The steamship Vega icebound off the coast of Siberia near Pitlekal during the first sea voyage through the North-East Passage. The expedition was led by the Swedish Finnish explorer Adolf Erik Nordenski闤d to establish a sea route between Europe and Asia through the Arctic Ocean. His intention was to leave Sweden in July 1878 on the 300 ton Vega, strengthened to withstand ice, a crew of thirty and provisions for two years. Nordenski闤d hoped to reach the Pacific Ocean at the Behring Strait before the end of September 1878. The expedition reached Cape Chelyuskin, the northernmost point of Afro-Eurasia in August but became frozen in ice the following September at Pitlekal where the vessel remained until July 1879, a total of 294 days. They eventually arrived at the Behring Strait in August 1879 and after circumnavigating the world via Japan and Suez returned to Stockholm in April 1880.