File Under Very Bad Ideas—Ballooning to the North Pole

S. A. Andrée, dreamer, balloonist,  would-be polar explorer.

S. A. Andrée was a smart man.  A very smart man.  He had big ideas.  Very big.  Unfortunately his biggest idea was to try and reach the North Geographic Pole by balloon.  That was a bad idea.  A very bad idea.

On July 11, 1895 Andrée and two companions, engineer Knut Frænkel and photographer Nils Strindberg—a second cousin to playwright August Strindberg—lifted off in the balloon Örnen (The Eagle) from the island of Danskøya (Dane’s Island) just off of the northwest coast of Spitzbergen on the Arctic Ocean.  As it rose into the air the ground crew noted that two of the three weighed drag ropes meant to skim the sea ice with which Andrée hoped to have some control over speed and act as crude rudder for the otherwise free floating craft had not been secured correctly to the gondola and dropped uselessly to the ground.  It was not a good omen.  After the balloon finally disappeared from view the intrepid explorers were never seen alive again.

Salomon August Andrée was born in the small town of Gränna, Småland, Sweden on October 18, 1854.  After the death of his father in 1870 he completed his education at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm graduating in 1874 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He had an all consuming interest in technology, invention, and industry believing, as many forward thinking minds of his time did, they offered the key to the future happiness of humanity and the elimination of hunger, want, and disease.

Although industrializing, Sweden was a relative backwater in Europe.  Eager to see the world an explore the exciting explosion of technological innovation that he read about, in 1876 young Andrée sailed to America accepting the lowly job of janitor of the Swedish Pavilion of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.  He was dazzled by the many wonders he saw there and confirmed in his faith in technological progress.  While in the States he met the pioneering American balloonist John Wise and read a book on prevailing winds.  Together these experiences planted the seeds of for his ultimate adventure.

Back in Sweden he opened a machine shop and then took work as a research assistant at the Royal Institute in 1882.  That was how he came to join the scientific expedition of Nils Ekholm to Spitzbergen and surrounding waters.  The Swedes, and their historic and national rivals Norway and Russia where then in competition for Arctic exploration and possible exploitation of the region for its fisheries and for possible trade routes to the orient that might be open at least a few months or weeks each year.  Andrée was responsible for meteorological and air electricity observation.  This led him to the conclusion that prevailing winds could take a balloon over, or near the North Geographic Poll, the ultimate goal of all Polar explorers.

After 1885 Andrée worked for the Swedish Patent Office, published frequently in scientific journals on topic including air electricity, the conduction of heat, and reviews of new inventions.  He was well enough known and respected to be elected to the Stockholm City Council as a liberal reformer. 

By the early 1890’s he had fully conceptualized his plan for a polar expedition by balloon and began testing his ideas in 1893 with the small balloon, the Svea.  He made nine flights with it, starting from Gothenburg or Stockholm and travelling a combined distance of 930 mi. In the prevailing westerly winds, the Svea flights had a  tendency to carry him uncontrollably out to the Baltic Sea and drag his basket perilously along the surface of the water or slam it into one of the many rocky islets in the Stockholm archipelago On one occasion he was blown clear across the Baltic to Finland. His longest trip was due east from Gothenburg, across the breadth of Sweden and out over the Baltic to Gotland. Even though he saw a lighthouse and heard breakers off Öland, he remained convinced that he was travelling over land and seeing lakes.  H/e also tested his drag rope breaking/steering system and believed that it gave him some control up to 10˚ variance from the wind direction, a notion modern balloon experts describe charitably as self-delusional. 

Despite all of the red flags these experiences should have provided about his project, Andrée considered the flights a success and began publicizing his scheme it and raising the necessary funds which were far beyond his modest salary as a civil servant.  He proved amazingly proficient at both and his project drew contributions by subscription from an excited public and the distinguished endorsements of Albert Nobel and King Oscar II—the one on the sardine cans.

