Until
I saw the review of this book in the New York Times Book Review, I had no idea anyone had tried to find the North Pole
by balloon. In addition to telling the
story of Andree, the book also tells the story of Adolphus Greely (1881-1884)
and Fridtjof Nanen’s Fram expedition
of 1893-1896.
It
seems naïve that Andree thought he could fly a balloon to the North Pole and
return in a few weeks, but that is exactly what he proposed to do in 1897. After spending several years planning and
constructing his balloon, he and two other companions set off from the
northmost point of Sweden, never to be seen alive again. Pigeons sent back by Andree gave misleading
information and all efforts to find Andree and his men were unsucessful. According to Andree’s jounal, found with his
remains in 1930, the balloon had crashed after three days because the fabric
was unable to hold sufficient hydrogen to keep it aloft. Along with the journal, photographs tell the
story of the three’s efforts to make it south.
At first successful in keeping warm and fed by hunting bears and seals, the men eventually
sucummed to the harsh conditions and died.
The
North Pole has since been conguored by airplane, skis, sleds, and motor car, but
it was not until 2010 that French explorer Jean-Louis Etienne
completed the first solo balloon trip across the North Pole.
This
fast paced book is very much worth reading, if not for the history of the polar
exploits, but for the effect that these explorations had on the participants,
the family, and the nations.
Reviewer: Dorothy Pittman
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