[Footnote 7: A carefully written account of these voyages will be found in _Reise des Kaiserlich-russischen Flotten-Lieutenants Ferdinand von Wrangel laengs der Nordkueste von Siberien und auf dem Eismeere_, 1820-1824, bearbeitet von G. Engelhardt, Berlin, 1839; and G.P. Mueller, _Voyages et Decouvertes faites par les Russes le long des Cotes de la Mer Glaciale_, &c. Amsterdam: 1766. ] [Footnote 8: Th. von Middendorff, _Reise in dem aeussersten Norden und Osten Siberiens_, vol. iv. I., pages 21 and 508 (1867). ] [Footnote 9: Compare von Middendorff, _Reise im Norden u. Osten Siberiens_ (1848), part i., page 59, and a paper by von Baer, _Ueber das Klima des Tajmurlandes_. ] [Footnote 10: The map bears the title, "Nouvelle carte des decouvertes faites par des vaisseaux Russiens, etc., dressee sur des memoires authentiques de ceux qui ont assiste a ces decouvertes, et sur d'autres connaissances dont on rend raison dans un memoire separe. St. Petersbourg a l'Academie Imperiale des Sciences, 1758." ] [Footnote 11: Pretty broad, flat-bottomed, keelless vessels, 12 fathoms long, generally moved forward by rowing; sail only used with fair wind (_Wrangels Reise_, p. 4). ] [Footnote 12: Wrangel's own journeys were carried out during winter, with dog sledges on the ice, and, however interesting in many other respects, do not yield any other direct contribution to our knowledge of the state of the ice in summer and autumn. ] [Footnote 13: This is a common name for the many Russian expeditions which, during the years 1734-1743, were sent into the North Polar Sea from the Dwina, Obi, Yenisej, Lena, and Kamschatka. ] [Footnote 14: _Petermann's Mittheilungen_, 1868, p. 1, and 1869, p. 32. ] CHAPTER I. Departure--Tromsoe--Members of the Expedition--Stay at Maosoe--Limit of Trees--Climate--Scurvy and Antiscorbutics-- The first doubling of North Cape--Othere's account of his Travels--Ideas concerning the Geography of Scandinavia current during the first half of the sixteenth century-- The oldest Maps of the North--Herbertstein's account of Istoma's voyage--Gustaf Vasa and the North-east Passage-- Willoughby and Chancelor's voyages. The _Vega_ left the harbour of Karlskrona on the 22nd June, 1878. Including Lieutenants Palander and Brusewitz, there were then on board nineteen men belonging to the Swedish navy, and two foreign naval officers, who were to take part in the expedition--Lieutenants Hovgaard and Bove. The two latter had lived some time at Karlskrona in order to be present at the fitting out and repairing of the vessel.