At a lecture in 1895 to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Andrée thrilled the audience of geographers and meteorologists.  His polar exploration balloon would need to fulfill four conditions:

• It must have enough lifting power to carry three people and all their scientific equipment, photographic equipment, provisions for four months, camping and cold weather survival gear, and ballast, totaling about 3.5 tons. It must retain the gas well enough to stay aloft for 30 days.
• The hydrogen gas must be manufactured, and the balloon filled, at the Arctic launch site
• It must retain enough gas to stay aloft for thirty days.
• It must be at least somewhat steerable.

Andrée assured the assembled notables that he could obtain a suitable balloon from experienced French manufactures, that similar and even larger hydrogen balloons had remained inflated for a year, and that existing mobile hydrogen manufacturing units could produce the necessary at the remote departure point.  He said his drag rope system solved the problem of steering.  He must have been convincing because all of those engineers and scientists eagerly took him for his word.

The balloon and gondola under construction in Paris.

As the money started to roll in, Andrée placed an order with balloon builder Henri Lachambre of Paris, the most reputable and reliable of all firms.  The balloon its self was made of three layers of varnished silk 67 feet in diameter.  The gondola was built to accommodate a crew of three aloft for as long as 30 days.  The sleeping berths for the crew were fitted at the floor of the basket, along with some of stores and provisions.  Other equipment would be tied to the exterior. Cooking would be done on a small hydrogen stove which would be lit and burn while dangling from a rope 30 feet below the basket to prevent accidental ignition of the highly flammable gas.

It is notable that with the exception of the stove and drag ropes, the whole apparatus was old technology developed by the French a century earlier.  Meanwhile developers in France, Germany, and Britain had been working on a new generation of lighter than air craft—sausage or cigar shaped balloons propelled by engines and completely steerable.  The problem was that even with light weight internal combustion engines replacing earlier steam attempts; the ships could not carry enough fuel for a long distance flight. Count Von Zeppelin’s development of the semi-rigid dirigible with a large envelope containing multiple aluminum bladders of gas which multiplied lift capacity many times over and provided ample space within the envelope for fuel was just over the horizon.  Subsequent air Arctic and Antarctic expeditions would employ dirigibles. 

The balloon, gondola, and hydrogen generation plant were delivered to Stockholm in 1896 in time for a flight that summer.  Literally hundreds of volunteers clamored for a slot on the crew of what was becoming seen as a great patriotic adventure.  Andrée’s first choice was Ekholt, the 48 year old meteorologist who had headed the 1893 Spitzbergen expedition.  Nils Strindberg was the only youthful member of the team at 24 years of age.  He was still a student who had achieved notice for his original research in chemistry and physics and who was an expert amateur photographer and a builder of specialized photographic equipment. 

The balloon was inflated at Danskøya in July of 1896 but after days of persistent north winds the crew was force to de-inflate the balloon and return to Stockholm.  But during the inflation Ekholt thought he noted that the Örnen was consistently leaking gas.  Andrée assured him that the signs of gas loss was just the constriction of the gas in the chill of the sub-arctic North.  But on the voyage home Ekholt discovered in Andrée’s logs that he had secretly been topping off the balloon hydrogen.  This caused a falling out between the two men.  Ekholt went on to charge Andrée with reckless misrepresentation.

Back home there was minor fall out from Ekholt’s defection and revelations, but Andrée’s relentless public relations campaign and the patriotic fervor with which the project was now imbued in the public mind, soon swept doubt away.  Meanwhile as international coverage increased, top French and German balloonist with years of experience now began to ridicule the plan and label it as near suicidal.  They were particularly scornful of the drag rope steering system.  But Andrée was literally the only Swede with any balloon experience.  No one in the scientific or engineering communities felt comfortable in challenging him openly.

The 1897 expedition crew: G.V.E. Swedenborg (substitute), Nils Strindberg , Knute Fraenkel, and S.A. Andrée.

