No Man's Land— Spitzbergen 



457 



of spitzbergen, was Andree's starting 

 point in 1897, and here also Walter Well- 

 man has established his headquarters. 



andree's Fatal attempt 



The most daring of all schemes of 

 polar exploration was that urged and un- 

 dertaken by S. A. Andree, of Sweden. A 

 member of the Swedish International 

 Polar Expedition of 1882- 1883 and an 

 aeronaut of some experience, Andree 

 succeeded in commanding for his plan 

 the active support of Oscar, King of 

 Sweden, M. Alfred Nobel, and Baron 

 Oscar Dickson. In 1896 his party passed 

 several weeks at Danes Island, Spitzber- 

 gen, where they erected a balloon-house 

 and failed to start, owing to adverse 

 winds. Obse'rvations of the escaping gas 

 showed quite conclusively that the flota- 

 tion life of the balloon had been over- 

 estimated. On his return Andree had 

 the balloon enlarged and improved, so 

 that its impermeability and flotative 

 powers were increased. With the gun- 

 boat Svensksnnd and tender Virgo, 

 Andree revisited Danes Island in June, 

 1897. The balloon-house had withstood 

 the winter storms, and after the installa- 

 tion of the balloon all possible means 

 were adopted to reduce to a minimum its 

 daily loss of gas by permeation through 

 the envelope. The plan looked to the 

 flotation of the balloon some 800 feet 

 above the sea by means of three attached 

 heavy guide-ropes, each 900 feet long, 

 to which in turn were fastened eight bal- 

 last lines, 250 feet long, with which it was 

 expected by shifting the position of the 

 guide-ropes to change the direction of 

 the balloon. On July 6 a violent gale 

 barely escaped wrecking both house and 

 balloon. Finally, on July 11, the wind 

 was favorable in strength and direction 

 and everything was ready. The balloon, 

 named Omen (The Eagle), had its load 

 of about five tons of food, ballast, freight, 

 and men, and from measurements of 

 escaping gas had a flotation life of about 

 30 days. 



Acompanying Andree were M. Strind- 

 berg and M. Fraenkel. At 2:30 p. m. 



the lines were cut, and the balloon as- 

 cended about 600 feet. Suddenly it de- 

 scended to the surface of the sea, possi- 

 bly owing to an entanglement of the 

 guide-ropes, and then rose again as the 

 ropes were cut or broken and ballast 

 thrown out. The wind carried the bal- 

 loon across the mountainous island of 

 Vogelsang, making it necessary to rise 

 to some 1,500 feet, whence it passed out 

 of sight in an hour, below the northeast 

 horizon. As the balloon had at its best 

 a flotation life of 30 days, it is obvious 

 that the report is erroneous of its ap- 

 pearance in Siberia 65 days later. 



Three message-buoys have been found, 

 all dropped by Andree on July 11, the 

 date of his departure, which furnish brief 

 news of the course of the daring aero- 

 naut. The latest was dated 10 p. m., at 

 which time the balloon was in 82° N., 

 25° E. All were well, the weather fine, 

 the balloon at 820 feet altitude, the direc- 

 tion towards N. 45° E., and the ice field 

 below rugged. Beyond these buoys 

 there have been found no traces, despite 

 repeated search in various Arctic re- 

 gions. 



wellman's expedition 



Spitzbergen has also been selected as 

 the starting point of Walter Wellman's 

 expedition to the Pole in an airship. On 

 Danes Island, on the northeast coast of 

 Greenland, he built last year an enormous 

 shed in which to inflate his balloon, and 

 established a large plant. He returned to 

 Spitzbergen in June, taking his dirigible 

 balloon, which has been considerably en- 

 larged and equipped with more powerful 

 motors than previously planned. The 

 steel car suspended to the balloon has a 

 promenade deck 50 feet long, and space 

 to carry about 1 5 dogs to drag the sledges 

 in case the party are obliged to abandon 

 the airship. Mr Wellman believes the 

 airship can be kept in the air 20 or 25 

 days. Spitzbergen is 600 miles from the 

 Pole, and the trip there and back he esti- 

 mates will take about 10 days. It will be 

 remembered that Mr Wellman last year, 

 asked the National Geographic Society to 



