REPORT OF THE VOYAGE. 



After a short stay at Reykjavik, I proceeded to sea again on the 8 th of August, steered a 

 southerly course till the latitude of the Fseroe- Islands when the course was altered to East, and 

 arrived at the said islands after a good passage with a corresponding good result of scientific work. 

 By the bye, I shall only mention that at the last trawling made to the westward of the Faeroe-Islands 

 the only mishap occurred to the material employed for the deep-sea work, as not only the trawl-bag 

 came up entirely rent, but the trawl-frame itself was completely destroyed. 



From the Faeroe-Islands the course was shaped homewards, and on the 23 d the cruiser arrived 

 at Copenhagen, where she was paid off on the 31 st of August. 



It will be seen by the foregoing, that on an average and in consideration of the time of the 

 year, the expedition met with very stormy weather, and that furthermore, it fell in with unusually large 

 masses of ice in the Davis-Strait as well as in the Denmark-Strait , so that on account of the ice in 

 the Davis-Strait, the vessel did not get more northerly than to Holstensborg, while, in consequence of 

 the ice in the Denmark-Strait, explorations in the Eastern Greenland Arctic current were prevented. 



The result of the voyage must for all that be regarded as satisfactory. 



As to the fitting out, the result of the voyage had in every respect confirmed that the outfit 

 of the vessel had served the purpose, and that with exeption of making up for what had been used 

 011 the voyage in 1895 only a few alterations and procuring of articles of minor importance had to 

 be made for the voyage in 1896. 



Still is to be noted, that the expedition was specially visited by a mishap, which may occur 

 with the deep-sea thermometer hitherto employed on similar expeditions, a mishap entirely prevented 

 from taking place on the expedition in 1896, in consequence of an alteration made to the thermometer 

 by one of the members of the expedition, the physicist Mr. Knudsen; he had likewise constructed an 

 air-analysing apparatus, by means of which investigations could be made on the spot. Further 

 particulars concerning this subject will be mentioned in the following. 



The same officers and naturalists that had been with the expedition in 1895 took part in the 

 expedition in 1896, only with exception of Mr. Wcsenberg-Lund ', having joined the expedition instead 

 of Dr. Hansen who retired at his own request. 



The vessel was commissioned on the 30 th of April, and the cruiser proceeded on the 3 d of Mai 

 to the seas SE. and S. of Iceland, where the scientific work commenced; this latter was thereafter 

 continued in a westerly direction till the 62 d parallel of latitude as the southern line of demarcation; 

 it was not till the 18 th that we succeeded in bringing the work in these waters to an end, as the 

 cruiser almost incessantly on her working field encountered very bad weather, sometimes assuming 

 the character of a gale and preventing all work. 



From Reykjavik , at which place we called for coaling, the course was laid for the Sncfjelds- 

 jokcl, and from here a line was laid towards the eastcoast of Greenland at Angmagsalik, to which 

 we succeeded in coming as near as about 40 miles, when the ship was stopped by ice, and for the 

 second time prevented from making her way into the Arctic current From this place, it was our 

 intention to take a line of observations in the longitudinal section of the Denmark-Strait, but this 

 was prevented by the polar ice, which north of Angmagsalik stretched itself in an easterly direction, 

 and reached right in upon the Iceland banks. 



