GRIM DISCOVERY

Northern Advocate, 2 September 1930, Page 5

GRIM DISCOVERY

ANDREE’S ARCTIC CAMP IDENTIFICATION UNCERTAIN. DR HORN’S NARRATION. (United Press Association —By Electrie Telegraph—Copyright.) (Received 11.32 a.m.) OSLO, September 1. A Nana copyright account states that Dr Horn, leader of the Norwegian scientific expedition which found the camp and the bodies of the ill-fated Swedish balloonist, S. A. Andree, and his companions, whose fate had not been revealed for 33 years, made the following statement in the course of an interview:

“I first discovered cooking apparatus marked with the name of a Swedish firm. After further search I found a body, which I thought was identifiable as 'that of Andree, propped against a rock. One cheek was eaten away by bears. The second body was in an ice-covered cleft, while the third was found in a canvas boat filled with ice.”

Captain Groendal, of the ship Hanseatic, states that he visited White Island, 100 miles south-east of Franz Josef Land, "where the bodies were found, three 'weeks before the Horn party landed to look for traces of the Nobile expedition, having the belief that the missing members would some day turn up in those regions. They found a tin box, some papers and a tent pole, which all looked too old to be connected with the Nobile expedition.

Dr Horn expressed the opinion. that Andree and his companions died :of cold and exhaustion, after a long march over the ice. They had. not time to build a shelter and could not have lived long after reaching White Island.

, Dr Horn cannot positively say that the bodies are those of Andree and his companions. The diary consists of only a few pages.

Salomon August Andree, the (Swedish balloonist, set out in July, 1897, from Dane's Island, Spitzbergen, • with two others to carry out a plah to reach : the North Pole, but the party .was never heard of again. Some of the buoys which they .dropped were later .’found; but beyond these signs, the several expeditions which set out to find them could discover nothing. Andree Was born in October, 1854, and had from ah early age manifested a keen interest in ballooning. He had worked for some time on his plan for reaching the North Pole by Unis route. " 1 The following message was cabled from' Oslo on August 23/—-Hunters in Franz Josef Land found, the bodies of the Swedish balloonist,, S, A! Andree, and 1 Ms companions, who 'set out in a balloon in 1897 for the North Pole. They state the bodies are well preserved in, the ice. The : diary shows that Andree was the last to die. Andree's body was fully dressed in Polar equipment and lay near the sledge. It was so well preserved that it was poSsiole to recognise his features. A diary and a trinket which was engraved “S. A. Andree," were found in a pocket. This ghostly camp, which had been established by the explorers after their balloon had been driven down, was discovered by an expedition when it landed, but at first little attention was paid to it, the party thinking it was an abandoned camp. Later, upon consulting records, it was found that no previous explorers had landed on the island. A closer investigation was made of the cooking utensils, which were found near the shore, and a little farther inland the explorers found the remains of the lost camp with the bodies of the three men. Clothes and other equipment were lying nearby, together with several instruments, which were marked “ Andree's Polar Expedition, 1896." To all appearances Andree had outlived his companions. Dr Horn, leader of. the expedition which made the discovery, states that much eqiiipment is hidden in ice. Digging operations are most difficult.