1 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. This is the time of year when the 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:08,160 Speaker 1: North Pole is on a lot of folks minds. And 3 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:11,320 Speaker 1: to be very clear, this Saturday Classic is not a 4 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:16,239 Speaker 1: Christmas episode at all that it is about an attempt 5 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: to get to the North Pole. It is in fact 6 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: the polar expedition of s. A. Andre, which was made 7 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: by Balloon in eighteen seventy nine. And this episode came 8 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:33,840 Speaker 1: out on April, So enjoy. Welcome to Stuff you missed 9 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: in History Class, a production of I Heart Radio. Hello 10 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly fro and I'm 11 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: Tracy Vie Wilson, and uh. Many of the history makers 12 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: of the world were people who were considered a little 13 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: bit mad by their contemporaries. You know, it's usually the 14 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: people with great bravado that do something a little bit 15 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: crazy and end up kind of changing the world or 16 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: making some amazing discovery. Today's topic, which features a man 17 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: and his expedition, it definitely falls into that category. But 18 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: the unmet goal of the plan has left a lot 19 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,479 Speaker 1: of room for debate about how he's defined and how 20 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: this mission is defined. This is going to feature some 21 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: high adventure, some really wild courageousness and just positivity in 22 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: the face of what I think would break most people. 23 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: Uh So, we're actually just going to jump right in 24 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: and not really set it up a whole lot, and 25 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: we're actually going to start sort of at the end 26 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: of the story, so that end whe we're starting as 27 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: a discovery. White Island, which is known as Kfiteo in Norwegian, 28 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: is an island in the small Bard Archipelago, and spall 29 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: Bard means cold coast, which makes sense because all these 30 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: islands sit in the Arctic Ocean. White Island is normally 31 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: completely covered by ice except for two little points of rock, 32 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: but in there was a really warm spring in summer, 33 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: more of the island than normal was exposed, and because 34 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: so much of the ice on White Island had melted, 35 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: a Norwegian sloop called the brat Vague, which was on 36 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:15,520 Speaker 1: a combination scientific slash ceiling mission, was actually able to 37 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: stop at White Island, and during the sloop's time there, 38 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: a geologist named Dr Gunnar Horn and his team followed 39 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: these walruses that they had spotted on the island. But 40 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: while they were following these walruses, they found, much to 41 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: their surprise, something that they had absolutely not been looking for. 42 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: Which was a diary. The book was pretty wet, it 43 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: had been sitting under the ice as the ice melted, 44 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: and parts of it were stuck together on the opening 45 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: page where the words the sledge journey. And so when 46 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: the geologist Horn took this book back to Peter Eliason, 47 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: who was the captain of the Bradwag, he discovered that 48 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: two of the seilers that have been traveling with them 49 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: had also made a discovery. While they were exploring White Island. 50 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,080 Speaker 1: They first found a metal lid like to a what 51 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: had possibly been to a tin of food, and that 52 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: kind of gave them pause. And then, uh, not far 53 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: from there, they found a canvas boat, and this boat 54 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: had a hook, and the hook was stamped Andre's Polar Expedition. 55 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: It's actually p O L period x e XP period. 56 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: They explored the area a little more and quickly found 57 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: a lot more stuff, including a headless body which was 58 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: reduced to little more than a skeleton. It's clothing was 59 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: monogrammed with the letter A. And then they all kind 60 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: of put the pieces together. While the men aboard the 61 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: brat Bog had landed in White Island to study science 62 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: and hunt seals, what they had actually found was the 63 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: remains of a long lost ballooning expedition which had tried 64 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: to make its way to the North Pole thirty years before, 65 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: and so that man that they found they found others 66 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: as