400 ANDREE'S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 



In this conjecture he was not astray, for in less than ten years 

 after his venture a similar project was devised by an American 

 explorer. This was Walter Wellman, an enterprising western 

 journalist, who had made an unsuccessful polar expedition by the 

 Franz Josef Land route in 1899. A few years later he proposed to 

 take advantage of all the progress made in ballooning and air-ship 

 experiment since Andree's unfortunate effort in an attempt to reach 

 the Pole, and was very hopeful of success. 



The air-ship, or dirigible balloon, built for him at Paris, was 

 the largest which had been constructed to that time, and was taken 

 by him to Danes Island, Spitzbergen, in 1906. He had selected this 

 island, as Andree had done, as the most available starting point for 

 such a voyage. His air-ship was 183 feet long, 52^/2 feet wide, had 

 a 20 horse-power engine and two propellers, one on each side. It 

 had also a complete sledging outfit and a combined boat and car, 

 these to be used in case of accident to the balloon. It was supplied 

 with fuel and food sufficient to last five persons for a considerable 

 time. 



He proposed to start in the summer of 1906, hoping to reach 

 the Pole in a few days. But before the time of starting arrived 

 serious mechanical defects were found in the apparatus, of a char- 

 acter that would have exposed the explorers to great danger. The 

 air-ship was accordingly taken back to Paris for reconstruction, the 

 expedition being delayed for another year. 



In 1907 the air-ship, with its defects remedied, was taken again 

 to Danes Island. But the weather proved seriously detrimental to 

 the enterprise, furious gales blowing and the general conditions 

 being so unfavorable that a second postponement was felt neces- 

 sary. In the following year further improvements were made, and 

 the great air-ship, capable of carrying 19,000 pounds and making 

 twenty miles an hour by the aid of its powerful engines, was again 

 got in order for a flight, a trial trip, which proved its efficiency, 

 being made. It was then too late in the year to start for the Pole, 

 and 1909 was fixed for the date. 



