ch. xxxvi] The North-East Passage 
323 
depth of hold, barque rigged, with a screw propeller and 
engines of 60 horse-power. The leader of the expedition 
was Nordenskiold himself, the captain of the ship 
Lieutenant Louis Palander, a distinguished Swedish 
naval officer who had previously been in Spitsbergen 
with Nordenskiold. The other officers were Lieutenant 
Brusewitz of the Swedish navy, Lieutenant Hovgaard of 
the Danish navy, Lieutenant Bove of the Italian navy, 
and Lieutenant Nordqvist of the Russian army. There 
were also three scientific men (one being the surgeon), 
two engineers, a boatswain, and 15 seamen of the Swedish 
navy, besides three Norwegian seal-fishers, 30 all told. 
The Vega took 300 tons of coal and two years' provisions, 
and was accompanied by two of Sibirikoff 's cargo vessels 
for the Yenisei, and the Lena for the river of that name. 
The Vega left Tromso on the 21st July, 1878, with the 
three other vessels in company, and anchored in Pet 
Strait, between Waigats Island and the mainland of the 
Samoyeds, on the 30th. The ship stood out into the Kara 
Sea, and rounded White Island. There seems to be little 
or no risk of running ashore on the coast, for the currents 
from the Obi and Yenisei flow northward at a rate of 
two to five miles. All went well, and on the 6th August 
the Vega and Lena were safely anchored in Dickson 
Harbour, while Sibirikoff s two vessels proceeded up the 
Yenisei river. 
From this point the exploring voyage began, and was 
well described in Palander's letters to me at the time. 
Cape Taimyr was reached on the 10th of August, and floe 
ice was encountered with thick fogs. It may be men- 
tioned that very important corrections of longitude had 
to be made all along the Siberian coast, and between 
Dickson Harbour and Cape Taimyr several islands pre- 
viously unknown were discovered. 
On the 19th of August the Vega rounded Cape 
Chelyuskin, the most northern point of the Old World, 
which was found to be in 77 0 36' N. and 103 0 25' E. 
Palander then stood more out to sea in hopes of finding 
unknown islands, but the quantity of drift ice by which 
the ship was soon surrounded led him to seek the coast 
again, and he found a navigable though narrow channel 
between the land and the pack. On August 28th the 