well. But his name was Solomon August Andre and 67 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: he was born in Grenna, Sweden eighteen fifty four. Just 68 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: for very brief on him as a young man, when 69 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 1: he was only sixteen, his father died. He became very 70 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: very attached to his mother. They were already close, but 71 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: that deepened when his dad passed away and he attended 72 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology and studied engineering. In eighteen 73 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: seventy six, then twenty two year old Andre traveled by 74 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:25,359 Speaker 1: steamer to the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia. This is 75 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,279 Speaker 1: a journey that would turn out to be really momentous 76 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: for Andre because while he was reading about winds during 77 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:32,839 Speaker 1: this journey to the Atlantic, he was inspired to think 78 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: about balloon travel. And when he reached Philadelphia, he actually 79 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,840 Speaker 1: got a job at the Swedish pavilion at the expo 80 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: as a janitor, and he took advantage of his location 81 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 1: while he was there by visiting a Philadelphia resident by 82 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: the name of John Wise and Wise was really famous 83 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: for his work in ballooning, and because Wise had flown 84 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:57,000 Speaker 1: in all manner of weather conditions uh and he had 85 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: walked away from virtually every possible type of ash that 86 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: a balloon could have, Andre felt like this man kind 87 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: of served as proof that ballooning was a perfectly safe 88 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:11,840 Speaker 1: mode of travel. The two became friendly, and Andrea requested 89 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: the chance to accompany Wise in his balloon, which the 90 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: experience balloonist agreed to do. But the planned day for 91 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: their trip, which was a Fourth of July celebration, wound 92 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: up having really high winds. The balloon collapsed before the 93 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: trip could even start, and before they could reschedule their outing, 94 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: Andre got sick and decided to go back to Sweden, 95 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: and once he got home, he was still obsessed with 96 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,720 Speaker 1: this balloon idea, so he decided that he needed to 97 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: raise funds to purchase his own balloon uh and he 98 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: did this by setting up a machine shop, but that, 99 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,600 Speaker 1: unfortunately was not really a great money making plan. He 100 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: ended up in a great deal of debt, and he 101 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: really found the whole idea of running a retail business 102 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,919 Speaker 1: UH really unpleasant to him. He didn't like marketing. He 103 00:05:57,920 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: didn't like the mode of marketing that was popular at 104 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: the time, which was talking trash about the competitors. He 105 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: found the whole thing distasteful. It just wasn't a good 106 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: fit for him, so he closed up his shop and 107 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,479 Speaker 1: he still had never had a balloon ride. When he 108 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 1: was twenty eight, Andre participated in the first International Polar 109 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:18,839 Speaker 1: Year as part of the Swedish delegation. Austrian explorer Carl 110 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 1: wait Precked had inspired the International Polar Year, being certain 111 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: that there were meteorological and geophysical problems that could only 112 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: be solved by a cooperative effort that was aimed at 113 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: gathering and studying information from the Earth's poles. So this 114 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: was actually a huge event. Eleven different countries sent delegations 115 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: to work on these coordinated expeditions that were part of 116 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: this first International Polar Year, and Andre's group went to 117 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:50,600 Speaker 1: the Svalbard island of Spitzbergen, and one of the experiments 118 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: that was conducted there actually involved Andre being confined indoors 119 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:56,599 Speaker 1: for an entire month to see if his skin color 120 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: would change, and it did. It took on this yellowish 121 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:02,840 Speaker 1: huge that had been seen in other people after they 122 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:04,840 Speaker 1: had been through an Arctic winter. Prior to that, they 123 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:07,480 Speaker 1: weren't sure if that was something going on with their 124 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,080 Speaker 1: vision having been altered and people just looked that way, 125 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: or if there was actually something happening in the skin 126 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: that changed its its hue. Uh And then do in 127 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:20,240 Speaker 1: large part to Andrea's work in aero electricity, the Swedish 128 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: delegation was really recognized for the impressive results of their 129 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: work as part of this bigger cooperative effort. And after 130 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 1: this expedition was over, though Andrea went to a fairly 131 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: mundane job working for the Swedish Patent Office. He did, however, 132 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: finally get to take a balloon ride, and that's what 133 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 1: we will talk about after a brief word from a sponsor. 