Nordenskiöld was now within 120 miles of his destination, and his ambition to complete the passage in a single voyage seemed on the verge of fulfilment, when his ship was caught in the ice, and so firmly frozen in that all hopes of getting her free again that winter had to be abandoned. The _Vega_ was lying off a Chukche village, and Nordenskiöld and his assistants at once set about gaining some knowledge of the manners and customs of the natives. One of them, he tells us, “carried a Greek cross on his neck. He appeared to have been baptised, but his Christianity did not amount to much. He crossed himself with much zeal to the sun in our presence. This was the only trace of religion or religious observance that we could discover.” During his intercourse with the natives, Norquist succeeded in learning about a thousand words of their languages, while other members of the party made many valuable ethnographical observations. On July 18, 1879, the _Vega_ was set free, and on the 20th she rounded the East Cape, thus being the first ship to accomplish the difficult passage in a single journey. CHAPTER XXVI THE STORY OF THE “JEANNETTE” There is a double interest attached to the voyage of the _Jeannette_, for not only is the story itself one of the most terrible tragedies in the whole history of Arctic exploration, but, as will be seen later, it was the fate of the unlucky ship which prompted Nansen to formulate his plan for reaching the Pole by forcing his ship into the ice, and allowing her to drift north with the current. The _Jeannette_ expedition owed its inception to Mr J. G. Bennett of the _New York Herald_, who had frequently shown his interest in Arctic research by equipping and sending out vessels at his own expense. He purchased the _Pandora_ from Sir Allen Young, renamed her the _Jeannette_, and placed her under the command of Commander De Long, who had been a member of the relief expedition sent out to the succour of the _Polaris_. Admirably fitted out in every detail both for navigation and for scientific research, the _Jeannette_ set sail from San Francisco on July 8, 1879. After a brief call at St Michael’s, where she took on board sledges, furs, dogs, and two Alaskan dog-drivers, she set sail once more and made for Behring Strait.