The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-01
WHEREABOUTS OF ANDREE.
Che Probable Course of His Balloon
Expedition to the NOrth Pole.
From the LONDON saturday Review.


From the London Saturday Review.
When Andree proceeded last year to his
starting point in Spitzbergen, the public
skeptically wondered what would happen,
Unfortunately, the elements were against
the gallant explorer The wind refused to
blow in The required direction and nothing
remained for him but to return. Then came
a food of criticisms. He never meant
going" AN a fiasco," and similar SEN
fences, etc. Andree now has the laugh Of
them all: for whe Ter he succeeds in
reaching his goal not, whether he re-
turns or Dies in Tn, attempt, no one can
say that he did not mean to so. We are
now anXiously await ing the news of his
safe return Before .hesc words are in
print we may have n intelligence of the
issue of the journey. But though there is
reason to believe the venture will be sue
cessful, still it is an enterprise beset with
dangers so many and various that we can
not feel quite at ease.
In one of the accounts of the start a
statement is quietly made which, If true.
would certainly be of the gravest impor-
lance to the successful issue of the eXpedi-
ton. 1t is said that the balloon soon after
starting, rose steadily to hight of $1,000
feet. But on the other hand, even over
looking the difficulty of estimating such
hight, simple calculation will show that
a balloon the size of Andree's 070,O00 cubic
feeD could not lift TO a hight of 1900 feet
a greater weight than 6,000 pounds. Aud
as the balloon, with its car and fittings,
weighs mSe than this. such an ascent
could only be possible if che whole of the
ballast, provisions, boat and sledges, If
not men, were thrown out. In which case
IL is not likely that the journey would have
lasted naore-than- few hours However.
the whole affair is most improbable, and
NJ. Machuron, probably the only practical
balloonist who witnessed the departure
says that the balloon pursued its way at
an even hight of a few hundred feet above
the water. Another rather alarming state
ment was to the effect that the guide rope
had been left behind, It appears, how
ever that 1t was only portion, and that
plenty of spare rope was taken in the car.
The action of the guide ropes, on which
the aeronaut lays so much stress may be
shortly explained A balloon, the life
of which is entierly dependent on the spe-
cific gravity of the gas contained within
it, is necessarily a very delicately balanc-
ed instrument A ray of sunshine, puff
of cold or warm wind, a touch of damp
mist all cause the balloon to rise or fall
Every rise above a certain hight means
an inevitable loss Of gas since the rar-
ity of the air at a hight causes il to in
crease in volume. 1t is therefore most es-
sential to a long protracted voyage to
the ground. This the guide rope does. A
long and heavy rope (Andree uses several
ropes) trailing along the ground keeps
the ballon down, since, when the latter
has a tendency to rise, it has to lift more
and more weight of rope off the ground.
On the other hand as it sinks it is re-
lieved of the weight Of the rope.
But there IS also another use for the
guide rope which is familiar to Andree. A
balloon floating in midair is bound to go
exactly with the wind and is thus differ
emily situated to a ship, which can sail
against the wind by utilizing the water
as "a fulcrum. But with a heavy rope
trailing along the ground, fulcrum can
be obtained for steering the balloon, and
in this way Andree hopes to be able to
guide his areostat some 80 degrees or more
on either side of the wind course. He may
thus not only avoid obstruction, but direct
his way exactly to the pole, even though
the wind be blowing several points off.
Thus at the start the wind was at the
south-southwest, but by means of the
guide rope the course taken was due
north. And this is about all we know for
certain, that good start was made with
a steady fresh wind. The pigeon message
saying that the expedition has passed 81
degrees is not of much more interest than
so far as it informs us that good start
had been made. IL would imply that some
40 miles had been accomplished out of the
700 to the pole: but in reality it is the re-
turn journey wherein the great difficulty
and doubt lie Andree hopes that his bal
loon will remain at least three weeks in
mid air, but we have to consider that
there is not much civilization within 1000
miles of the pole Except perhaps in Nor
way and Russia).
AS it is supposed that a steady south
erly wind blew for several days after the
start, we get some idea Of the probable
progress of the expedition. though of
course ii can be but mere conjecture. The
start was made on July II at about 2:S0
D. m The rate of progress was supposed
to be about twenty-five miles an hour. II
so. at about 8 o'clock that night they
would pass the eighty-second parallel of
latitude and then their pigeon was proU-
ably dispatched. If progress was contin-
ued at the same rate the pole itself should
have been reached at about O'clock in
the evening OF the 18th. We must bear
in mind that though the hour may seem
rather late broad daylight reigns in these
arctic climes. Well If the journey was
at once continued under similar condi-
tons. the vast expanse of polar ocean
would be crossed and the northern coast
of Alaska reached at about p. m. on
the 18th. But even then the journey is
by no means at an end. Except for the
Klondike gold fields, there would not be
much sign of civilization until another
700 miles of Alaskan wilderness had been
passed, and the broad waters of the Pa
cific stretched away before Jnem
But If this wind, which started from the
south in Spitzbergen and continued to-
ward the south of the pole. did not con-
tinue, and If We suppose that all went
well with the balloon, she might drift