On 18 October, 1884, Salomon August Andrée was born in Gränna, Sweden.
The incredible story of S. A. Andrée is one that I have only recently come across. I won’t say much about it here. I will simply leave you, our readers, with some suggested pages to read yourselves. All I’ll say is that the story involves a balloon, very cold places and some mental Swedes. It tells us much about the enthusiasm and possible delusions created by the Age of Exploration, if you wish to call it that.
Salomon August Andrée
I’d suggest starting with this article written by Alan Bellows, founder/designer/head writer/managing editor of Damn Interesting ©:
https://www.damninteresting.com/andree-and-the-aeronauts-voyage-to-the-top-of-the-world/
For the photographs and recovered items of the expedition, see these next links:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/perspektivetmuseum/sets/72157649810581093
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tekniskamuseet/albums/72157628414183521
Wilkinson, A. The Ice Balloon. London, 2013. Penguin Random House.
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/206792/the-ice-balloon-by-alec-wilkinson/9780307741868/
The Ice Balloon at the Book Depository.
http://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ice-Balloon-Alec-Wilkinson/9780007460038?ref=grid-view
Alec Wilkinson, author of The Ice Balloon, talks about explorer S.A. Andree’s ill-fated balloon excursion to the North Pole in 1897.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BetupfuKL7o
Lachambre, H. & Machuron, A. Andrée’s Balloon Expedition in Search of the North Pole. New York, 1898. Internet Archive.
https://archive.org/details/andreesballoone00machgoog
Christòpheren Nomura, baritone, and Eric Malson, piano perform Dominick Argento’s 1980 song cycle ‘The Andrée Expedition’, recorded live in 2001. Written for Swedish baritone Håkan Hagegård, the songs are settings of passages from the diaries and notebooks of the expedition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS-flDvW85Y