To replace Ekholt for a second attempt Andrée selected Knut Frænkel, a 27 year old recent graduate of the Royal Institute of Technology in civil engineering.  Despite his lack of background, he was assigned Ekholt’s duties of keeping meteorological records.  After the balloon was forced down his detailed notes, including navigational observations, eventually disclosed in detail what happened to the expedition.  He was also physically the strongest member of the crew and the only experienced outdoorsman.  After landing he became in charge of setting up and maintaining camp sites.

Before the Örnen left the sight of land in the second attempt, things began to go badly quickly.  Overladen by the drag of the heavy ropes, the balloon could not achieve much altitude.  In fact it was pulled down to wave top level, the gondola actually dipping into the water twice.  The drag on the lines was so severe that two were ripped from the craft.  The crew also hastily ejected ballast to regain height.  Within minutes it lost 1630 pounds of essential weight including 1170 lbs. of rope.  That caused the balloon to spring into the air soaring to and altitude of 2300 feet, far higher that it was designed to fly.  Already leaking, the hydrogen expanded in the bag as the balloon rose and began to lose more gas through an estimated 8000 pin holes.

The wind pushed the balloon along at an alarming rate, at veering off to the north north east meaning that even if they could stay aloft, they would never come near the Pole.  They were driven into freezing rain, which, unlike his assurances to his Royal Academy audience, did not simply “slip off” but began to build up, adding weight to the balloon.  This, in conjunction with the continuing loss of gas caused the craft to begin to slowly descend. 

challenging him openly.

To replace Ekholt for a second attempt Andrée selected Knut Frænkel, a 27 year old recent graduate of the Royal Institute of Technology in civil engineering.  Despite his lack of background, he was assigned Ekholt’s duties of keeping meteorological records.  After the balloon was forced down his detailed notes, including navigational observations, eventually disclosed in detail what happened to the expedition.  He was also physically the strongest member of the crew and the only experienced outdoorsman.  After landing he became in charge of setting up and maintaining camp sites.

Moments before takeoff.

Before the Örnen left the sight of land in the second attempt, things began to go badly quickly.  Overladen by the drag of the heavy ropes, the balloon could not achieve much altitude.  In fact it was pulled down to wave top level, the gondola actually dipping into the water twice.  The drag on the lines was so severe that two were ripped from the craft.  The crew also hastily ejected ballast to regain height.  Within minutes it lost 1630 pounds of essential weight including 1170 lbs. of rope.  That caused the balloon to spring into the air soaring to and altitude of 2300 feet, far higher that it was designed to fly.  Already leaking, the hydrogen expanded in the bag as the balloon rose and began to lose more gas through an estimated 8000 pin holes.

The wind pushed the balloon along at an alarming rate, at veering off to the north north east meaning that even if they could stay aloft, they would never come near the Pole.  They were driven into freezing rain, which, unlike his assurances to his Royal Academy audience, did not simply “slip off” but began to build up, adding weight to the balloon.  This, in conjunction with the continuing loss of gas caused the craft to begin to slowly descend. 

 

Andrée and Fraenkel by the balloon shortly after the forced language in a phot0 by Strindberg,

 

 

 

During these hours, described in detail in Andrée’s log, he released four pigeons which had been supplied by a Stockholm newspaper, with upbeat messages describing the flight’s progress.  Only one was found when the hapless pigeon stopped for a rest on the mast of a Norwegian freighter and was promptly shot.  The message in its capsule dated July 13, two days after takeoff read, “The Andree Polar Expedition to the Aftonbladet, Stockholm. July 13 12.30pm, 82 deg. north latitude, 15 deg.5 min. east longitude. Good journey eastwards, 10 deg. south. All goes well on board. This is the third message sent by pigeon. Andree.”

