Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-02

In yesterdays article in The star ps
DR.. Gunnar Horn, chief of the Nor
wegian exploration expedition, which
found the bodies of Solomon Augusta
Andree and his companions of the aero
nautical expedition of. 1897, the. Nor
wegian expedition to Franz JoSeph's
Land (now Fridtjof Nansen LAMB OF
1880 was described. It was told how
the motor sealer Bratvaag, under COM
mand of Peder Eliassen, sailed with the
scientific party, also intending TO hunt
whales, seals and ice bears, leaving
Aaleslund and sailing to Tromsoe.
From there the vessel proceeded toward
Franz Joseph Land, planning to visit
the islands between Spitzbergen and the
destination when it was found that ice
conditions would be unusually favorable.
Hunters Find Boat.
Putting in at one of these to permit
of scientific studies by the expeditions
botanist, the zoologist, and DR.. Horn, the
men noticed a school of walruses play
ing. In good humor. the men made
camp, and the next morning sent TWO
of the hunters for water. These men,
coming upon a little stream, were sur
prised to find a peculiar mound. In
vestigating, they found a boat protrud-
ing through the snow. In great excite
ment they found a boatsWains hook,
which they carried back to DR.. Horn.
On it was engraved "Andree's Polar
Expedition, 1896" EliaSsen, informed
of the discovery, appreciated at once
its Significance and reported 1t TO DR..
Horn, who Immediately led party to
the spot, equipped to bring away every
thing pertaining to the Inflated party.
In the camp were found the boat,
a sledge, part of tent and other
articles Of the dead men, and finally
the. body of Andree himself and one OF
the men. Andree had died leaning
against a mountain slope. Near MIN
were an oil stove in good order and
gun. In an inner pocket was Andree'S
diary, frozen and with but few pages
written on. Other articles were also
dug from the ice.
BY DIR. GUNNAR HORN.
ABOARD MOTOR SHIP BRAT
VAAG, Skjoer Island, Norway, Septem-
Der 2 (By Wireless to the Associated
PresS) After we got. the dead loose
and transported down to the beach; We
began the dif1icult job of getting the
boat free. 1t lay slightly on its side,
so that the right side was quite
buried. The other side protruded' and
was half destroyed. "-''~
During the digging it became evil
dent that the boat was resting on
another sledge to which it was well
bound. 1t had four. cigar-shaped pill
T., L. ~ nat tINn yrrka
thing loose we first had to move the
boat and then the sledge.
This sledge, as well as the other
one, had metal runners. When we
got everything free, We began to trans
port our find the $50 yards down to
the beach.
The ice-filled boat soon became too
heavy, and its canvas covering was
torn to pieces. Therefore we put five
oars under the boat and with f1ve
men on each side We tried to carry 1t.
But this method also proved inef-
fectual One of the oars broke. 1t was
not until we had removed more ice
from inside that we managed to make
progress. Then We went carefully to-
ward the beach with what, in more
than one sense, was heavy burden.
Before we left the spot we built a
He
just behind the camp. 1t is easy to see
and will make it possible for future
visitors to find the place without trou-
BILE.
In the cairn we put a bottle with
note written in Norwegian and Eng
lish. The note said that 1t was here
that the Norwegian Franz Josef Land
expedition" found the remains of the
Swedish Andree expedition.
Everything that had been brought
down to the beach was then carried
on board one of our walruS hunting
boats. The boat became so heavily load
ed that it was only few inches above
water level.
The boat was then towed by my
motor boat and an hour later we
reached the Bratvaag.
Work Finally Done.
We put Andree's boat on one of the
boat decks, and thus after "a hours of
labor our work was finally finished. 1t
was certainly fortunate that we had
such fine calm weather while we lay at
White Island. Because of the danger
Gus nature of the coast. one can only
go ashore when the weather is quite
calm.
If there had been wind or waves when
we came up under the island there
would have been no question of going
on land. Therefore. we had to take adj
vantage Of the calm weather so as not
to be interrupted before we finished.
As soon as the find was made our
walrus hunt was stopped and digging
hastily begun. 1t is therefore possible
that the work was not done so scrupu-
lousy and neatly as might have been
pf1f fo n
consideration, I can say that every
thing was done that could possibly be
done to get the work performed thor
oughly and conscientiously
Added to this dificulty about weather
was the fact that the greater part of
our find was buried In the ice, which,