In August 1930, the Norwegian ship Bratvaag, carrying a party of scientists and seal-hunters, moored off the tiny Arctic island of Kvitoya. Few humans had ever set foot there — it is extremely remote and usually surrounded by thick pack ice. A couple of sailors began to explore and stumbled on a boat, protruding from a snow drift. Inside they found books, shotguns and instruments. Outside were human remains.
One corpse was wearing a jacket with a monogram that revealed its owner's identity: S.A. Andree, the Swedish explorer who, with two companions, had set off 33 years earlier, on July 11, 1897, in a hydrogen balloon to discover the North Pole. The men's diaries showed they had fallen well short of their goal and had perished in October that year, trying to make their way back to civilization.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.