the expedition that wintered on Spitzbergen in 

 1872-73, Lieutenant (now Captain in the Swedish Navy) L. 

 Palander, offered to accompany the new expedition as com- 

 mander of the vessel — an offer which I gladly accepted, well 

 knowing, as I did from previous voyages, Captain Palander's 

 distinguished ability both as a seaman and an Arctic explorer. 

 Further there joined the expedition Lieutenant GiACOMO BovE, 

 of the Italian Navy ; Lieutenant A. Hovgaard, of the Danish 

 Navy ; Medical candidate E. Almquist, as medical officer ; 

 Lieutenant O. Nordquist, of the Russian Guards ; Lieutenant 

 E. Brusewitz, of the Swedish Navy ; together with twenty-one 

 men — petty officers and crew, according to a list which will be 

 found further on. 



An expedition of such extent as that now projected, intended 

 possibly to last two years, with a vessel of its own, a numerous 

 well-paid personnel, and a considerable scientific staff, must of 

 course be very costly. In order somewhat to diminish the 

 expenses, I gave in, on the 25th August, 1877, a memorial to 

 the Sw^edish Government with the prayer that the steamer Vega, 

 which in the meantime had been purchased for the expedition, 

 should be thoroughly overhauled and made completely sea- 

 worthy at the naval dockyard at Karlskrona ; and that, as had 

 been done in the case of the Arctic Expeditions of 1868 and 

 1 872-73, certain grants of public money should be given to the 

 officers and men of the Royal Swedish Navy, who might take 

 part as volunteers in the projected expedition. With reference 

 to this petition the Swedish Government was pleased, in terms 

 of a letter of the Minister of Marine, dated the 81st December, 

 1877, both to grant sea-pay, &c., to the officer and eighteen men 

 of the Royal Navy, who might take part in the expedition in 



1 The expeditions to Spitzbergen in 1868, to Greenland in 1870, to 

 Spitzbergen in 187-2-73, and to the Yenisej in 1875 and 1876 



B 2 