But all was not well.  The balloon was descending rapidly.  The crew jettisoned the remainder of their ballast and then began pitching non-essential supplies, some of which would turn out not to be so non-essential.  Free flight had lasted only for 10 hours and 29 minutes and was followed by another 41 hours of bumpy ride with frequent contact with the rough sea ice before the inevitable final crash.  The last few hours they were blown far west and then east again.  They had traveled about 530 air miles but landed near 83˚ north and 30˚ east, closer to 310 miles from the take off point in a straight line.

The ultimate landing was relatively soft with no injuries to the crew.  Even the remaining pigeons in their cages were unhurt.  All of the equipment was unbroken.  They had plenty of food.  In addition strapped to a carrying ring around the balloon was camping equipment, rifles and ammunition, skis, snowshoes, three sleds and a boat frame that was designed to be covered by fabric salvaged from the balloon.  They were not all that far from land.  Other arctic expeditions made further treks far less well provisioned and equipped.  All in all they had excellent chances of survival.  With better leadership, they probably would have made it back safely.  Alas their leader was proving incompetent.

Totally unfamiliar with arctic exploration, Andrée never bothered to consult any of the veteran Swedish or Norwegians who could have explained in detail what he need.  So he brought a lot of stuff, often the wrong stuff.  To begin with their clothing was layers of heavy woolens over which they could wear oilcloth slickers and their boots were not waterproof.  Andrée did not yet he also expected the sea ice to be smooth and not broken up by channels or dotted by sun melted ice ponds.  He did not expect rain.  Conditions were much wetter than he expected and the men were wet most of the time putting them in danger of hypothermia.

Instead of the light weight, flexible sleds modeled after those used by the Inuit people, Andrée had personally designed  rigid metal sleds that were both heavy and hard to maneuver over the many pressure ridges in the sea ice they would have to cross.  Each sled was initially laden with over 440 lbs. including all of Strindberg’s heavy photographic equipment with which he continued to document their trek. 

After spending a week organizing themselves, assembling the sleds and the boat, and packing they set off on a march toward safety.  They had a choice of two supply depots left for them, one at Cape Flora in Franz Josef Land and one at Sjuøyane (Seven Islands) just north of Nordaustlandet, the second largest island in the Spitzbergen archipelago.  Their maps were faulty so   Andrée almost instinctively made the wrong choice—to head for Cape Flora which lay hundreds of miles to the east, much further than   Sjuøyane which was almost due south of their position.  From then on almost every major decision he would make would be wrong.  Dead wrong.

The rout of the expedition, flight in solid red line, ice trek in dotted line.

The struggle to cross the sea ice was much harder than Andrée ever imagined.  Ice ridges were often two stories high.  Some ice ponds were virtual lakes.  Floes were separated by channels of open water that often required all of the equipment to be unloaded from each sled, loaded into the boat that they also had to drag with them, and floated across only to be reassembled.  Progress was slow and painfully difficult, especially for Andrée who was the oldest and had always lived a sedentary life.  After a week and determining that they could supply much of their food by hunting polar bear, walrus, and seal and by fishing in the channels, they dumped much of their food—mostly canned goods—and nonessential supplies reducing the load of each sled to about. 

That helped.  But not enough.  Their forward progress was slow and the ice was being pushed west by prevailing winds and currents.  By August 4 the realized that not only would they never reach Franz Joseph land, but that they were going backwards.  They decided to turn southwest for Sjuøyane, which should have been their objective from the beginning.  The hope was that the moving ice would assist them in this direction.  At first the terrain was just as difficult but after a few days the came on better conditions—the smooth ice Andrée had always envisioned.  Broad channels that made crossing by boat faster than dragging the sleds.  Large ice ponds with fresh water and plenty of game.  Andrée described it as “Paradise!” in his logs.

The explorers struggle with the boat over an ice ridge.

Then the wind turned again, driving them and the ice backward.  Attempts to adjust their course by turning more sharply west did not help.  By September 12 with snow beginning to fly and temperatures falling.  The short Arctic summer was already coming to an end.  They realized that they would not reach Sjuøyane.  The decided to let the ice take them where it would, hoping to get close to some hospitable shore.  A few days later they decided that they would have to make a winter camp on the ice.  Frænkel constructed them as sturdy a shelter as he could for them to wait it out in.

