The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-21
ANDREE's CHANCES.
81. pigicuItics and His Probable
Fate.
From the Chicago Times-Hers


From the Chicago Times Herald.
r-,shirgton, Sept. 17.-What Of the fate
,n5~se. the brave Swede who started
~. north pole in a balloon more than
~. ,oonths ago? Has he lost his life in
mining to carry out his rash project,
will be presently make his appearance
-..re men to tell one of the most re-
--,-5bls tales that ever fell from the lips
- Mortal? As a student of arctic mat
US as one who some years ago made
..,ial INVESTIGATION of the practicability
- ar.ri, ballooning, 1 find myself unable
=, coineiie with what appears to be the
-.,-,larr view that Andree is certainly
,.s+ He may be, and he may not be. To
his chances of safety appear to be
nhopt one in two. Even this opinion is
AAYSss work, as every opinion concerning
HHr7ree.s voyage must be until definite
,,s is received His expedition was it
Hl,S , guess-work affair. He went up in
- the air and trusted to luck. He did
~ lrow how long his balloon could re-
-, adoat, and, of course, it was i'm
rossible for him to know in what direc-
tion or now far the winds might carry
pn. If is not wise to conclude that An
drsa is surely lost simply because he went
IN in balloon and because he has not
bsen heard from for nine weeks. As
vrta the cable brings story from st.
pe+ersburs TO the effect that balloon
+,,s seen nassing over a Siberian village
i y, The Yeniseisk district the evening of
So a The inhabitants at least thought
- thing they saw was a balloon, and,
A AZ oourse they believed it to be the aerial
e5in of Herr Andree. They add that it
rras in sight for about five minutes.
s Tbere is nothing improbable in this story
. so far as the geographical position of the
Siberian village is concerned, and the dis
,ance the balloon must have Travelled to
rer there. Indeed, I have always had
an immersion that if Andree reached in
3hablted parts of the earth in his balloon
n would be somewhere in Siberia thai
4 he made his descent
Krasnovarsk, when this very doubtful
lrevs comes, is on the line of the Trans
5erian railway, about 200 miles from the
Arctic ocean. The village where the in
2habtants thought they saw a balloon
could not be far away, for the news of It's
alleged sighting reached Krasnoyarsk in
two DAVIS. and there are few telegraph or
kelephone lines in that part of Siberia. The
4distance which the balloon would have
Nrraveled from the Danish island of North
western Spzbergen TO this Siberian viii
Naee assuming that it crossed Franz Jo-
4self Land and thence out over the Arctic
sea. is something like $500 miles. This it
Knight easily have done in much less time
Than nine weeks.
Until further evidence comes to hand the
Isl aerian story must be disbelieved, not be-
Pause of the distance, but because of the
+ime which has elapsed. II would be mrac-
.1.,t,e iD1oo1 ADdree1s bal1OOu had re-
lained the power to float in the air sixty
Hour days. Andree himself did not reckon
Upon his ability to remain in the air more
#han forty days, and twenty, or at the out
sde thirty days is the estimate of others
Familiar both with aerOnautics and arc
lies. The best balloon ever made will lose
b certain percentage of it's gas every day,
4bnd il is only a question of time when its
buoyancy will become insufficient TO sup
port itself, even after the ballast and
BONE Of the freight have been thrown
pverboari.
n All the probabilities are, therefore, that
Andree's ballon ceased its aerial fight four
pr five weeks ago. And yet it is too early
70 conclude that Andree and his two COM
@pani1ns are lost. Barring the accident
~ fire causing explosion of the hydrogen
within the big gas bag, or the sudden
Bending of the balloon, the aeronaut
Should not have encountered much diff
fulty in making a descent at about the
Fme the ascensional force of the balloon
Swas exhausted. Indeed, in calm weather
n dying balloon will make its own descent
p gently as to enable the voyagers to
put loose the car and save the precious
provisions, instruments and seldges, as
swel. as themselves.
The question, therefore, arises, where
sWas Andree when the ascensional force
~ MS balloon was spent, and what were
\ the weather conditions? If a storm was
Paging at this critical moment then the
{car may have been dashed to pieces
against the hummocks of ice. as it came
seoWn, and was dragged along, striking
DloW after bow and rising and falling
4dsaIh and again till the opening of the
\ awe caused a sufficient loss of gas to
onhS the whole contrivance to a rest. If
me descent was made in the open sea,
NeFen IN calm weather. the chances of es-
To Ior the three men were equally des-
A suppose, again, that the enforced des-
tH' was made within the Arctic sea, upon
H frozen surface. With ordinary good
o'lune and weather this descent could
made with safety for the men and the
tuipment. BY means of the drag ropes,
NE ice anchors and the valve cord the
oP 10 earth could be made with less diff
Ecui.y than upon the land, for up there
r. found no forests, buildings. telegraph
4mHes and other annoyances and sources
uahser which the descending aeronaut
Encounters in civilized regions But here,
sun, We are confronted with the same
leS'lon, where was this safe descent
\ ~ d, ~ was far within the Arctic basin. 500
@p miles from land, the venturesome
NrioIers are probably lost 1t would be
- N. 10 impossible for them with their
fitt'p,nent without draught dogs and in
Il otog boat only twelve feet long, to make
way 10 land if the Arctic winter set
~ TINS date, the middle of September.
ort Jsl Is gradually covering those far
~, 'HeIu attitudes with It's icy mantle. The
a or; - now very low not much above the
De,r In even at midday. Soon it viii disap-
r5 ,dUosether, and with the darkness
H. we cod upon them the explorers are
&ar1 onieSs they previously reached the
~ would not be impossible for them
4aol- lure ~ the cold out upon the shifting
5bet, IN IN me sleeping bags and furs, if only
-, uSU sufficient provisions to sustain
o through the winter. But they have
amo 'iIo unless they reach the land no
1I Luz Is to be had.
#ibili,+. u Andrees safety lies In the pos
way IIat when his descent was made
MOO tt e''ner upon the ice near land or
rel r le land itself. Two or three hum