Interest in Arctic work was thus aroused in Germany, a committee was formed, and it was resolved again to despatch an expedition under Koldewey to the east coast of Greenland. A vessel of 143 tons was built at Bremershaven, at a cost of £3150, and named the _Germania_. The schooner _Hansa_, of only 76¾ tons, was bought as a consort, with Captain Hegeman of Oldenburg in command. Captain Koldewey’s expedition sailed from Bremershaven on the 15th June, 1869, and reached the edge of the ice in 74° 47′ N. On September 14th the _Hansa_ was closely beset and drifted south all through the winter until she was destroyed by the ice. Officers and crew then took to their three boats and eventually reached the Danish settlement of Friedrichsthal. Meanwhile the _Germania_ worked her way through the ice, and reaching land on the 5th August, her winter quarters were finally fixed in a small bay in one of Clavering’s Pendulum Islands, in 74° 24′ N. Julius Payer, a Lieutenant in the Austrian army who was born at Teplitz in 1842, was the moving spirit of the expedition in the work of sledge-travelling and in the ascent of glaciers and mountains. He made one journey in September, but the principal work was undertaken after the winter was over. The details were not thought out with that close attention and full knowledge of all that has gone before which alone can secure great results; nevertheless, all being quite new to the work, the journey was highly creditable, as the ice surface was very bad. Captain Koldewey and Lieutenant Payer were the leaders, and starting on the 24th March they reached their furthest point in 77° N. on the 15th April. A lofty cape in 76° 47′ N. was named Cape Bismarck. Then, as there were no depôts and provisions were running short, the return journey was commenced, and they reached the ship on the 27th April. The distance covered, there and back, was about 300 miles and took 35 days, during eight of which they were confined to the tent by gales. Omitting these, their rate was a little over ten miles a day. Four other short sledge journeys were made. As soon as the vessel was freed from her winter quarters, exploration was commenced along the coast and a branching fjord was discovered in 73° 15′ N. extending far into the interior of Greenland. It received the name “Franz Josef.” Along its shores two peaks, 7218 and 11,417 feet high respectively, were named after Petermann and Payer. The scenery was described as magnificent, exceeding in beauty, says Payer, anything to be seen in the Alps. After the discovery of this large fjord the _Germania_ returned to Bremen in September, 1870.