All biographies of Jurij Vega mention his connections with Gruber and the Navigation Directorate for Inner Austria. However, these observations were merely guesses. This paper discusses Vega's work for Gruber's office for the first time on the basis of the original documents. Vega was born in Carniola, but there was eventually no place for him in his native land. Gruber hired him to do some navigation work in the neighbouring Styria. Vega was not very satisfied with the position. He probably took advantage of the well-developed town of Graz. Its university had just been degraded to a lyceum, but Graz still had some eminent scientists, including Biwald, a former professor at the University of Ljubljana.