356 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
The earliest recorded attempt to find a northeast passage—that is, to take a 
vessel from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, north of Europe and Asia, wa 
Behring Strait—was that of Sir Hugh Willoughby, more than three hundred 
years ago. He and his whole crew were found frozen to death (probably starved), 
where they had been wintering on the shores of Russian Lapland. This expedi- 
tion, consisting of three small vessels, sailed in 1553. 
A number of other expeditions were sent out in the 16th and 17th centuries 
with the same object, under commanders whose names appear prominently in our 
more recent Arctic maps (see Stanford’s Circumpolar Maps), the most conspicuous 
being those of Barentz (a Dutchman) and Hudson. Later on, the Russians un- 
dertook the exploration of these seas, and sent out no fewer than eighteen expe- 
ditions, all of which failed in their main object. The last of these returned in 
1837, on which Von Baer, the Academician, asserted zt was an ice cellar. 
For Nordenskjéld’s great voyage, the patriotic and generous Mr. Oscar 
Dickson, already so frequently mentioned, contributed £12,000, including the 
purchase of the ‘‘ Vega,’’ a steam whaler of 500 tons and 60 horse-power, this be- 
ing a much finer vessel in every respect—apart from the great advantage of 
steam-power—than was ever previously employed for the contemplated work. 
By a grant from the king of Sweden of £2,200, and an equal amount from a 
Russian gentleman, Mr. Alexr. Sibiriakoff, with other subscriptions, the sum 
of £20,000 was obtained. 
The minor objects of this expedition were too numerous to mention in a 
notice so brief as this; it is sufficient to say that with so experienced and scien- 
tific a leader and an admirable staff of able men to support him, no single pur- 
suit that could tend either to the advancement of science or of industrial devel- 
opment was neglected. The expedition was extremely fortunate in having as 
captain of the ‘‘ Vega,’’ Lieut. Palander, who, although still young, had already 
had much experience of ice navigation. The crew of the ‘‘ Vega” consisted of 
thirty persons in all, of whom nine were officers and scientists, three Norwegian 
walrus hunters, and the remaining eighteen picked from about 200 volunteer sea- 
men of the Swedish navy. They were fully provisioned for two years. 
The ‘‘ Vega” sailed from Gottenborg on the 4th of July, 1878, and from 
Tromsoe on the 21st, accompanied from the latter place by the small steamer 
‘‘Tena,” bound for the river of that name. , 
On the 30th of the same month, the ‘‘ Vega” reached the shores of the 
Kara Sea, and anchored at Chabarova, a Samoyede village, near which the two 
vessels Fraser and Express had been at anchor since the 2oth, and had seen no 
ice all these ten days. ‘The Lena arrived on the 31st, and both she and the 
“Vega” took on board coals from the Express, and then sailed on the rst of 
August. The whole of the Kara Sea was traversed without seeing ice, except 
one ‘‘ drift” of floes too rotten or broken up to impede navigation. On the 6th 
of August they came near to anchor in Dickson’s Harbor, in lat. 73° 25’ N., 
long. 82° E. (?), having advanced more than 500 miles in six days. 
