The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-09-19
STORY OF 1t Being Sighted in the Par
North Discredited.
THE OPINION OF EXPERTS
Nothing Improbable 10 the Report Ceogrsph.
ieally. bat It Must Be DisbslieSed on sc-
count OF the Time -Andrss Not Lost

% the Herald from Washington says.
Arctic explorers ana icientsts here or.
much Interested IN the report that ,
balloon. supposed % have been that o,
Andree, the explorer. has been over the
village OF AntzllrowskoJe, In the province
of lnenlzlst. Professor william Hark.
ness, Of tho naval observatory. was asLeI
~ 10 the location Of this village and the
significance of :hs .Cport. and said that
he had not been abe to locate the vllIlge
exactly ond :he mas al his command
but he found IN ore .. the maps a place
marked Anlziferovsk. which he ass,tm I'd
was a different spelllay NJ the name OF
the same village. This place IS N north
Latitude about 81 degrees and Is about 70
miles west Of north from Krasnolarsk
the town from which the tlegraphic dis
patch was sent announcing that the bal
loon had been seen. Prof. Hardwick
said that as Andree mad started IN hir
balloon from Danes island t. the north
OF spitzbergen. II was concluded that II
II was his balloon ne did succeed In
crossing the polar region. Instead Of
going north from his point Of departure,
soc has been toward the east AMI south.
his general direction since he left from
Commodore George W. Melville, U. s.
A. the Arctic explorer. said:
1T is possible that Andress balloon
may have been seen and reported from
the Ysniselsk district OF Siberia. but am
Inclined to doubt n the explorer ever
had been In the vicinity, or that the news
OF his being there could be communicated
at this time OF the year TO he outside
world. l am Of the opinion that the bal
loon never went very far from Spitzbtr-
gen. and 81 have for some uTe feared
that Andree has met death in the Arctic,
though even II he came down on the land
In the far north. the chances are he never
would be heard from.
"The region whence the news OF the
sighting OF the balloon comes is little
Travelled from April 10 October. and II
would be difficult for the news to be
carried TO the nearest telegraph station |
NJ this season. and the natives would not |
know what the balloon was II they saw
1t in the air"
Walter Wellman. the newspaper cor
respondent, who has made a special in
yestigatiou OF the practicability OF Arc
;ic hanoonlng. dis,redits the Siberian
story. though he does not coincide with
he prevailing belief that Andree IS lost.
In his opinion Andree's chances OF safety
IRE about one to two.
Concerning the lates, tidngs via St
Petersburg. he said:
There is nothing improbable in the
tory SO far as the geographical position
u hte Siberian village concerned. and
r the Siberian village is concerned and
he distance the balloon must have trav-
led to get there. The distance the bal
oon would have Travelled from Spilzber-
zen to the siberian village, assuming
hat Il crossed Franz Joseph Land and
hen over the Arctic sea, Is somthirg
Ike 25OO miles. This he might have done I
q much less time than nine weeks. I'M I
Il further evidence comes TO hand, the
iberlan story must he disbelieved Lot !
ecause of the distance, but because of
he time which elapsed. 1t would be '
,lraculous if lAndrees balloon had re-
lined the power to float in the air 81
avs. Andree himself did not reckon
pom his ability to remain in the air e
lore than 40 days. and 20 or at the out +
de 50 days is the estimate of others t
,mlliar both with aeIonautics and Arc il
cs.