DARING ADVENTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 199, 23 August 1930, Page 7

DARING ADVENTURE.

(517-Mile Journey from Spitz-

bergen to the Pole.

PIGEON BROUGHT LAST NEWS. So certain was' An dree tliat. lie. would accomplish his projected feat-of ballooning over the North Pole that he had allowed himself six weeks for the journey, and had arranged to exhibit his balloon at the Paris Exposition of 1900 with the simple label, " Retour du Nord Nord Pole" ("Return from the North Pole"). . . V Solomon August Andree was a Swede by birth, and at the time of his disappearance was 43 years of age. He elaborated his scheme for sailing oyer the Pole in 1895, and was so sanguine that'he had not much difficulty in inducing two men' to accompany him.' His first flight was a failure; but that did not deter him, and on July 11, 1897, he set sail in'-a. semi-dirigible balloon, 75 feet high, well protected with a, heavy rope netting made of liemp two inches in thickness. At the equator of the' balloon the meshes were 13 inches in size, and proportionately larger elsewhere where protection,was not so essential. Thei last actually seen of him was when the balloon disappeared at 22 miles an hour in a north-easterly direction •from his point of departure, Dane's Island, in the Spitzbergen group. Two days later a pigeon that lie had released brought back his last message, all seeming then to be propitious. Neither ballpon nor its 'three passengers yrae ever heard of again until to-day. An expedition was despatched to search for the missing explorers very Boon after their silence made it certain that "the venture had miscarried. No success followed the searchers' efforts. Other expeditions went out in the succeeding months, and the last organised attempt to find out what had become of the missing men went out in 1899. Then all hope of ever finding any traces Tvas given up. Tt is true that one of the search expeditions found in the Arctic seas some buoys that had been dropped by tlte balloon, but that was all. On the buoys there were attached messages from Andree, the date being that of July 11, the day of his start. There was no doubt that Andree had equipped his balloon with all the care possible, and he was confident that even if he was forced* to descend, even- in the sea, it would Coat for 60 d'ays. The distance to the Pole from Dane's Island was 617 miles.