PREPARATIONS AND EQUIPMENT 57 



Expenditure. 



Kroner ore. 



Wages account 46,440 o 



Life insurance premiums of married participators . . 5.361 90 



Instruments account 12,978 68 



Ship account 271,927 8 



Provisions account 39.172 98 



Expenses account 10,612 38 



Equipment account 57.846 34 



Total 444.339 36 



It will be evident from the plan above expounded that 

 the most important point in the equipment of our 

 expedition was the building of the ship that was to carry 

 us through the dreaded ice regions. The construction 

 of this vessel was accordingly carried out with greater 

 care, probably, than has been devoted to any ship that 

 has hitherto ploughed the Arctic waters. I found in the 

 well-known shipbuilder, Colin Archer, a man who 

 thorouLihlv understood the task I set him, and who 

 concentrated all his skill, foresight, and rare thorough- 

 ness upon the work. We must gratefully recognize that 

 the success of the expedition was in no small degree due 

 to this man. 



If we turn our attention to the long list of former ex- 

 peditions and to their equipments, it cannot but strike 

 us that scarcely a single vessel had been built specially 

 for the purpose — in fact, the majority of explorers have 

 not even provided themselves with vessels which were 

 originally intended for ice navigation. This is the more 