134 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: So despite the fact that Andrea had been fascinated with 135 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: balloons since he was only twenty two, he had not 136 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: actually gotten to ride in one, and that didn't even 137 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: happen until he was third the eight So for sixteen 138 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 1: years he had kind of been pining for this experience 139 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: and his eventual escort in this was what's the man 140 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,760 Speaker 1: who's called Norway's first balloon skipper and his name was 141 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: Captain Francesco Chetti, which I know is an Italian name. 142 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: He was of Italian family, but he was Norwegian. I'm 143 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: not sure how the Norwegian language shift would have changed 144 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: the pronunciation of his name, so we're going with the 145 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: Italian version. Uh. Chetty was an interesting figure in his 146 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: own right. He was also a mind reader and the 147 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: starvation artist, where he would go without food for long 148 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: times as these big sort of public stunts. Jenny was 149 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: kind of annoyed by uh by Andrea's behavior during this 150 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: first outing. He called it quote disagreeably calm. According to 151 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 1: Andrea's own account, he was trying to be completely aware 152 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:51,280 Speaker 1: of his mental and physiological responses to the situation, noting 153 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 1: that while he didn't consciously feel any fear, his body 154 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:58,679 Speaker 1: acted in ways that suggests that he did unconsciously feel 155 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: some fear going on. He found himself, for example, tightly 156 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,959 Speaker 1: gripping the ropes on the balloon. He took only one 157 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: more flight with Jetty before deciding that he ought to 158 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 1: get a balloon for himself, and he was actually able 159 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: to finance the purchase through a Swedish science fund. Uh. 160 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: This was basically a fun set up for people to 161 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: use money UH if they were going to work on 162 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: science projects. Or things that would better the Swedish people 163 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:23,960 Speaker 1: as a whole. And so once he had his balloon, 164 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: he took nine solo trips in it, and each time 165 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: he was really scientific about carefully detailing his observations. Remember 166 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: his education was engineering, so he was a really excellent NoteTaker. 167 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: And on one trip he actually ascended to fourteen thousand, 168 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty feet. That's four thousand, three forty 169 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: three meters. So, for contexts, cabin pressure and modern airplanes 170 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 1: is set to correspond to what humans would experience up 171 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 1: to seven thousand feet or a little over that. Uh. 172 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: So he was basically flying in this balloon without protection 173 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,240 Speaker 1: at twice the altitude that safety regulations say we should 174 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 1: aim for in terms of keeping people comfortable and safe. 175 00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: And he described this during this journey a lightheadedness and 176 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: a terrible headache and a faint quote a faint singing 177 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: noise on the left side of my skull. So, for 178 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: another comparison to a previous episode, we talked about Mount Everest, 179 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 1: which is twenty nine thousand feet. Uh. However, those most 180 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: people that Summit Everest are using oxygen tanks to help 181 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 1: them along. This is a case where there was none such. 182 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: They're also acclimating on the way up, They're not just 183 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 1: descending in a balloon all that way. I'm surprised he 184 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: didn't get the Benz. Yeah, he was a resilient dude, 185 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 1: so maybe he did and we just don't know. So Anyway, 186 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: on another of his trips on his balloon, which he 187 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: named this Veia, he tested out the use of drag 188 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: ropes and a sail to try to steer the vessel, 189 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:57,720 Speaker 1: and these would eventually become important as part of his 190 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: eventual plan to explore the Arctic. And after his ninth trip, 191 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 