S. Bridge.
T. Hatch to hold.
U. Descent to provision-room.
V. Winch.
X. Descent to engine-room.
Y. Descent to forecastle and engineer's cabin.
Z. Descent to captain's cabin, saloon, &c.
On the other hand my request that the Vega, the steamer purchased for the voyage, might be permitted to carry the man-of-war flag, was refused by the Minister of Marine in a letter of the 2nd February 1878. The Vega was therefore inscribed in the following month of March in the Swedish Yacht Club. It was thus under its flag, the Swedish man-of-war flag with a crowned O in the middle, that the first circumnavigation of Asia and Europe was carried into effect.
The Vega, as will be seen from the description quoted farther on, is a pretty large vessel, which during the first part of the voyage was to be heavily laden with provisions and coal. It would therefore be a work of some difficulty to get it afloat, if, in sailing forward along the coast in new, unsurveyed waters, it should run upon a bank of clay or sand. I therefore gladly availed myself of Mr. Sibiriakoff's offer to provide for the greater safety of the expedition, by placing at my disposal funds for building another steamer of a smaller size, the Lena, which should have the river Lena as its main destination, but, during the first part of the expedition, should act as tender to the Vega, being sent before to examine the state of the ice and the navigable waters, when such service might be useful. I had the Lena built at Motala, of Swedish Bessemer steel, mainly after a drawing of Engineer R. Runeberg of Finland. The steamer answered the purpose for which it was intended particularly well.