xplanes:

The Andrée Expedition to the North Pole, 1897

From the journal of S A Andrée:

“Fog still intense. Everything is dripping. We have not had any sleep or been permitted any rest from the repeated slamming against the ice. We probably cannot stand it much longer.

The balloon sways, twists, and rises and sinks incessantly. It wishes to be off but cannot. The rattling of the guidelines and the flapping of the sales are the only sounds heard. No bird is seen or heard and so I suppose there is no land near.

Monotonous touch new touch another touch… The balloon rose to a great height but we opened both valves and at six-twenty-nine we were down again.

We jumped out of the balloon. Worn out and famished but determined to set out from the point where we now are. On foot.”

After 65 hours in the air, the Örnen finally succumbed to heavy winds and ice, and was brought down on pack ice, almost 300 miles from where they started from. The explorers camped here for a week, and then had to make a decision in which direction to set off on foot to find supplies: South back to Spitsbergen, or East to Franz Josef Land..

(Extract via, photo via)

Go read the whole amazing, tragic story and see the photographs and wow 1897 wow.