The ice began to turn south and seemed to be picking up speed.  Hopes soared that it would bring them to land.  In fact it was taking them straight to the uninhabited island of Kvitøya east of Spitzbergen.  On October 2 the ice began to pile up against the shore.  A fissure opened directly under the camp.  The men scrambled to get off the ice and transfer their gear to the islands, which took them several dangerous hours. 

But at least they were safely ashore.  Frænkel once again constructed a cozy dwelling.  Game appeared to be plentiful.  It looked like they may be able to ride out the winter and either be found by search parties or fishermen the next spring or be able to resume the journey to inhabited Spitzbergen. 

Instead with in day, all three were dead.  Exactly how they died is a mystery to this day.  We do know that shortly after landing and establishing camp on a high spot overlooking the ocean the entries in Andrée’s log, which had been meticulous and detailed began a rapid descent into near gibberish.  The last few pages were also damaged.   We know who died first.   The body of Strindberg, the youngest, wedged into a cliff aperture by the others.  Andrée and Frænkel died together in their hut no more than a few days later.

There are several different theories as to what killed them.  The most widely sighted is trichinosis from under cooked polar bear meet.  Larvae of Trichinella spiralis were found in parts of a polar bear carcass at the site.  Others believe it was carbon monoxide from a kerosene cooking stove that didn’t burn its gas completely.   In this theory levels were not high enough to asphyxiate the men out right, but did brain damage.  Then a storm hit and confined Andrée and Frænkel longer than usual asphyxiating them.  Fuel was still found in the stove so for this to have occurred the burner had to some become extinguished and the valve closed.  Wilder theories include suicide by opium overdose or even a polar bear attack.

Of course none of this was learned until decades later.  When the men died, folks back in Sweden did not even realize that they were missing.  It was always expected that the outside world would lose contact with the expedition for weeks, even months.  For all anyone in Stockholm knew, they had sailed successfully over the Pole and had landed somewhere in the wilds of Canada or Siberia and were attempting to reach some settlement by overland trek.   

It wasn’t until they were gone almost a year that a search was mounted, but they had gone so far off the expected course that no one was looking around Kvitøya.  The mystery of the crew of became a national obsession similar to the search for Amelia Earhart for Americans.  There were countless theories put forward, all of them wrong, plus song, poems, and novels were written.

Members of the Norwegian Bratvaag Expedition which was studying the glaciers and seas of the Svalbard archipelago from sealing vessel Bratvaag, found the relics of the Andrée expedition on August 5, 1930. Two crew members came ashore on the island that was usually inaccessible because of piled up pack ice came ashore at Kvitøya to search for fresh water and discovered scattered artifacts including the boat with a boat hook inscribed. “Andrée’s Polar Expedition, 1896.”  The Captain order further searches which turned up Strindberg’s and Andrée’s skeletons, identified by markings on their clothing, and Andrée’s log.

When the news reached Sweden, it set off an excited scramble.  Stockholm reporters chartered the sealing sloop Isbjørn   which reached the island on September 5.  On this visit they found Frænkel’s body, and a tin box containing Strindberg’s undeveloped film, his logbook, and maps.  The ships turned over their finds to a joint scientific commission of the Swedish and Norwegian governments in Tromsø, Norway on September 2 and 16, respectively. The bodies of the three explorers were transported to Stockholm, arriving on October 5.

The caskets with Naval honor guard in the Stockholm funeral procession witnessed by thousands.

The remains were taken from the ship and transported in a solemn procession through the streets lined with tens of thousands of Swede mourning as if the death were fresh.  At the later funeral King Gustaf V delivered an oration.  The three explorers were cremated and their ashes interred together at the cemetery Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm.  

For decades they were the subject of near worshipful adoration.  However recent revisionist studies have turned highly critical of Andrée and his flawed leadership.