page_title: Proposed Anglo-Swedish Antarctic Expedition 1915–20
section_title: Revised scheme
hierarchical_section_title: Proposed Anglo-Swedish Antarctic Expedition 1915–20 / Revised scheme
caption_attribution_description: Louis Palander
context_page_description: Between 1912 and 1914, plans were discussed between proponents in Sweden and Britain for a joint Anglo-Swedish Antarctic Expedition. The impetus for this enterprise came from the geologist and explorer Otto Nordenskjöld, who had led the 1901–03 Swedish Antarctic Expedition He wished to continue and extend the work begun there. The British involvement in the new venture arose because Nordenskjöld planned to finance it from the profits of a whaling company which he proposed to set up. For this, he needed to obtain a licence from the British authorities, who controlled all whaling activities in the sector of the Antarctic in which Nordenskjöld intended to operate.
  The British would not grant the licence, because of their concern that the resource was being over-worked. They did, however, have a close interest in further researches into whales and whaling. The Swedish and British representatives discussed how this concern could be combined with the Swedes' more general interests in biological, geological and meteorological investigations. A plan emerged for the establishment of a scientific station that would be manned for five years by a team of British and Swedish scientists, funded
context_section_description: Thwarted in their desire to base a new Swedish expedition on the revenues from a whaling venture, Nordenskjöld and Andersson devised an alternative strategy: a joint Anglo-Swedish project with shared costs, in which a five-year scientific station manned by British and Swedish scientists would incorporate whaling research into their scientific programme. They established a prestigious committee to deal with the Swedish side of the undertaking, chaired by Louis Palander, the naval officer who had captained the SS Vega on the first successful traverse of the Northeast Passage in 1878–79. A key member of the committee was the industrialist Axel Lagrelius, who promised to provide half of the Swedish share of the annual costs of the station. Informal talks with government officials indicated that the state would help, if matching contributions were forthcoming from the British. The costs were estimated at £3,000 per year – £1500 to be provided from Sweden, £1,500 from Britain.
  On the British side, although Harmer and Keltie were enthusiastic, the Colonial Office was cool. They had appointed Major Gerald Barrett-Hamilton to conduct a one-man investigation into whaling, and until his report was available, the Colonial Office was unwilling to take further steps. An additional difficulty was the British government policy whereby local projects were required to be locally financed; thus, the projected British annual share of £1,500 would fall on the  FID, a sum beyond the means of their small budget. No such problems were encountered on the Swedish side, where the government readily included its share of the costs in the 1914 national budget. Whereas the Swedish government had been influenced by the prestige of such as Palander, and his appeal to "bringing new honour to old Sweden", in British government circles there was a general weariness with Antarctic expeditions, and no authoritative voice equivalent to Palander's  to press the case.
  In an effort to break the impasse, Nordenskjöld travelled to Britain early in 1914. There, he worked with Harmer to reduce the size of any government contribution, and was able to secure a grant from the NHM of £500 for each of the five projected years of the scientific station. The Royal Society provided a one-off sum of £500. Nordenskjöld hoped that the RGS would match the NHM amount, but in spite of Keltie's advocacy its council would only offer £200 for the first year, and £100 a year thereafter.  Meanwhile, Barrett-Hamilton had sent a preliminary report, but died shortly thereafter, leaving his investigation incomplete. While remaining sceptical of the utility of the Swedish plan, the FID then offered a token sum of £100 per year to the venture.
  Thus, in the spring of 1914, a substantial financial shortfall still existed on the British side. Notwithstanding this, Nordensjöld and Palander made a confident statement of the proposed expedition's aims and objectives, published in the RGS journal in May 1914. Beyond the scientific studies, including the biology of whales, they declared that the expedition would seek to resolve the outstanding question, which Wilhelm Filchner's recently returned German expedition had failed to do, as to whether Antarctica was a single integrated entity, or was divided between separate landmasses on the east and west. On the question of financing, they announced optimistically that "the enterprise has met with the heartiest support in England", and glossed over the shortfall, stating that "to judge from news lately received from the committee, England's [financial] share in the undertaking gives promise of equalling Sweden's". A projected start date was given as August 1915.
caption: Louis Palander
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