------------
Total 444,339 36 [14]

Expenditure.

Kroner ore.

Wages account 46,440 0
Life insurance premiums of married participators 5,361 90
Instruments account 12,978 68
Ship account 271,927 8
Provisions account 39,172 98
Expenses account 10,612 38
Equipment account 57,846 34
------------
Total 444,339 36

It will be evident from the plan above expounded that the most
important point in the equipment of our expedition was the building
of the ship that was to carry us through the dreaded ice regions. The
construction of this vessel was accordingly carried out with greater
care, probably, than has been devoted to any ship that has hitherto
ploughed the Arctic waters. I found in the well-known shipbuilder,
Colin Archer, a man who thoroughly understood the task I set him,
and who concentrated all his skill, foresight, and rare thoroughness
upon the work. We must gratefully recognize that the success of the
expedition was in no small degree due to this man.

If we turn our attention to the long list of former expeditions
and to their equipments, it cannot but strike us that scarcely a
single vessel had been built specially for the purpose--in fact,
the majority of explorers have not even provided themselves with
vessels which were originally intended for ice navigation. This is
the more surprising when we remember the sums of money that have been
lavished on the equipment of some of these expeditions. The fact is,
they have generally been in such a hurry to set out that there has
been no time to devote to a more careful equipment. In many cases,
indeed, preparations were not begun until a few months before the
expedition sailed. The present expedition, however, could not be
equipped in so short a time, and if the voyage itself took three years,
the preparations took no less time, while the scheme was conceived
thrice three years earlier.

Plan after plan did Archer make of the projected ship; one model
after another was prepared and abandoned.