Valuable though Nordenskiöld’s earlier voyages were, it is, perhaps, as the discoverer of the North-East passage that his name will be best remembered. For centuries the idea of finding a way to China along the coast of Asia had been allowed to lapse, largely, of course, because other and easier routes were open to all those who cared to use them. In 1875, however, the subject was revived, and Oscar Dickson expressed himself willing to fit out an expedition which should be commanded by Nordenskiöld. It was thought advisable to send out a small preliminary expedition to spy out the way, and accordingly in the same year Nordenskiöld started off in the _Proven_, a small ship of 70 tons, and succeeded in reaching the mouth of the Yenesei, a feat never before accomplished. The value of his journey was, however, rather discounted in some quarters, and many authorities held that his success was largely due to the fact that the ice was unusually favourable in that year, and that he would be unable to repeat the performance in any ordinary season. With a view to silencing these critics, Nordenskiöld sailed from Tromsö in the _Ymer_ on July 25, 1876, and anchored off the mouth of the Yenesei on August 15, thus proving the Arctic route to be perfectly practicable, and opening up a way which has since proved of some value. These two successes made Nordenskiöld all the more determined to make the complete voyage from Tromsö to the Behring Strait; and so convincingly did he argue his case, that he succeeded in obtaining a grant from the Swedish Diet, which, with contributions from Oscar Dickson, King Oscar, and M. Sibiriakoff, enabled him to fit out the _Vega_, and to set sail in her from Tromsö on July 21, 1878, accompanied by the collier _Express_, the _Frazier_, with a cargo for the Yenesei, and the _Lena_, which was to make for Yakutsk. The Kara Strait was perfectly free of ice, and here the _Vega_ took the coal from the _Express_ into her own bunkers. The dreaded Kara Sea was also safely negotiated, and on August 10 the two ships of which the expedition now consisted were lying off the mouth of the Yenesei. From this point onward Nordenskiöld was in a state of nervous tension, for he might at any moment be pulled up by the ice. Cape Chelyuskin, however, the most northerly point of Asia, was rounded successfully, the New Siberian Islands were passed, and on September 12 the _Vega_ was nearing the promontory of Irkaipi, on the other side of which lay the Behring Strait, the _Lena_ having left her at the river after which she was named.