Cheyne
proposed a method of reaching the Pole by means of triple balloons. A
similar scheme was advocated in yet more serious earnest by M. Hermite
in the early eighties.

Some ten years later than this M. S. A. Andree, having obtained
sufficient assistance, took up the idea with the determined intention
of pushing it to a practical issue. He had already won his spurs as
an aeronaut, as may be briefly told. In October, 1893, when making an
ascent for scientific purposes, his balloon got carried out over the
Baltic. It may have been the strength of the wind that had taken him by
surprise; but, there being now no remedy, it was clearly the speed and
persistence of the wind that alone could save him. If a chance vessel
could not, or would not, "stand by," he must make the coast of Finland
or fall in the sea, and several times the fall in the sea seemed
imminent as his balloon commenced dropping. This threatened danger
induced him to cast away his anchor, after which the verge of the
Finland shore was nearly reached, when a change of wind began to carry
him along the rocky coast, just as night was setting in.

Recognising his extreme danger, Andree stood on the edge of the car,
with a bag of ballast ready for emergencies. He actually passed over
an island, on which was a building with a light; but failed to effect
a landing, and so fell in the sea on the farther side; but, the balloon
presently righting itself, Andree, now greatly exhausted, made his last
effort, and as he rose over the next cliff jumped for his life. It was
past 7 p.m. when he found himself once again on firm ground, but with a
sprained leg and with no one within call. Seeking what shelter he could,
he lived out the long night, and, being now scarce able to stand, took
off his clothes and waved them for a signal. This signal was not seen,
yet shortly a boat put off from an island--the same that he had passed
the evening before--and rowed towards him. The boatman overnight had
seen a strange sail sweeping over land and sea, and he had come in quest
of it, bringing timely succour to the castaway.

Briefly stated, Andree's grand scheme was to convey a suitable balloon,
with means for inflating it, as also all necessary equipment, as far
towards the Pole as a ship could proceed, and thence, waiting for a
favourable wind, to sail by sky until the region of the Pole should be
crossed, and some inhabited country reached beyond. The balloon was
to be kept near