We have seen how flourishing the Spitsbergen whale fishery became and how admirably its history was written, the Dutch by Zorgdrager, and the English by Scoresby. But when the annual slaughter began to make these animals scarce there was eagerness to discover new fishing ground.

Theunis Ys was one of the most experienced navigators in the ice to the eastward, and one of the first who sought for whales in that direction. Captain Willem de Vlamingh followed him in 1664 and even rounded the northern point of Novaya Zemlya, reaching a latitude of 82° 10′ N. Along the north coast of Spitsbergen the Dutch whalers never went east of the Seven Islands, which they discovered, or of Hinlopen Strait. This is conclusive from the evidence of Martens in 1671, a most reliable authority as regards the seventeenth century. But early in the eighteenth century, two Dutch captains, Cornelis Giles and Outger Rep, went far to the eastward and Giles or Gillis sighted what has since been called Gillis Land. He also found that what is now known as Hinlopen Strait was not an inlet as had been supposed but a navigable strait138.

The Russians took the lead in Spitsbergen in the eighteenth century, their plan being to form a depôt in Bell Sound. In 1764 Lieut. Nemtinoff was sent to build houses and to land stores there, to form a base whence to push through the ice to the Pacific. In the following year the expedition under Captain Vassili Tschitschagoff, of which Nemtinoff’s voyage was the precursor, left Archangel. But Tschitschagoff had the misfortune to meet with a bad ice year and did little or nothing. He tried again in 1766 and got as far north as 80° 28′, but he was stopped by the ice, and the project was given up as hopeless. A party of Russians in charge of stores had twice wintered in Bell Sound.

For a century the eastern side of Spitsbergen remained almost unknown. It is to the Norwegian sealing captains, and to Professor Mohn of Christiania, who watched over and utilised their work, that most of our knowledge of this side is due. The Norwegian fishery dates from about 1820, but for many years they kept on the west side, only by degrees working along the north coast to the eastward. In 1863, however, the adventurous Captain Carlsen completed the circumnavigation of Spitsbergen for the first time. In the next year Captains Tobiesen, Aarström, and Mathilas were not so fortunate. They made their way down the east coast, but, becoming closely beset, were obliged to abandon their vessels and retreat in boats up Hinlopen Strait, traversing 700 miles before they were picked up. In 1872 Captain Altman sailed up the east side from the south, and sighted Wyche’s Land, which was discovered by the English in 1617. It proved to be composed of three islands. Captain Nils Johnsen succeeded in landing on one of these islands, and named a lofty cliff Cape Nordenskiöld. In 1872 Captain Nilsen in the Freia also sighted the Wyche Islands, naming a high mountain Harfagrehangen, it being the thousandth anniversary of Norway’s union into one kingdom.

The scientific researches of the Swedes in Spitsbergen were begun in 1858. They were undertaken to institute a preliminary survey for measuring an arc of meridian, and also for geological and biological collections. In 1864 Nordenskiöld and Duner took astronomical observations at eighty different positions on shore, and fixed the heights of numerous mountain peaks. In 1868 the Swedes, in the steamer Sofia, reached the latitude of 81° 42′ N. and in 1870 Baron von Heuglin and Count Zeil, in a vessel commanded by the Norwegian captain Nils Isaksen, explored Edge and Barentsz Islands, and Freeman strait, which divides them. They found a vast accumulation of drift-wood on the southern shore of the strait.

English yachts have also frequented the Spitsbergen seas, since Mr Lamont set the example in 1858. In 1864 the yachting voyage of Mr Birkbeck was of interest, because he was accompanied by the distinguished ornithologist Professor Newton of Cambridge. One of the greatest of Arctic yachtsmen as a scientific explorer was Mr Benjamin Leigh Smith, who in 1871 explored the north coast of Spitsbergen, the Seven Islands, and North-east Land, and attained the high latitude of 81° 24′ N. in 18° E. He also made voyages to Spitsbergen in 1872 and 1873. In the latter year he was in the Diana yacht with several friends, while Captain Walker took the Sampson to Cobbe Bay, to fall back upon in case of accidents. He also took several deep sea soundings, and did most useful work in relieving the Swedish expedition. Leigh Smith’s enthusiasm lay deep, and he was not without inventive talent. The result of his practice as a navigator was the invention of an instrument to facilitate the computation of time at sea from the usual sights taken for that purpose, and also to act as a check on errors when the time has been computed in the usual manner139. Such a man was likely to leave his mark. He did so. By his observations he corrected the longitudes, and considerably extended the north coast of North-east Land to the eastward.

The Swedish expedition of 1872, under Professor Nordenskiöld, was composed of the steamer Polhem, the brig Gladan, and the steamer Onkel Adam. The Polhem was commanded by Lieut. Palander. He, with other officers and professors, were to remain through the winter at Mossel Bay in a dwelling-house of six rooms, taken out in pieces. Sledges and 40 reindeer were shipped at Tromsö, with 3000 sacks of reindeer moss. Unluckily the animals all escaped soon after they were landed, and the two other vessels, detained by the ice, were obliged to winter with the Polhem. Six fishing vessels were also frozen in. In April Nordenskiöld and Palander started on a sledge journey with 14 men. Rounding Cape Platen on North-east Land, they struck inland, and marched across the snow-covered hills to Hinlopen Strait which they crossed, and so got back to Mossel Bay. They were away 60 days. In the summer Leigh Smith arrived in the Diana and supplied the crews with fresh provisions. The Swedish expedition returned to Tromsö on August 6th, 1873.

One other Spitsbergen expedition must be mentioned. Lieut. Payer, who had been the moving spirit in the sledge journeys of Koldewey’s expedition, was bent on continuing his Arctic explorations. He found a coadjutor in Lieut. Weyprecht of the Austrian Navy, an officer of very high scientific attainments. They hired a small vessel of 70 tons, the Isbjörn, at Tromsö with the idea of following the Gulf Stream into an imaginary polar basin, by keeping to the eastward of Spitsbergen. Attempting to reach Gillis Land they found the fogs very frequent, preventing observations, and, on August 31st, 1871, they were in Lat. 78° 41′ N. Then sailing east they sighted Novaya Zemlya and returned to Tromsö in October.

Meanwhile the Norwegian sealers began to frequent Novaya Zemlya. Carlsen had reached the mouth of the Obi in 1869. In 1870 about sixty Norwegian sailing vessels went to the seas round Novaya Zemlya. Captain Johannesen circumnavigated these islands, and Captain Carlsen did the same in 1871. The information collected by the Norwegian fishermen induced Payer and Weyprecht to select this route for an expedition they had projected.