View source for SS Vega (1872)

{{Short description|First ship to circumnavigate Eurasia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
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| Ship image               = SS Vega.jpg
| Ship caption             = The ''Vega'', painting by [[Jacob Hägg]]
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| Ship name                = SS Vega
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| Ship registry            = {{flagicon|Sweden|1873}}[[Sweden]]
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| Ship launched            = 1872, in [[Bremerhaven]]
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| Ship name                = 
| Ship owner               = Ferguson
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| Ship registry            = {{flagicon|Scotland|1903}}[[Dundee]], [[Scotland]]
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| Ship acquired            = 1903
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| Ship out of service      = 1903
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| Ship fate                = Missing in [[Melville Bay]], [[Greenland]]
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| Ship class               = [[Steamship]]
| Ship tonnage             = {{DWT|357}}
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| Ship length              = 150 ft.
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| Ship sail plan           = [[Barque]]
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| Ship propulsion          = Sails, 70 [[Horsepower|hp]] auxiliary steam engine
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'''SS ''Vega''''' was a Swedish [[barque]], built in [[Bremerhaven]], [[Germany]] in 1872. The Vega was the first ship to complete a voyage through the [[Northeast Passage]], and the first vessel to circumnavigate the [[Eurasia]]n continent, during the [[Vega expedition]]. Initially a troubled enterprise, the successful expedition is considered to be among the highest achievements in the history of Swedish science.

==Construction==
Though a sailing ship, the Vega had a 60 [[Horsepower|hp]] auxiliary [[steam engine]]. The hull was of wood measuring 150&nbsp;ft. in length (45.72 m), a capacity of 357 DWT.

==Arctic exploration==
Constructed as a [[whaler]], the vessel was acquired and rebuilt for Arctic exploration by [[Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld]] with financial assistance from King [[Oscar II of Sweden]] and others.<ref name = Maber/><ref name = Aho>Aho, Marie, [http://www.kansalliskirjasto.fi/extra/tietolinja/0199/nordensk.html ''A.E. Nordenskiöld Collection included in the Unesco Memory of the World Program''], Tietolinja News (National Library of Finland), January 1999</ref> On 22 June 1878 the ship  set out from [[Karlskrona]], [[Sweden]] through the [[Northeast Passage]] around the north coast of Eurasia.   Blocked by ice on 28 September of that year only 120 miles (200&nbsp;km) short of the [[Bering Strait]] marking the eastern end of Asia, the ship was not freed until 18 July 1879.  Two days later [[Cape Dezhnev|East Cape]] was passed, and ''Vega'' became the first ship to complete a voyage through the Northeast Passage.<ref name = Maber>{{citation|last1=Baker|first1=W.A.|last2=Tryckare|first2=Tre|title=The Engine Powered Vessel|publisher=Grosset & Dunlap|location=New York|year=1965|page=81}}</ref>  Returning by way of the [[Western Pacific Ocean|Western Pacific]], [[Indian Ocean]], and [[Suez Canal]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/aenord.htm |title=Baron Nils A(dolf) E(rik) Nordenskiöld |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325145147/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/aenord.htm |archive-date=25 March 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''Vega'' also became the first vessel to circumnavigate the Eurasian continent.

==Whaling and sealing==
After the expedition ''Vega'' returned to her original trades of [[whaling]] and [[seal hunting]]. The ship was reported sunk in [[Melville Bay]] west of [[Greenland]] in 1903, sailing under the [[Scotland|Scottish]] owner Ferguson of [[Dundee]].

==Images==
<gallery align="center" perrow="4">
Image:Vegamonumentet 2010a 01.jpg|Vega monument in [[Stockholm]]
Image:Return of the Vega to Stockholm 24. April 1880.jpg|Return of [[Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld]] with the ''Vega'' to [[Stockholm]] on April 24, 1880
Image:The Explorer A.E. Nordenskiöld (Georg von Rosen) - Nationalmuseum - 18399.tif|[[Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld]] with the ''Vega'', by [[Georg von Rosen]]
File:Bath in kusatsu.jpg|''Bath in [[Kusatsu Onsen|Kusatsu]]'' i by Vega expedition member {{interlanguage link|Olof Sörling|sv}} during S/S Vega's stay in Japan September–November 1879
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Gjøa]], the first vessel to transit the [[Northwest Passage]].
* [[Oscar Frithiof Nordquist]], Finnish member of the expedition
* [[Cape Vega]] and [[Vegafonna]], named after this ship

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Vegas färd kring Asien och Europa'' by A.E. Nordenskiöld 1880, slightly abbreviated version edited by [[Göran Schildt]] 1960 (in Swedish).
* {{cite journal |last1=Clerke |first1=Ellen M. |title=The Voyage of the Vega and its results |journal=Dublin Review |date=April 1882 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=291–320 |location=London}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070718222731/http://www.grm.se/nordost/hemexp/english.htm As extensive website about ''Vega]{{'}}s voyage (in Swedish)]
* [https://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/search/node/vega Two photographs] by Alexander Wilson, showing "Vega" in Dundee Harbour, 1903 (in Dundee Central Library)
* [http://www.skinnarmo.com/mina-aventyr/expedition-vega-2013 Expedition Vega 2013], {{interlanguage link|Ola Skinnarmo|sv}}´s search expedition for the wreck of Vega in August 2013.
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{{Polar exploration|state=collapsed}}
{{1903 shipwrecks}}
{{coord missing|Arctic Ocean}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vega (1872)}}
[[Category:1872 ships]]
[[Category:1900s in Greenland]]
[[Category:Arctic exploration vessels]]
[[Category:Barques]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1903]]
[[Category:Sealing ships]]
[[Category:Whaling ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Bremen (state)]]
[[Category:Ships of Sweden]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean]]
[[Category:Steamships of Sweden]]
[[Category:Exploration ships]]