Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/100010
egends of the Hunt L By John Seerey-Lester The explorers planned to sail their balloon over the North Pole and land in Canadian waters ��� an adventure that quickly proved to be pure folly. T he tiny Swedish contingent had gathered in Danskoya at the northern tip of the Arctic island of Svalbard. They were happy and excited, if perhaps a little apprehensive, as three of their fellow countrymen silently floated away beneath a hydrogen balloon. Soon the huge balloon was little more than a speck as it disappeared over the Arctic horizon. The launching party began to disperse as they speculated the adventure in store for their friends. From the balloon, the three men knew they were completely on their own when they could no longer see the site from which they ascended. S they were already losing hydrogen. They were also experiencing a steering problem with Andree���s dragline system, which was proving to be ineffective. Unable to steer, the men were getting anxious. They were in their second day and none of them had slept. The air was frigid, and the rapid loss of altitude must have struck fear into their hearts. After only two days, the Eagle crashed on the pack ice, dragging the basket and the three men to its final resting place. As the balloon slowly deflated, Andree and his colleagues looked around in dismay at the vastness of Arctic wilderness. This was indeed a brutal land, windswept and white as far as the eye could see. The men were unhurt in the crash and soon set to work making a temporary camp while they discussed their prospects for getting back. The Eagle was relatively well equipped. They had sleds, guns, They realized there was no turning back; the Arctic wind had them in its grasp. It was July 11, 1897. On board the balloon was 43-year-old S.A. Andree, leader of the expedition and his two colleagues, 25-year-old Nils Strindberg and 27-year-old Knut Fraenkel. Although a lot of planning had gone into the expedition and the making of the hydrogen balloon, ���Ornen��� (Eagle) Andree had ignored many of the danger signs presented during their early strategizing. Swept up in his country���s enthusiasm for the project, he was so eager to reach the North Pole that he had ignored a number of basic safety precautions. One of the main problems he had dismissed was that the balloon had come straight from the manufacturer and had not been tested. It had also shown signs of leaking, which Andree had simply ignored. As the three men soared over the ice pack, they couldn���t have known P O R T I N G C 26 L A S S I C S