With Nordenskiöld Through the Northeast Passage

On April 24, 1880, the sky over Stockholm was lit up with fireworks and a salute echoed across the city. Gas flames illuminated the Royal Palace and the city’s facades were also illuminated. Fires crackled on the beaches and at ten o’clock in the evening the salute began to be fired over the water from Kastellholmen. The salute consisted of five shots in three rounds. The city’s streets erupted with joy when they saw the approaching vessel. The ship was Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld’s Vega, which after its fantastic journey through the Northeast Passage and further around all of Asia and Europe was now back in Sweden.

The voyage had taken two years, and for ten months of that time Vega had been frozen north of Siberia. In 1879, a message finally arrived via telegram from Nordenskiöld – he had succeeded! The expedition had rounded Asia by the northern route and was now in Yokohama, Japan. The rest of the journey became easier. Vega sailed via Southeast Asia, rounded India, passed through the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean and then home. In every port that Vega called at, the expedition was met with tributes.

White Road to India

Nordenskiöld was the first to successfully sail around all of Europe and Asia by taking the route north of Norway. He started his journey in Tromsø, took the route across the Barents Sea, through the narrow strait at Novaya Zemlya out into the Kara Sea and continued along the coast of Siberia, through the Bering Strait, past Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and all the way to Japan. When one looks at a world atlas, one marvels at this undertaking.

The Northeast Passage. The journey formally started in Tromsø, although Vega had sailed from Karlskrona. The two freighters Fraser and Express had travelled in advance and were waiting south of Novaya Zemlya. When the expedition reached the Yenisei River, Fraser took the sailing ship Express in tow and continued up the river. They returned to Norway at the end of September. Lena continued to explore the Lena River, after which Vega continued alone, freezing to death at the small Chukchi settlement of Pitlekaj. Map: Google Maps.

The desire to travel northeast and find the white route to India had existed before, and an attempt had been made in the early 1870s. It was an Austrian expedition led by Julius Payer and Captain Karl Weyprecht on the ship Tegetthoff . It was a dangerous and arduous journey. On August 18, 1873, they saw land. It turned out to be an as yet undiscovered archipelago, and the expedition named it “Franz Josef Land” after the Austro-Hungarian emperor. However, there they were stopped when the ship froze in the ice. The participants set off south on foot and were rescued in August 1874 by a Russian ship. That was how it went that time.

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld

Adolf Erik was born on 18 November 1832 in Finland and grew up on the family estate Frugård near Helsinki. His parents were Nils Gustaf Nordenskiöld and Margareta Sophia Haartman. Adolf Erik’s father was very interested in minerals and had a large mineral collection that was constantly growing as new minerals were collected. The son was allowed to accompany his father on mineral collecting trips and the estate also had a significant library.

Fearless scientist. Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld was the first to sail around all of Asia and Europe. The journey took two years, largely because the expedition stopped everywhere to explore, document and salvage objects for scientific purposes. In this way, Swedish institutions and museums received a wealth of minerals, fossils, plants, animals and ethnographic material – invaluable collections that had no equivalent in other countries. In this painting by Georg von Rosen (1843–1923), Nordenskiöld is depicted in the biting cold in front of Vega. Photo: Nationalmuseum

Adolf Erik studied at the University of Helsinki, but did not consider any of the geology and mineralogy teachers to be as good as his father. After graduating with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree, Adolf Erik followed his father to the Urals to learn more about minerals.

Back in Helsinki, he earned his doctorate with a thesis entitled “On the crystal forms of graphite and chondrite.” In 1855, his survey work “Description of minerals found in Finland” was published.

Nordenskiöld had every opportunity for a brilliant career at the university, but decided against it. He was nationally minded and believed that Finland should free itself from Russia, which had become a Russian grand duchy after the Swedish-Russian war of 1809. During a name day party for younger university students on 30 November 1855, the sympathies of the partygoers for the Western powers came to light – Adolf Erik had a wish that Sweden would free Finland from Russian rule. These views did not go down well with those in power. As a punishment, he lost his position as extraordinary mountain guide and also his post as curator of the math and physics student faculty.

Punished Once Again

Then Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld traveled to Berlin and stayed there for six months. During that time, he devoted himself to studies in mineralogy and made many new good contacts in the scientific community. After his time in Berlin, he returned to Finland and in the summer of 1856 was given the opportunity to apply for a professorship at the University of Helsinki. It was a professorship in mineralogy and geology that had been established in 1852 but which was vacant because there were simply no competent applicants. Nordenskiöld was definitely competent, but first of all he wanted to go on a study trip to Siberia. He had received a university scholarship and this would make the trip possible.

