THE CREW OF THE "VEGA."THE CREW OF THE "VEGA."After a photograph taken at Naples.
On the 24th at 8 A.M. theVegaagain weighed anchor in order to steam on slowly, past Vaxholm into Stockholm. We met innumerable flag-decked steamers by the way, fully laden with friends, known and unknown, who with shouts of rejoicing welcomed theVegamen home. The nearer we came to Stockholm, the greater became the number of steamers, that, arranged in a double line and headed by theVega, slowly approached the harbour. Lanterns in variegated colours were lighted on the vessels, fireworks were let off, and the roar of cannon mingled with the loud hurrahs of thousands of spectators. After being greeted at Kastelholmen with one salute more theVegaanchored in the stream in Stockholm at 10 P.M.
The queen of the Mälar had clothed herself for the occasion in a festive dress of incomparable splendour. The city was illuminated, the buildings round the harbour being in the first rank. Specially had the King done everything to make the reception of theVegaexpedition, which he had so warmly cherished from the first moment, as magnificent as possible. The whole of the Royal Palace was radiant with a sea of lights and flames, and was ornamented with symbols and ciphers in which the name of the youngest sailor on theVegawas not omitted.
An estrade had been erected from Logaorden to the landing-place. Here we were received by the town councillors, whose president, the Governor, welcomed us in a short speech, we were then conducted to the Palace, where, in the presence of her Majesty the Queen of Sweden, the members of the Royal House, the highest officials of the State and Court, &c., we were in the grandest manner welcomed in the name of the fatherland by the King of Sweden, who at the same time conferred upon us further marks of his favour and goodwill[397]. Itwas also at the Royal Palace that the series of festivities commenced with a grand gala dinner, on the 25th of April, at which the King in a few magnanimous words praised the exploit of theVega. Thenfêtefollowedfêtefor several weeks.
On the 26th the Swedish Yacht Club gave an entertainment in the Grand Hotel under the presidency of Admiral Lagercrantz. Among those who were present may be mentioned his Majesty the King, the Crown Prince, Prince Oscar, Oscar Dickson, and Baron von Otter, Minister of Marine. On the evening of the same day there was a torchlight procession by pupils of the Technical High School. On the 27th there was a gala-play, to which all theVegamen were invited. On the 28th at a festive meeting of the Academy of the Sciences, a medal struck on account of theVegaexpedition was distributed, the meeting being followed by a dinner given at the Hotel Phoenix by the Academy under the presidency of the Crown Prince. On the 30th April and 5th May banquets were given by the Publicist Club, and by the Idun Society, by the Naval Officers' Society to the officers of theVega, and by the Stockholm Workman's Union to the crew. On the 7th and 8th May there were festivities at Upsala, the principal attraction of which consisted of gay, lively, and ingenious carnival representations, in which we received jocular addresses and homage from fantastically dressed representatives of the peoples of different countries and periods.
During this time there were daily received deputations
THE ENTRANCE OF THE "VEGA" INTO STOCKHOLM ON THE 24TH APRIL, 1880.THE ENTRANCE OF THE "VEGA" INTO STOCKHOLM ON THE 24TH APRIL, 1880.
addresses, and telegrams of welcome, among others from theriksdagof Sweden, thestortingof Norway, and the principal towns of Norway and Finland, from the student corps at Upsala and Helsingborg, from the St. Petersburg Geographical Society, from women in Northern Russia (the address accompanied by a laurel wreath in silver), &c. In a word, the Stockholmfêtesformed the climax of the remarkable triumphal procession from Japan to Stockholm, which stands unique in the history of festivities. Even after the Expedition was broken up in Stockholm, and theVegahad sailed on the 9th May for Karlskrona and Gothenburg, where she was again taken over by the whaling company that previously owned her, thefêteswere repeated at these towns. They commenced anew when theVegaexhibition was opened with appropriate solemnities by His Majesty the King in one of the wings of the Royal Palace, and when some months after I visited Berlin, St. Petersburg, and my old dear fatherland, Finland.
