ANDREE’S BALLOON PARTY

Hokitika Guardian, 25 August 1930, Page 5

ANDREE’S BALLOON PARTY

h 0 • v . • ■ ....: BODIES' IN ARCTIC ICE. ALL WELL PRESERVED. (United Press AMociaiion—By Electric Telegraph—Oopjriglitj. ; ' ■ OSLO, Aug. 23. ' A thirty-three years old mystery' of the Arctic Regions was revealed to the world to-day iby the discovery in the: ocean wastes of the remarkably well preserved body of the .Swedish /Explorer, Solomon ' A'ndrete, ' ’whjo (set out with two Companions in a: balloon ip tli© year 1897 from Danes Island, Spitsbergen, in an attempt to drift with the wind across the North Pole. The discovery was made by a party of Norwegians who have been at work in Franz Josef Land. The finders report that the bodies of the party were located in ice. All were thus well preserved, A diary indicated that the last one to die was Dr Andree himself.

Andree had ■ arranged to tell the world of his .progress and‘ drift across the Pole by means of carrier pigeons, but. after, the party had been gone two dayp, nothing more was ever heard of them, ‘ ■- ■ '■ 1

Their last message gave the position of the balloon as being’eightytwo degrees north. - ;i Although numerous search 'parties have been sent out, no definite conclusion of the party’s fate had ever been reached. v

The discovery was'-made! by ; a Norwegian' scientific expedition, under the leadership of Dr Horn, which landed at White Island, one hundred miles south-east of iSpitzbergen, Franz Josef Land.

Andree’s expedition apparently came to grief after covering four hundred miles from Spitzbergen.

Andree’s body was fullv. dressed in Polar .equipment, and it lay, near the sledge.-is so well preserved that ■it is possible to recognise the features.!,;'.;;. ■': ■ , v>;

•*! A diary with a trinket on which is engraved “S. A. Andree,” was found iii a pocket. . . . „ , ■ The ' cainp established by the ; explorers after they had been driven down, was discovered by Dr. Horn’s expedition when they, landed, but at- first it was given little attention, they thinking it was an abandoned camp. !, Later, on consulting records, it was found that no previous explorers had landed on this island. Cooking utensils were found near the shore. A little further inland the, explorers found the remains of the lost camp. They then found the bodies of three I men,. ,w}th / clothes,. and other equipment,.lying nearby, together with several ~ instruments marked "Andree’s Polar' Expedition, 1896.’’ To all. appearances Andre had outlived hi* companions, Doctor (Horn, leader of the expediion, states that much of the equipment remains hidden in the ice, and dierging operations are most difficult. The bodies, with the equipment have been taken aboard their ship, and will shortly: leave for Norway. They are expected to reach' Tomse on Septembei ioth. ,No trace of Androe’s balloon lias teen found. It is believed that when it was forced down, the explorers set out on ; foot to reach the 'shore in the hope of a rescue. : The position of the bodies leads to the conclusion that they were caught in a snow .storm! while pulling the party sought shelter in a small boat, which became filled with snow, killing the occupants, and Andree himself endeavoured to seek protection in a sledge, where he was frozen to death. All three bodies are well preserved, ’