THE FAR NORTH.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 771, 21 March 1910, Page 9

THE FAR NORTH.

THE FATE OF ANDREE AND HIS COMRADES. ' Of all the mysteries that have puzzled the world during the last two decades, none, perhaps, has acted so powerfully on the popular imagination and remained so inscrutable as the mystery that shrouds Andrees's North X'olo expedition of 1597. Latterly public interest has been renewed in the subject owing to tho number of remarkable stories that have been published with regard to the explorer's end. Of these one is supported by enough evidence to make it seriously worth consideration and investigation.

Before discussing it, however, it will bo' best to state briefly all that is finitely know about the expedition. The facts are these:—On July 11, 1897, Dr. Salamon Augusta Andree, a. Swedish professor and aeronaut, started from Dane's Island, Spitzbergen, in a balloon with two companions, Drs. S.tviiulberg and Fraenkal, for the North Pole. This was, of course, before the days of dirigible balloons, and the explorers had to reckon on, a favourable wind blowing in one uireetion long enough to bear them 617 miles to the Pole, and thence to some inhabited spot on the Siberian coasts. Tho Ragle, as the balloon was called, was of considerable dimensions, having a cubic capacity of 170,000 feet, and measuring G7i feet in diameter. _ The first news received from tho aeronauts was a message brought by a. carried pigeon, and dated noon, July 13, giving Jengitudo and latitude, .and stating tbafc tljey were making good progress in a south? east direction. Then the great silence fell; weeks-passed by, then*months, and then years, and nothing was heart*. Jle-; lief expeditions were sent and hna*ly ono of Andree's buoys was picked at Skjervor, in August, 1900, but contained nothing fresh, as it merely reported progress made' on tho day °f the ascent. These two .messages gave all the news that is definitely known about the movements of the expedition.

A Tragedy of North Canada. ! There are, as mentioned before, two theories as to the probable fate of tho explorers, . which are supported by credible evidence. Of these, by _far the most likely is the story that Andree and his companions Were killed' by Eskimos in the far north of Canada. It is supported by evidence obtained,by.Father Turquetil, a Homnn Catholic missionary in Athabasca, a Mackenzie, llivcr factor of lho : Hudson's Bay Company, named .William Irvin, another factor at a station on the Upper Churchill, and a German-mission-, ary working iu tho far north. The .most, circumstantial-tale told is that of Father Turquetil, who -is stationed at tho mission at the north end of Keindeer. lake. It apoars that he was very anxious to visit the Eskimo land which, lies in a north-easterly direction seven days' sledge travelling from the station. A number of Chippewa Indians went with him, and tho journey was accomplished in eight days. Tho discovery was mado through tho fact that tho priest had a small revolver with him, which -greatly• excited the interest of . the Eskimos. After examining it, one turned to a companion • and said, "That looks like, tho thing that whito man, had." Tho words "white man" aroused the priest's curiosity; for he had never Heard before of white visitors to the district. It took a . long '. time ..; to . induce tho Eskimos to speak, und finally it was only with great reluctance that they did so, and .they appeared all the time to be concealing something. „ They related: how. ; "a white - house had fallen from: the. sky,'; that it was covered .with ropes, and'that tlireo white men wero iii it." Thejnen,. said they, were .very hungry, and * died, shortly afterwards. The ropes:.were still used by. them for various purposes.' The priest's own conjecture was that . the three voyagers, had shot somo deer alter their arrival, and that the Eskimos, becoming angry, killed them. This, would explain, their reluctance to talk'on tho subject. Another story corroborating that told Father .Turquetil has "just recently been told by William Irvin, for fifty-five years 'iii charge of the Hudson Bay'post at. Fort Good Hope, on the Mackenzie River.' He says that one night, at about, the same time that the'lndians saw the- "white house in the sky,", a great light appeared over tiie country, and tho following morning all the Chippewas in the district flocked to tho Hudson-Bay post to tell of the large, mysterious star that had passed over the heavens so near, their tents. They said they could hear, yoices; also that the light was travelling, very, low. They could see. it for se,veral : hours after it first.cairio into view'.

Corroboration. In-1902-a story, of, much .the same ha-, ture as that of Father CL'urquetil's was told by a Hudson's Bay factor stationed on tlio'Upper Churchill River. He stated that an Indian who had made an extended trip along tho Arctic coast had informed him that he met in the course of his wanderings a party of Eskimos, who had with them a number of brass instruments, cooking utensils of a quality unknown in that region, waterproof cloth, and rope of an unusual stan-. dar.d In answer, to liis questions they replied . that while hunting' several, years before on one of the islands off tho Arctic shore a great "Oomiak," or woman's boat, dropped from out of the sky. Greatly alarmed, they warned the three men in jt to keep oil'. The latter mistook their signs for a hostile demonstration and fired-on them. A' fight 'ensued,- in which, tho white men and a number of natives wero killed. ' After they had recovered from their fright tho Eskimos took possession of the outfit. l'urthor corroboration is furnished, by a. story which lias worked its way South emanating from a German. missionary in tho- Far North. It appears that lie came across a. number of natives who had in their possession a quantity of rope of a quality which they could not got in barter from tho ships which enter tho Arctic Sea.'. When questioned, the Eskimos told that many years before thoy had come across two white men who came down out of the sky in a "white house.". These-men had afterwards starved to death and tho natives had seized upon the balloon, the Cordage, of which, they converted to their own uses. .

Such is the story—to which at the present most credence is attached—of Andreo's end. Probably "bofore the present year is passed away fuller details will bo to hand, or -even discovery -may be made of the wreck of the' balloon and ■the bones of the explorers who faced all the dangers of the Arctic only to die at the hands of . their fellows. Such a discovery would not only, be of the highest interest in itself,' but probably at the same time would be found details of the most daring expedition of modern times. Andree may even have discovered the Pole—who knows? Before'long, at any rate,- it may be - safely prophesied that tho frozen North will give up the secret that it has kept for. nearly thirteen years, and the • mystery that 'has' shrouded tho fato of Andfeo, Strindberg, and.Fraenkal be at last swept, away.— ' 'Standard of Empire."