scientific fame, had engaged themselves as common sailors, so deep was
their interest in the object for which the _Virgo_ sailed. The principal
person on board was Herr Solomon Auguste Andree, who, with two
companions, Dr. Erkholm and Dr. Strindberg, was bent on making an
adventurous attempt to reach the North Pole by means of a balloon. The
_Virgo_ was therefore steering for the lonely shores of Spitzbergen, six
hundred miles south of the Pole. Here the balloon would be inflated to
carry Herr Andree and his companions (it was hoped) over the rest of
that pathless, snowbound journey. The balloon itself, at present, lay
carefully packed in its berth, together with the car and the apparatus
for making the necessary gas. It had been manufactured in France a month
before, and while on exhibition for four days at the Champ de Mars, had
been seen by thirty thousand visitors.

But the very finest balloon in the world could not sail against the
wind, and, though on the 27th July it was inflated and quite ready for
flight, the north wind blew steadily down from the Pole as though to
say, 'You are not wanted here! You are not wanted here!'

Herr Andree and his friends waited patiently for three weeks, and then,
as it still blew from the north, he ordered the gas to be let out and
the silk bag packed for a return to the south. The captain of the
_Virgo_ said that he feared, if they stayed longer, his ship would be
frozen in. The shed which they had erected on Dane's Island was left
standing for use another time, together with the machinery for making
the gas.

Nine months later, on May 30th, 1897, the _Svensksund_ (a ship lent to
the expedition by the King of Sweden) landed Andree once more at Dane's
Island, and once more he filled his air-ship with gas. This time it had
been considerably increased in size, and measured sixty-six feet in
diameter, with room for one hundred and seventy-six thousand cubic feet
of gas. The globe was made of bands of silk eighteen inches wide,
varying in thickness according to the strains it would have to bear. It
was provided with two additional valves and an arrangement called a
'rending flap.' This flap was intended to avoid bumping, when, at the
end of the voyage, the aeronauts would descend for the last time. A
rope, carrying a small grapnel at one end, was at the other end attached
to the 'flap.' The moment the grapnel was thrown out and caught in the
ground, the tightened rope would tear a