Now things were looking really bright for Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld in the university world. In the spring of 1857 he defended his doctoral thesis, and he was also promoted to both primus magister and ultimus doktor. Representatives from universities in Sweden attended the festivities that followed these two appointments, and Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld gave a bold speech that touched on his desire for a free Finland. Then he fell out of favor again. This time he was given an ultimatum, to either make a public apology or be exiled. He was stripped of his university scholarship. Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld then chose to move to Sweden.

Thus, Sweden became a scientist richer. During the summer of 1857, he traveled around Sweden and visited various places where interesting mineralogical finds had been made. During the winter of 1857–58, he worked in the laboratory of the Royal Institute of Technology and in the mineral collections of the National Museum of Natural History.

Arctic Expeditions

Nordenskiöld participated in the first Swedish Arctic expedition, which went to Spitsbergen (Svalbard) in 1858. The leader of that expedition was Otto Torell. Nordenskiöld also accompanied the trip to Spitsbergen in 1861, also with Otto Torell as research leader.

After that trip, a very important person came into Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld’s life. It was Baroness Anna Maria Mannerheim (1840–1924) and the wedding bells rang on July 1, 1863. Anna Maria supported her husband’s expeditionary zeal. They had four children, Eva Maria, Gustaf Erik Adolf, Anna Sofia and Nils Erland Herbert. Adolf Erik always wrote letters home to his wife when he was out on his travels.

Carrying out a research expedition is not free. When a third Spitsbergen expedition was planned, no government funds were received. Nordenskiöld then turned to the then governor of Gothenburg, Albert Ehrensvärd, who managed to get the merchant and forest owner Oscar Dickson interested in the expedition. He agreed to sponsor the company and Nordenskiöld was able to set off in 1868. This time he led the expedition himself. The steamboat, which was a new invention, was used, but for safety reasons the ship was also equipped with sails.

Oscar Dickson and Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld got on really good terms with each other, which meant that Dickson later financed several of Nordenskiöld’s expeditions.

By Ship and Sled

There was much debate in scientific circles about whether the North Pole was surrounded by open sea or whether the entire polar region was covered in ice. In 1827, Edward Perry, from England, had managed to reach as far north as 82° 45′ by boat and sledge. Nordenskiöld reached the northernmost latitude ever reached by ship, 81° 42′. Nordenskiöld realized that it was not possible to reach the North Pole by ship alone. Sledges were required.

In 1872, a new expedition to Spitsbergen was equipped, this time to spend the winter. It was decided to use reindeer as draft animals. The government had financed two equipped ships, but to transport all the reindeer and the approximately 3,000 sacks of reindeer moss they needed, a third ship was chartered, which was financed by Oscar Dickson.

This was an expedition of adversity. Already one of the first nights in Svalbard, a blizzard broke out and the reindeer escaped. Bringing reindeer instead of sled dogs was Nordenskiöld’s biggest mistake as a polar explorer. The winter of 1872–73 was also the most difficult in 30 years. The cargo ships froze and could not return as planned. The provisions brought for the winter were calculated for 22 men, but including the crews of the cargo ships, it had to be enough for 65 men.

Scientifically, however, the trip was successful because glaciers could be studied, and Nordenskiöld was probably the first to discover the seasonal stratification in the ice sheet.

With Spitsbergen explored, Nordenskiöld turned his attention to the Northeast Passage.

Along the Coast of Siberia

Nordenskiöld was also very interested in the history of science. He had been fascinated, among other things, by the theories of the Dutch navigator and cartographer Willem Barents (1550–1597) that there should be an ice-free channel along the Arctic Ocean coast, i.e. the coastline of Siberia. According to Barents, the reason there should be open water there was because many rivers with warmer water from Europe and Asia flow into the Arctic Ocean. Therefore, that stretch should be navigable by ship.

