During her first years Linköping sailed as a merchant in the North Sea and the Baltic but was sold in 1882 to the wealthy coffee trader and businessman Antoine Cyrille Frederik Gamél in Copenhagen.

[1] The purpose of the expedition and the reason for purchasing the ship was the idea proposed by Andreas Peter Hovgaard that an undiscovered land mass existed north of the Taymyr Peninsula.

Leader of the expedition was Andreas Peter Hovgaard, with lieutenants Niels Theodor Olsen and Alfred Garde as second and third commanding officers.

The ice did not loosen grip of the ships before the middle of July 1883, where Varna finally sank and Dijmphna could continue its voyage.

The ice did not loosen its grip until 13 September, where they could continue by sail and warping, until they finally arrived at Vardø, Norway in beginning of November.