Andrée's Balloon
Three Swedes set off for the North Pole by balloon in 1897 and vanished. Thirty-three years later their camp, and their film, were found.
What was reported
On 11 July 1897, the Swedish engineer S. A. Andrée and two companions lifted off from Svalbard in a hydrogen balloon, the Örnen, hoping to drift over the North Pole. Apart from a message carried by a pigeon, they were never heard from again.
In August 1930, a Norwegian expedition found their last camp on Kvitøya, a remote Arctic island. Their diaries told how the balloon came down on the ice after three days and they walked for nearly three months. Undeveloped film from their camera was developed, revealing photographs of the journey.
Explanations offered
Exactly how the three men died is still debated, with theories including cold, illness from eating undercooked polar bear meat, and exhaustion. The photographs, developed 33 years after they were taken, are among the most haunting images of polar exploration.
- When
- Launched 11 July 1897
- Where
- Kvitøya, Svalbard, Norway
- Witnesses
- The finders in 1930, and the explorers' own diaries
- Status
- Partly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.