On the afternoon of Sunday, the 11th of July, 1897, the balloon Ornen left the port of Virgo, Spitzbergen, carrying in its car Messrs. AndrÉe, Strindberg, and Fraenkel, the bold explorers, starting for the conquest of the North Pole.

All the papers of the day were immediately filled with discussions in various strains, pessimistic or favourable comments and prognostications, articles full of hope or criticism,—each, in short, looking upon this extraordinary expedition from its own point of view.

The first part of this bold enterprise is accomplished, and now we are confronted with the terrible question: Where are they?

The comments took their usual course. However, towards the middle of August we heard that one of the carrier pigeons belonging to AndrÉe’s expedition had been killed, on the 22nd of July, by one of the seamen of the fishing boat Alken, between the Spitzbergen North Cape and the Seven Isles, in about 80° N. Lat. This pigeon carried a message, which was confirmed, more than a month later, when the whaler Alken returned to Hammerfest; it was couched in the following terms:—

“13th July, 12.30 p.m., 82.2° N. L., 15.5° E. Long. Good progress towards the north. All goes well on board. This message is the third brought by a pigeon.—AndrÉe.”

AndrÉe, therefore, appears to have despatched three pigeons in less than three days, and the balloon seems to have covered, during this time, a distance of scarcely 187½ miles—a fact which is accounted for by the calm which reigned on the second day.

No other trustworthy news has since come to hand. Much noise was made about a telegram originating from KrasnoÏarsk in Siberia, which announced that a balloon, believed to be AndrÉe’s, had been sighted on the 14th of September, for some minutes, in the province of Jenisseisk.

This message was rather vague. Supposing that the balloon remained in the air for more than sixty days (which is still within the limits of possibility), it ought to have crossed, in order to arrive at that point, over 625 miles of inhabited land, without being perceived, which is rather doubtful. On the other hand, AndrÉe would not travel such a long way in regions where communications are comparatively easy and where he would have been in perfect safety, without effecting a landing and stopping on his journey.

Knowing the temperament of these heroes, who start with high courage towards the unknown, in order to try to lift the veil which still hides those mysterious regions from mortal eyes, and after having read the narrative of the wonderful voyage of Nansen and his companions, shall we despair?

Has not AndrÉe already been highly favoured by chance and accident? Has he not already, in his career as an aeronaut, escaped from dangerous situations in which many others, perhaps, would have perished? Let us hope, then, that his lucky star will not forsake him, and that fortune, which favours the brave, will bring back to us, victorious, the three savants who have a full claim to our unstinted admiration.

I may add that the preparatory stages of the expedition were very troublesome; obstacles of all kinds, bad weather, and, in particular, contrary winds, made two attempts futile. Only on the third attempt were the explorers able to leave terra firma finally and float in space towards this inaccessible pole, the search for which has already cost science so many illustrious lives.

In fact, a first expedition organized in June, 1896, went to Spitzbergen, at which place a balloon and all the plant necessary for its inflation were fitted up. But after a long wait for the south wind, which did not come, the explorers were compelled to return to Europe, as the season was too far advanced.

Now, before narrating the preliminaries of the second expedition and commencing the story of our voyage across the polar sea, it seems expedient briefly to recapitulate the history of the Swedish expedition to which we have had the honour to belong, and to give some details as to the construction of the aerial ship, and the work accomplished last year on Dane’s Island.

An undertaking bristling with so many difficulties could not possibly be carried through in an inhospitable country in a season which lasts barely two months; and this fact the reader will be able to appreciate later on.

H. L.