553 Letter o/Capt. Skogman on the Spitzhergen Survey. [Dec. 22, 



gram to show the extent and shape of the triangles, which may also have 

 to undergo future minor modifications. 



^'Report on the Swedish Expedition to Spitzhergen in 1864. 



" During the expedition of 1861 several attempts were made to penetrate 

 into the Storfjord, or Wide Jaws Water ; but from ice and calms (the 

 Expedition not being provided with a steamer) they all proved ineffectual. 

 As it was evident, however, that the firth in question is, beyond com- 

 parison, the best locality in the island for carrying on the measurement of 

 an arc of the meridian, provided only that it is accessible to vessels, it was 

 resolved that a fresh attempt should be made ; and the Estates of the 

 Kingdom having liberally granted the necessary means, another Expedi- 

 tion was fitted out, though on a smaller scale than that of 1861. Mr. 

 Chydenius, who in 1861 had been particularly occupied in selecting and 

 determining the stations for the Survey, unfortunately died in the begin- 

 ning of 1864. His place has been supplied by Professor Nordenskjold 

 of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, and Mr. Duner, Professor of 

 Astronomy in the University of Lund, both having been in the Expedi- 

 tion of 1861. 



"A small vessel having been chartered at Tromsoe in Norway, they 

 started in the first days of June, and made Bear Island on the 1 7th, having 

 been detained by gales and adverse winds. Shortly afterwards they 

 reached the opening of the Storfjord ; and there appeared to be a good 

 chance of getting in ; but the ice soon packed, and, after several ineffectual 

 attempts to force the vessel through, they had to bear up to the western 

 side of Spitzbergen. On June 23rd they were off Bell Sound, but ice and 

 calms prevented their getting in. On June the 25th they anchored at 

 Safe Haven in Ice Sound. Here they remained shut in by the ice until 

 July 16th, making the best use they could of their time by examining the 

 greater part of the Sound, which was found to be considerably larger in 

 extent than is laid down in the charts. Having got out, and returning 

 to the southward, they were met by a heavy southerly gale, which obliged 

 them to run for Bell Sound, where they were detained until July 27th, 

 meanwhile completing the survey of the coasts of that Sound. Being 

 again delayed by head-winds and calms, they did not reach South Cape 

 until August the 7th, and on the 9th had succeeded in getting past the 

 Thousand Islands to Whalers' Point, close to which is one of the south- 

 ernmost stations within the firth* [marked v on the Map, from which, at 

 a height of 1200 feet, the summits of the three stations, w, 7-, and p, were 

 seen against the sky]. On the 10th they reached Foul Point, on the 

 opposite land [where a mountain, 1600- feet high (r), was ascended, from 

 which the summits v, p, i, and o were seen projected against the sky, with 

 the exception of o, which was backed by land]. On the 16th the third 



* The sentences within brackets are supplied from a letter of a stiU more recent 

 date, from Dr. Otto Torell and Professor Doner, written from Lund, 