1: UH he sold his balloon to a museum. It was 192 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: an outdoor museum where they would have space to put 193 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:11,680 Speaker 1: him and his engineering background and his wind study and 194 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:15,800 Speaker 1: his experiences in ballooning had basically given him a really 195 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 1: big idea. At this point, a lot of explorers were 196 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 1: totally focused on the North Pole. Numerous countries had launched 197 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 1: missions to go north, and of the thousand men who 198 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: had tried to get to the poll, seven and fifty 199 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:33,319 Speaker 1: one had died, so UH, most of them it was 200 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:35,599 Speaker 1: really serious business and being the first to get to 201 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: the North Pole was going to be a significant point 202 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:42,400 Speaker 1: of pride for whatever country could claim it and so. 203 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:46,559 Speaker 1: On February, when he was forty years old, so this 204 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:51,400 Speaker 1: is only two years into his ballooning experience, Andrea addressed 205 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,920 Speaker 1: the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and during that speech 206 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 1: he outlined his very ambitious plan to travel to the 207 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: North Pole via balloon. And a few months after his 208 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,680 Speaker 1: talk at the Royal Swedish Academy, andre gave basically the 209 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:07,840 Speaker 1: same talk to the sixth International Geographical Congress in London 210 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,200 Speaker 1: in the hopes of getting UH funding in the form 211 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: of a little less than forty thousand dollars worth of money. 212 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:16,360 Speaker 1: I think I've seen it listed as around thirty eight thousand, 213 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 1: traveling by balloon and leaving from Danes Island in this 214 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:23,559 Speaker 1: Baal Barn archipelago. He expected to go north for about 215 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:26,480 Speaker 1: forty three hours to reach the poll. The balloon that 216 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:28,840 Speaker 1: he traveled in would be outfitted with the drag ropes 217 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 1: and sale that we talked about before to try to 218 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:35,800 Speaker 1: enable steering and control of the balloon. The next part 219 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:39,080 Speaker 1: of his plan involved crossing over the pole and then 220 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: continuing over that point two travels for several additional days, 221 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: and his intention was that he would eventually land in 222 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:49,079 Speaker 1: Asia or perhaps Alaska, depending on how the wind moved him, 223 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:52,520 Speaker 1: and once he landed, he planned to travel over land 224 00:12:52,559 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 1: on foot until he found civilization so he could arrange 225 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 1: for travel back to Sweden. It may surprise you to 226 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:01,079 Speaker 1: learn that Andre's outlook as he described this whole plan 227 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: was positive and enthusiastic, even when talking about the possible 228 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 1: obstacles he might encounter once he got the balloon on 229 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: the ground and tried to find his way home. He 230 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,319 Speaker 1: could use waterways to travel, he said, And he seemed 231 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: really confident that even if he landed in a desert, 232 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: he would surely find vegetation and shelter, and surely any 233 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,800 Speaker 1: people he would encounter would give him directions or help 234 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: him back to civilization. He really was a positive thinker. 235 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:29,680 Speaker 1: I gotta give him props. He felt like this plan 236 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 1: to reach the pole was going to succeed where others failed, 237 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 1: and that was because he was going to circumvent all 238 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,000 Speaker 1: of those perils of traveling by sleder on foot by 239 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 1: taking to the air. What may have really been the 240 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,959 Speaker 1: moment where Andre won over the crowd was actually something 241 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 1: of a job that he made at One of the 242 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:50,679 Speaker 1: men who tried to contest this plan, American General Adolphus Greeley, 243 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 1: made his opinion known that he thought this plan was 244 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,640 Speaker 1: foolish and had not been thought out. And Greeley, he 245 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:01,120 Speaker 1: may recognize that name, had been commanding officer of an 246 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 1: expedition to the Arctic Circle in one that was the 247 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,200 Speaker 1: Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, and it was intended to gather 248 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:11,199 Speaker 1: scientific information about the Arctic and to set a new 249 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 1: record for the farthest point north that had been reached 250 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:18,360 Speaker 1: by explorers. And this expedition met