overland, as did Wiggins and the rest of the crew of the _Thames_. The next venture of Wiggins was very successful. In concert with Mr Oswald Cattley, who chartered the _Warkworth_ of 650 tons for a voyage to the Obi, he sailed from Liverpool on August 1st, 1878, reached the Obi, and was back in the Thames by October 2nd with a cargo of wheat. In 1879 speculators rushed in and spoiled the business. Nine large steamers, all quite unfit for ice navigation, were chartered for the Obi, where 5000 tons of Siberian goods were ready for them. But the masters of the steamers were frightened of the ice and came home without cargoes, thus thoroughly discrediting the enterprise. Wiggins gave it up in disgust, but some years afterwards, encouraged by Sir Robert Morier, the English Ambassador at Petrograd, he was induced to take the _Phoenix_ of 273 tons to the Yenisei, and he made several other voyages until 1896. This fine specimen of an English master mariner had become a perfect pilot of the Kara Sea, and a most worthy successor of Burrough, Pet, and Jackman. I had the pleasure of presenting him with one of the awards of the Royal Geographical Society for his excellent services in the Kara Sea, and he received other recognitions. He died, aged 73, on September 13th, 1905[156]. Another expedition, connected more or less with the voyage of Nordenskiöld and the Siberian Sea, was planned and commanded by Lieutenant George W. De Long of the United States Navy, and financed by Mr Gordon Bennett of the _New York Herald_. The expedition had the great advantage of being under naval discipline, the commander receiving instructions from the Secretary of the Navy. Mr Gordon Bennett induced Sir Allen Young to sell him the _Pandora_ as the vessel for the new expedition. At this time Lieutenant De Long was in England, and I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. He was a good seaman, a scientific officer, and an agreeable companion. Trained to the management and care of seamen De Long was undoubtedly the best of all the American arctic commanders, and he well fulfilled the trust that was placed in him. The _Pandora_ was taken to San Francisco--for the object of the expedition was to make discoveries by way of Bering Strait--but, ignoring the vessel’s previous fine record, and in spite of sailors’ customs and beliefs, her name was changed to the _Jeannette_.