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1832–1901) was a prominent Finnish-Swedish geologist, mineralogist, explorer, polar explorer, baron and member of both the Swedish Academy and the Swedish Parliament. This portrait was painted by Axel Jungstedt in 1902. Nordenskiöld is seen here wearing the orders he was awarded, including Commander with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star, the Vega Medal in silver in 1880 and in gold in 1881. In 1939 he also had the honor of having an asteroid named after him, 2464 Nordenskiöld. Photo: Wikipedia/Swedish Academy

Barents participated in three expeditions that tried to find the Northeast Passage. They were unsuccessful. However, Barents discovered Spitsbergen and Bear Island. The Barents Sea is named after him. Barents died on Novaya Zemlya in 1597 of scurvy.

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld now thought a step further and added his own theory that the rotation of the Earth could create an eastward current that strengthened the gentler current from the rivers. The warmer water was probably pushed all the way to the Bering Strait and would make a northern sea route to China quite possible. Carrying out such a journey had been the dream of explorers for many centuries, but despite valiant attempts, no one had succeeded.

Nordenskiöld wanted to explore the possibility of a sea route from Scandinavia to the Ob and Yenisei rivers, which flow into the Kara Sea. So he equipped an expedition consisting of a fishing vessel and set off from Tromsø at midsummer 1875. The expedition reached the mouth of the Yenisei on August 15. He then returned by land.

It was a successful undertaking, but there were those who claimed that Nordenskiöld had succeeded in the journey because it had been an unusually warm summer with favorable ice conditions. He then repeated the journey the following year and this time he brought trade goods back home to Sweden on his expedition ship. He succeeded once again!

Thorough Planning

Nordenskiöld had had a great interest in Siberia since he had followed his father to the Urals at the age of 21. If he managed to find the Northeast Passage along the Siberian Arctic coast, it would mean good opportunities to explore the northern parts of Asia. If one could get to the mouth of the Yenisei, one could surely reach even further, he reasoned. Thus Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld began planning the expedition that would make him famous.

When the plans for this new polar expedition became known, he got a new financier in the Siberian mining owner Alexander Sibiryakoff. King Oscar II also showed great interest and wanted to know more about Nordenskiöld’s plans. The king therefore invited him to a scientific dinner on January 26, 1877. During this dinner, Nordenskiöld presented his plan. The king was impressed and fully convinced that the itinerary was feasible and was willing to give proper support to the company. Oscar Dickson also volunteered as he had so many times before. So did Alexander Sibiryakoff, who had a great interest in Siberia being explored. There were certainly undiscovered natural resources there. These three shared the costs of the expedition.

The Vega Monument was erected in 1930 by Ivar Johnsson at Stockholm’s old observatory as a memorial to Nordenskiöld’s expedition. Photo: Wikipedia/ Holger.Ellgaard

In the book Giganterna by Gunnar Hedin, you can read about how Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld thoroughly planned his expedition, which was initially to include four ships. The flagship was the steamship Vega , which was built of oak and equipped with a so-called ice skin of greenheart (a tropical deciduous tree that has very hard wood) in places where ice could damage the ship’s hull. Vega had previously been used for whaling in the Arctic Ocean. It was a regular schooner, in other words.

The other ships were the steamer Lena, built at Motala Varv of Swedish Bessemer steel, the steamer Fraser and the sailing ship Express. Fraser and Express were loaded with provisions and coal for the three steamers. The main task of the ship Lena was to investigate the ice conditions.

The food consisted of canned goods, butter, flour, potatoes, and pemmican, which is dried buffalo or elk meat pressed into storage sacks that last for years. Scurvy had been a scourge of polar expeditions well into the 20th century, but was conspicuously absent on Vega, as the provisions also included cranberry juice and cloudberries, which are rich in vitamin C, for this purpose.

The expedition’s clothing was made of reindeer skin – the warmest thing you can wear on polar expeditions.

Through the Ice to the East

On 21 July 1878 the expedition set off from Tromsø where a large crowd had gathered to watch the departure of the Vega and Lena. Fraser and Express had sailed in advance to the Siberian rivers to await the research ships.

Together they crossed the Kara Sea, but were separated by bad weather. They rejoined at Dickson’s Harbour, a natural harbour at the mouth of the Yenisei that Nordenskiöld had discovered on an earlier voyage and named after his friend and financier. Here Fraser and Express were considered to have fulfilled their duties of transporting supplies, and they continued up the Yenisei River, while Nordenskiöld continued along the coast.

They made their way slowly and carefully, signaling regularly with their steam whistles so as not to lose contact with each other in the often poor visibility. Here they were in completely unknown waters and of course there were no charts. On August 19, they passed the northernmost tip of Eurasia, Cape Chelyushkin.