with great tragedy. The 251 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: crew ended up stranding in the Arctic for years, and 252 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: all but Greeley and five other men died, so the 253 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:27,320 Speaker 1: majority of his crew did not survive that In response 254 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: to Greeley's objections to this three man balloon plan, Andre said, 255 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 1: I risk three lives and what you call a fool 256 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: hearty attempt, and you risked how many a shipload? So 257 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: as Andre left the stage, the entire hall cheered him, 258 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 1: and in the end, most of the money that he 259 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 1: needed for his polar balloon came from none other than 260 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 1: Alfred Noble and Sweden's King Oscar the second, before we 261 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 1: get to the exciting adventure of the expedition itself, let's 262 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: have one more brief sponsor break. Yeah, the break. They're 263 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:01,840 Speaker 1: a little close together, but that's because I want to 264 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:04,840 Speaker 1: keep the whole expedition all in one piece. So we'll 265 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 1: have a quick break and then we'll come right back 266 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 1: to it. So once he had his funding secured, Andre 267 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: commissioned a Parisian built balloon which was made from layers 268 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 1: and layers of varnished silk, and this balloon was named 269 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 1: the Eagle. The hydrogen balloon was on feet thirty meters tall, 270 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 1: and to protect this impressive inflatable as it was ready 271 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: for flight as they filled it with air and got 272 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: everything ready, he also had a house built for it 273 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: on Danes Island, which uh I believe was five stories tall. 274 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 1: And this custom house actually had a felt lined interior 275 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 1: so that anything the balloon touched would not damage it 276 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 1: and one entire side of the house could be quickly 277 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,200 Speaker 1: removed when the balloon was ready to go, and the 278 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,040 Speaker 1: windows were made of gelatine like it was basically everything 279 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: soft that won't hurt this balloon. Andre chose two other 280 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: men to complete his crew for this ambitious plan. These 281 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:07,280 Speaker 1: were Nils Strendberg and Nils holm Strandberg, who was twenty three, 282 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:10,120 Speaker 1: taught physics as an assistant professor, and he was also 283 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: the cousin of the famed playwright August Strenberg at home, 284 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: was the oldest of the team, at age forty seven. 285 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,320 Speaker 1: He had led the Spitzberg and expedition that Andre had 286 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 1: participated in, and he was an experienced meteorologist. And so 287 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: for several weeks in eighteen ninety six, the eager Andrea 288 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: and his companions attempted to begin their journey, but they 289 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: were just constantly thwarted by in their efforts by unfavorable 290 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 1: conditions and to make matters worse, as Winter said on et, 291 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: Holme left the team. He didn't think this was such 292 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: a good idea after all, and he bowed out. Fortunately, 293 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,440 Speaker 1: Andre already had an alternate at the ready that was 294 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 1: Mute Frankel. He was an athletic civil engineer and was 295 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: twenty seven years old. But his troubles were not over. 296 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:57,480 Speaker 1: Andre's mother died suddenly as they were preparing to set 297 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: off in eight seven. While Andre seemed kind of placid 298 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: to those around him, he was really deeply melancholy at 299 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:07,680 Speaker 1: the loss of his mother. He wrote in his journal quote, 300 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:09,920 Speaker 1: the only thread which bound me to the wish to 301 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: live is cut off. Yeah. She was really his only 302 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: like close relationship. He mentioned at one point when he 303 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:21,200 Speaker 1: was younger that he really just decided he was never 304 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,680 Speaker 1: going to have romantic interests because he knew he wanted 305 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:27,160 Speaker 1: to become, you know, an explorer and do great things 306 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: once he had married this idea of ballooning, and he 307 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: didn't ever want a woman to make the tearful, you know, 308 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:36,479 Speaker 1: request to him to please don't go and do this 309 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: thing and him having to say, no, I'm doing it. 310 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: So his mother was really it really was his one 311 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,920 Speaker 1: tether and so without that he was sort of starting 312 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:50,159 Speaker 1: off with a bit of heartbreak. And finally, after they 313 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,400 Speaker 1: had waited for the perfect conditions and the winter had passed, 314 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 1: the team was finally able to leave Danes Island on 315 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: July eleven. And I sort of of this, but the 316 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:04,280 Speaker 1: last words that Andrea was heard to utter by the 317 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:08,200 Speaker 1: onlookers were what's that as the balloon had struck something 318 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: as it headed out on its expedition, Maybe unsurprisingly, giving 319 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,840 Speaker 1: the inauspiciousness of those words, almost immediately there were problems. 