But I may not weary my reader with more notes of festivities. It is my wish yet once again to offer my comrades' and my own thanks for all the honours conferred upon us both in foreign lands and in the Scandinavian North. And in conclusion I wish to express the hope that the way in which the accounts of the successful voyage of theVegahave been received in all countries will give encouragement to new campaigns in the service of research, until the natural history of the Siberian Polar Sea be completely investigated and till the veil that still conceals the enormous areas of land and sea at the north and south poles be completely removed, until man at last knows at least the main features of the whole of the planet which has been assigned him as a dwelling-place in the depths of the universe.
Hearty thanks last of all to my companions during the voyage of theVega;to her distinguished commander Louis
Palander, her scientific men and officers, her petty officers and crew. Without their courage and the devotion they showed to the task that lay before us, the problem of the North-East Passage would perhaps still be waiting for its solution.
Map of the North Coast of the Old World from Norway to Behring's Straits,Map of the North Coast of the Old World from Norway to Behring's Straits, with the track of theVega, constructed from old and recent sources, and from observations made during the Voyage of theVega, by N. Selander, Captain in the General Staff
Map of the North Coast of the Old World from Norway to Behring's Straits, with the track of theVega, constructed from old and recent sources, and from observations made during the Voyage of theVega, by N. Selander, Captain in the General Staff
ABSTRACT OF THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA
Distance traversedEnglish1878 geographical milesKarlskrona—Copenhagen June 22—24 144Copenhagen—Gothenburg ,, 26, 27 134Gothenburg—Tromsoe July 4—17 1,040Tromsoe—Chabarova ,, 21—30 930Chabarova—Port Dickson Aug 1—6 580Port Dickson—Cape Chelyuskin ,, 10—19 510Cape Chelyuskin—Preobraschenie Island ,, 20—24 385Preobraschenie Island—the Mouth of the Lena ,, 24—27 380The Mouth of the Lena—Irkaipij Aug 27—Sept 12 1,260Irkaipij—Pitlekaj Sept 18—28 235The WinteringSept 28, 1878—July 18, 18791879Pitlekaj—St. Lawrence Bay July 18—20 190St. Lawrence Bay—Port Clarence ,, 21, 22 120Port Clarence—Konyam Bay ,, 26—28 160Konyam Bay—St. Lawrence Island ,, 30, 31 90St. Lawrence Island—Behring Island Aug 2—14 900Behring Island—Yokohama Aug. 19—Sept 2 1,715Yokohama—Kobe Oct. 11—13 360Kobe—Nagasaki ,, 18—21 410Nagasaki—Hong Kong Oct. 27—Nov 2 1,080Hong Kong—Labuan Nov. 9—17 1,040Labuan—Singapore ,, 21—28 750Singapore—Point de Galle Dec. 4—15 1,510Point de Galle—Aden Dec. 22—Jan. 7, 1880 2,2001880Aden—Suez Jan. 9—27 1,320Suez—Naples Feb. 3—14 1,200Naples—Lisbon Feb. 29—March 11 1,420Lisbon—Falmouth March 16—25 745Falmouth—Vlissingen April 5—8 345Vlissingen—Copenhagen ,, 10—16 632Copenhagen—Stockholm ,, 20—24 404——————Total 22,189
FOOTNOTES:
[392]An accident also happened during the first half of the expedition, the steersman, in backing among drift-ice, having been thrown over the wheel and hurt very seriously.
[393]Further particulars on this point are given in the Annual Address on the Progress of Geography by the Right Hon. the Earl of Northbrook (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1880, p. 401).
[394]During our visit to London we had no opportunity of taking part in any of the meetings of the Society, but some time after the Society gave Palander the Founders Gold Medal (I had in 1869 obtained the same distinction) and elected me an Honorary Corresponding Member.
