THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR. 347 



read of lately, ballooning- is less dangerous than motor car racing" 

 or American baseball. And what a magnificent sport it is ! Not 

 to think of the valuable research into the laws of the atmosphere 

 which has been carried out in the baskets of these balloons. The 

 magnificent panorama which is oiTered to the eye of the aeronaut ! 

 God's world lies at his feet and even in the wildest storm he does 

 not feel the wind, because he floats with it. And a careful 

 aeronaut, who knows his work, will be able to land safely in a 

 gale. The greatest height to which a balloon has risen with 

 passengers on board is ii,ooo metres. Oxygen had, of course, 

 to be inhaled by the aeronauts. 



Before I leave the balloon and pass to the airship I should just 

 like to say a few words about the endeavours which have been 

 made to reach the North Pole by a non-dirigible. The bold 

 aeronauts who attempted this were Frankel, Andree and Kandidat 

 Strindsberg. For this purpose Andree intended to build a balloon 

 which should fulfil the following conditions : — 



(i). The upward pressure should be sufficient to enable the 



balloon to carry a large quantity of provisions, ballast and 



three passengers. 

 (2). The balloon should not lose gas at a more rapid rate than 



amounting to a loss of upward pressure of 45 kgs. per 



day. 

 (3). It should be somewhat dirigible by the employment of 



sails and towing or guide ropes. This he had tried with 



balloons flying across the Baltic Sea, when he found that 



he could steer 27 deg. out of the direction of the wind. 

 The balloon, to do this, should have a carrying capacity of 

 3,000 kgs., with a contents of 6,000 cubic metres. Andree voiced 

 his intention in the right quarters and soon had together the 

 128,000 crowns necessary for the purpose. Unfortunately, he 

 reduced his balloon to 4,500 cubic metres, and the meteorologist, 

 Ekholm, who had intended to accompany Andree, refused on this 

 ground to do so, and Frankel took his place. It was also found 

 that the loss of upward pressure per day was nearly 100 kgs. 

 instead of 45. The sails which Andree used were a little over 80 

 square metres large, the guide ropes were 3 in number, the 

 longest one was 400 metres long and weighed a ton. Andree 

 intended to pull it over the ground for a length of 150 metres, so 

 that the journey would take place about 250 metres above ground 

 but below the clouds, as was essential. The cage was fixed in 

 such a way that it could be detached with a single twist of a 

 handle. It was not unlike a ship's cabin with a roof and a railing. 

 Andree's friend, Goransen, invented also a harmless cooking 

 stove, hanging 15 metres below the basket, which could be lighted 

 and extinguished from the cage. 



Unfortunately, directly after the ascent, two of the three guide 

 ropes dropped. The balloon thereby lost 700 kgs. of ballast and 

 rose to a height of 700 to 800 metres, when the third rope also 

 became useless as a guide. Of the 13 floating buoys carried by 

 the aeronauts, five were found, tw^o having notices saving " All's 

 well." Only one carrier-pigeon was caught by Captain Hansen 



