Knowing the temperament of these heroes, who start with high courage towards the unknown, in order to try to lift the veil which still hides those mysterious regions from mortal eyes, and after having read the narrative of the wonderful voyage of Nansen and his companions, shall we despair?
Has not Andrée already been highly favoured by chance and accident? Has he not already, in his career as an aeronaut, escaped from dangerous situations in which many others, perhaps, would have perished? Let us hope, then, that his lucky star will not forsake him, and that fortune, which favours the brave, will bring back to us, victorious, the three savants who have a full claim to our unstinted admiration.
I may add that the preparatory stages of the expedition were very troublesome; obstacles of all kinds, bad weather, and, in particular, contrary winds, made two attempts futile. Only on the third attempt were the explorers able to leave terra firma finally and float in space towards this inaccessible pole, the search for which has already cost science so many illustrious lives.
In fact, a first expedition organized in June, 1896, went to Spitzbergen, at which place a balloon and all the plant necessary for its inflation were fitted up. But after a long wait for the south wind, which did not come, the explorers were compelled to return to Europe, as the season was too far advanced.
Now, before narrating the preliminaries of the second expedition and commencing the story of our voyage across the polar sea, it seems expedient briefly to recapitulate the history of the Swedish expedition to which we have had the honour to belong, and to give some details as to the construction of the aerial ship, and the work accomplished last year on Dane’s Island.
An undertaking bristling with so many difficulties could not possibly be carried through in an inhospitable country in a season which lasts barely two months; and this fact the reader will be able to appreciate later on.
H. L.