When they reached the mouth of the Lena River at the end of August, the Lena also said goodbye. The captain took letters to his homeland and headed up the river to Yakutsk, where they stayed over the winter.

So the Vega was a lone ship that continued its journey towards Wrangel Island, where mammoths had roamed until 3,700 years ago. The expedition met native people who sold mammoth teeth, tusks and tools made from bone. For the researchers, this naturally became an interesting object of study.

So the journey continued. It got colder, but a path could still be forced through the ice. They also had to constantly sound the depth, as the ship was forced to move closer and closer to land. Then they stopped at Pitlekaj, a small Chukchi settlement a couple of kilometers inland. It was on September 26, 1878 that Vega froze and the expedition was stuck there for ten months. This mishap could have been avoided if they had not traveled so slowly because of all the scientific work that was being done. From a scientific point of view, it was very good because during the journey they collected samples and other material from the sea and land. Observations and measurements were made throughout the journey.

Being frozen for ten months was naturally stressful. It was not possible to devote oneself to observations all the time, but Adolf Erik was a positive person by nature. On the ship there was a gathering room called the gun room. Here people gathered to play games, read and socialize. In addition, contact with the Chukchi gradually became more frequent, with almost daily visits to the ship.

The Triumph

On July 18, 1879, they were able to continue their journey. They had 100 nautical miles to the Bering Strait. For a long time, the expedition did not see a single person, but then one day they saw some boats and the joy was great. They had to make themselves understood with signs because these Chukchi, an indigenous people, did not speak Russian. The expedition also met Samoyeds and, in Alaska, Inuit, which gave the researchers the opportunity to collect ethnological material and conduct racial biological studies and classifications. These collections are today at the Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm.

Commemorative cloth of the Vega expedition. People, from left: Captain Palander, Professor Nordenskiöld, Oscar Dickson. Photo: Royal Library

On September 2, 1879, Adolf Erik was finally able to telegraph from Yokohama in Japan that the voyage had been successful. The sailing through the Northeast Passage was a feat and the news spread all over the world. The return trip around Asia, through Suez and the Mediterranean was a triumphant voyage. On April 24, 1880, Vega arrived in Stockholm. The king had decided that Nordenskiöld was not allowed to land on Swedish soil until the expedition had arrived at the castle. Only then was Nordenskiöld allowed to go ashore. All financiers had to be satisfied!

National hero. On April 24, 1880, Vega arrived in Stockholm after successfully achieving his goal of finding the Northeast Passage. Robert Haglund (1844–1930) immortalized the event. Photo: Wikipedia/Gallica Digital Library

In Västerljung cemetery, lie Nordenskiöld and his wife Anna Nordenskiöld.  Source: Wikipedia/ Raphael Saulus

In the book Oscar II and his time by Erik Lindorm (1977) we can read about “The Capital City in Vega Fever”. The Governor-General, Baron of Ugglas, gave a welcoming speech. Then it was time for H.M. The King to welcome Professor Nordenskiöld home and present the baronial diploma with the words, “that it has been the King’s pleasure to use the right given to him in the constitution on this occasion to honour a man who has so honoured the fatherland”. Then the King also presented letters of nobility to the captain of the Vega, Lieutenant Louis Palander, and to Oscar Dickson. Sibiryakoff was also awarded a medal. Nordenskiöld was furthermore awarded the Royal Order of the North Star. Palander received the same order’s knighthood. All of the expedition members were awarded decorations of the order.

One of those who saw Vega arrive in Stockholm was the then 15-year-old Sven Hedin, who was deeply impressed. From that moment on, young Sven aspired to become an explorer and eventually became equally famous.

Between 1894 and 1908, in three daring expeditions through the mountains and deserts of Central Asia, he mapped and researched parts of Chinese Turkestan (now Xinjiang) and Tibet which had been unexplored by Europeans until then. Upon his return to Stockholm in 1909 he was received as triumphantly as Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. In 1902, he became the last Swede (to date) to be raised to the untitled nobility and was considered one of Sweden’s most important personalities. Hedin however never married and had no children, rendering his family line now extinct.

Hedin’s expedition notes laid the foundations for a precise mapping of Central Asia. He was one of the first European scientific explorers to employ indigenous scientists and research assistants on his expeditions. Although primarily an explorer, he was also the first to unearth the ruins of ancient Buddhist cities in Chinese Central Asia.