ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 391 



This daring attempt was one of so much interest that an 

 account of it will doubtless be read with interest, despite its failure 

 to attain its end. Solomon August Andree was born in the town 

 of Grenna, Sweden, in 1854, was educated in the technical college 

 of Stockholm, and after engaging in the iron business, entered the 

 field of engineering. He next became a teacher of physics at the 

 college at Stockholm from which he had graduated and subse- 

 quently chief engineer of the Patent Office of Sweden. 



During this period he was active in other ways. In 1881-82 

 he joined an expedition to Spitzbergen under Dr. Ekholm, with the 

 purpose of making scientific observations, and at a later date 

 crossed the ocean to Philadelphia to study the oceanic conditions of 

 the atmosphere. He was gathering information likely to be of use 

 to him in his later career. One thing that struck him in this voyage 

 was the regularity of the currents of air near the ocean surface. 

 From this he deduced that the upper currents would be still more 

 uniform and that it might be possible, by taking advantage of them, 

 to cross from Europe to America in a balloon. Such was the 

 primary step toward the famous enterprise which he was after- 

 wards to undertake. 



He continued his study of atmospheric conditions, his brother 

 Ernst, a sea-captain in the merchant service, making observations 

 for him in all parts of the world. To study the currents of the 

 upper air he made a number of balloon ascents with Coelti, a promi- 

 nent Norwegian aeronaut, in this way gaining useful experience 

 in the art of ballooning. 



We have said that Andree had the spirit of a Columbus, and 

 that not without warrant, for he had conceived the daring plan of 

 following in the air the path of Columbus through the waves, his 

 project being to cross the ocean in a balloon from the Cape Verde 

 Islands to Venezuela. This was for the purpose of proving that 

 long voyages in the air could be safely made. 



Spending the summer of 1893 w ^ tn his sailor brother at Gote- 



