16 INTEODUOTION. 



Including the machinery and ship's fittings, the Ger- 

 mania cost the round sum of £3150. 



The second ship, the purchase-money of which, as we 

 have already remarked, had been previously guaranteed 

 by some merchants belonging to the Bremen Committee, 

 was the Prussian schooner Fulton, built on the Weser in 

 1864, of 76 1 tons burden. She received the name of 

 the " Hansa," and was laid on the slips by F. W. Wenke 

 and Co. (Rosenthal). 



A difficult and important part of the preparations 

 was the victualling the ships. The only precedents of 

 use were supplied by the experience of those who 

 had been engaged in the Greenland trade from the 

 Weser. Certainly the eastward journey of the " Green- 

 land," in 1868, constituted somewhat of a guide. 

 But never yet had a German ship sailed from the 

 German coast with the intention of passing a winter 

 in Arctic latitudes. On that account the experience 

 of Englishmen, Americans, and Russians was carefully 

 considered in the outfitting. Above all, attention was 

 particularly paid to completeness and plentiful supply, as 

 well as to the good quality of every article. The honour- 

 able character of the contractors, the eagerness shown 

 on their side to further a national undertaking, and their 

 wish on this occasion to keep up their reputation, stood the 

 undertaking in good stead. On their departure, the 

 members of the expedition particularly thanked them for 

 the consideration they had shown to all their wishes with 

 regard to the stores, and expressed their satisfaction with 

 everything. Parsimony could not for a moment be con- 

 sidered at such a time ; it would have been misplaced, 

 inhuman, and destructive of the very aim of the expedition. 