[395]These are enumerated in theBulletin de la Société de Géographie, Mai, 1880, p. 463. In the same part (p. 450) there is also a report of the speeches made at theséance de réception.
[396]The medal was accompanied by an "extrait du registre de procès-verbaux du conseil municipal de la ville de Paris," a caligraphic masterpiece illuminated in various colours and gold. TheConseil municipalalso ordered a detailed description of thefêteto be printed, with the titleRelation officielle de le réception de M. le Professeur Nordenskiöld par le conseil municipal de Paris le lundi 5 Avril1880.
[397]Among others to all who took part in the Expedition aVegamedal, specially struck, to be worn on a blue-yellow riband on the breast. It may perhaps be of interest for numismatists to know that the medals distributed on account of theVegaexpedition are to be found delineated in the eighth and ninth parts of the Swedish Family Journal for 1880. To those that are there delineated there have since been added a medal struck by the Finnish Society of Sciences, and the Anthropological-Geographical Society's medal.
INDEX.
INDEX.
(
n
after the number of a page signifies note)
A
Aagaard, Aage, i.
302n
Acanthostephia Malmgreni
, ii.
49
Actinia Bay, i.
331
Acton, Admiral, ii.
446
Adam's mammoth
find
, i.
408
Adam's Peak, ii.
431
Adam's wood, ii.
209
Aden, ii.
437
Ahlquist, A. E., i.
103
Aino race, the, ii.
199
Aitanga, Chukch woman, ii.
57
;
portrait, ii.8
Akja, Lapp sledge, i.
83
Alasej, the river, discovered, ii.
161
;
mammothfindat, i.408
Alaska, ii.
196
Alaska Commercial Company, ii.
257
Alauda alpestris
, i.
129n
Albertus Magnus, i.
159
Alecto,
see
Antedon
Aleutian Islands, the, i.
161n
, ii.
274n
,
275n
;
discovered, ii.196
Alexejev, Feodot, ii.
162
,
164
,
167
Alfred the Great, i.
46
,
47
,
215
Algæ, on the inland-ice of Greenland, i.
178
;
in the Kara Sea, i.185;
at Behring Island, ii.292
Alibert's graphite quarry, ii.
235
Alkhornet, i.
112
Almquist, E., i.
4
,
37
,
38
,
93
,
187
,
208
,
319
,
320
,
340
,
436
,
444
,
465
,
478
,
504
,
505
; ii.
32
,
242
,
414
,
434
;
excursion to Beli Ostrov, i.200;
report on a dead man laid out on the tundra, ii.89;
on the colour-sense of the Chukches, ii.135;
excursion in Ceylon, ii.427;
portrait, ii.435.
Alophus (beetle), ii.
55
Altaic races, i.
103
Amber in China, ii.
399
America, the north-west coast of, first visited by Europeans, ii.
210n
;
Russian voyages to, ii,196.
American whaler, near the
Vega's
winter-quarters, i.
467
;
voyages in the Siberian Polar sea, i.27;
accounts of the state of the ice north of Behring's Straits, i.459
Amezaga, Captain, ii.
439
Ammonites with gold lustre, i.
273
Amossov, Feodot, ii.
170
,
171
Amoretti, Carlo, ii.
215
Amulets, Chukch, i.
503
, ii.
126
,
134
;
Eskimo, ii.239
Anadyr, the river, i.
22
; ii.
75
,
76
,
164,
,
165
,
167
,
195
;
is discovered, ii.162
Anadyrsk, ii.
165
,
172
Anauls, ii.
166
Andersen, the photographer, ii.
304
Andrejev Land, ii.
202
Andrejev, Sergeant, ii.
202
,
203
Androphagi, i.
77n
; ii.
157n
Angara river, the, i.
374
Anian Sound, the, ii.
215.
Anika, Russian peasant, ii.
158
Anjou, Peter Feodorovitsch, i.
23
;
journey, ii.209;
portrait, ii.207
Anjui river, market at the, ii.
14
,
118
Ankudinov, Gerasim, i.
22