The Mystery of Andree

WAS THIS ANDREE'S FATE?

The Bodies of the Party and the Balloon Said to Have Been Found in Siberia.

Special Cable Despatch (sic) to The Sun.

London, Feb. 11. -- A despatch (sic) is published in the papers here this morning, dated Krasnoyarsk, capital of the Government of Yeniseisk, Siberia, to the effect that a mine owner at Monastyrshin has received information that a tribe of Tunguses, inhabiting the Taimur Pensinsula, told the chief of police of the district that they found on Jan. 1, between Komo (?) and the Pit River, in the Government of Yeniseisk, a kind of cabin made of cloth and cordage, apparently belonging to a balloon. Nearby were found the bodies of three men, the head of one being crushed in. A number of instruments were scattered around.

The Chief of Police has gone to investigate. It is believed that the bodies are those of Andrée and his two companions. The description of the cabin leads to the belief that it was the car attached to Andrée's balloon.

Dr. S. A. Andrée started in his balloon from Dane's Island, Spitzbergen, on July 11, 1897. His two companions were Dr. Ekholm (sic), an eminent meteorologist of Sweden, and Nils Strinberg (sic), a scientific man of Stockholm. His purpose was to drift across the North Pole. When last seen the balloon was going in a northeasterly direction, which might have taken it to the point in the extreme north of Siberia where it is said to have been found. It is interesting to note that on Sept. 17, 1897, despatches (sic) were received to the effect that the balloon had been seen in the same region where it is now reported to have been discovered. The present report may be either the sequel to that of September, 1897, or a repetition of it in another form.

Reproduced with permission: L.L. Lewis, Explorations (Newspaper Clippings Related to Polar Exploration), Vol. 1 & 2. University Archives, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence, KS.