320 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:19,959 Speaker 1: The drag ropes were pulling the basket down into the 321 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: water and they had to be cut. The three men 322 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:27,119 Speaker 1: aboard also quickly dumped about four and fifty pounds or 323 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:30,959 Speaker 1: two ms of sandbag ballast to try to lift their 324 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,240 Speaker 1: transport out of the icy ocean. As the vessel and 325 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:37,439 Speaker 1: its team, who were still struggling with these problems, vanished 326 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:39,920 Speaker 1: out of the sight of the onlookers. They were traveling 327 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,440 Speaker 1: north at about twenty miles an hour, which is about 328 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:45,400 Speaker 1: thirty two kilo an hour, and the ropes that were 329 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: designed to help them steer we're now gone. Yea, so 330 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 1: they were drag ropes. Not a great idea. You don't 331 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,359 Speaker 1: often see a balloon tootling around with a rope dragging 332 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: from it to the ground, and there are reasons for that. 333 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:07,000 Speaker 1: Uh So what happened to the team next was actually 334 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: put together from the journals which were found in h 335 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 1: and While all of the men wrote records of this 336 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 1: whole wacky adventure, Andrea not surprisingly was the most prolific 337 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,720 Speaker 1: writer of the group. The first night of their journey 338 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: seemed to be really incredibly joyous. Andre marveled at seeing 339 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: the vast expanses of ice, which were dotted by polar bears. 340 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:29,239 Speaker 1: In the morning after the first night, the team had 341 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:32,800 Speaker 1: breakfast and coffee, and they traveled through some hazy conditions 342 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:37,120 Speaker 1: that were just above freezing. And as the day stretched 343 00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:41,160 Speaker 1: into the afternoon and that misty weather continued, the basket 344 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: dropped and it bounced repeatedly on the ice, as often 345 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:47,000 Speaker 1: as eight times in thirty minutes. According to their records. 346 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: They had lost enough hydrogen that they could not stay aloft. 347 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:54,640 Speaker 1: But despite this bumpy going, the team all stayed really upbeat. 348 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:00,800 Speaker 1: While taking a watch as his comrades rested, Andre wrote, 349 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,360 Speaker 1: it is not a little strange to be floating here 350 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: above the polar sea, to be the first that have 351 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,880 Speaker 1: floated here in a balloon. How soon, I wonder Shaw 352 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: we have successors. We think we can well face death 353 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: having done what we have done. Isn't it all perhaps 354 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:18,920 Speaker 1: the expression of an extremely strong sense of individuality which 355 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:21,199 Speaker 1: cannot bear the thought of living and dying like a 356 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:25,800 Speaker 1: man in the ranks, forgotten by coming generations? Is this ambition? 357 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: And as that bumpy ride continued, uh seasickness kind of 358 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,480 Speaker 1: hit Strindberg that he was really getting quite ill, so 359 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: they dumped a great many of their sandbags so that 360 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:40,719 Speaker 1: they could get enough lift that they would stop thumping 361 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: on the ice. But as the third morning of their 362 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: trip came on, the basket once again dropped as the 363 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:50,120 Speaker 1: conditions turned even fog gear and then it suddenly rose 364 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 1: high in the air as it warmed up a little bit, 365 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 1: and the team released some gas so that they would 366 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:57,199 Speaker 1: drop down a little bit again, but they were just 367 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: having trouble regulating their place in the air, and after 368 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: fighting with the situation for a while and growing a 369 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 1: little more frustrated, they finally decided to land on the ice, 370 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:08,640 Speaker 1: and they did so at around eight am, and at 371 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:11,680 Speaker 1: this point they had been traveling for sixty five hours 372 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,640 Speaker 1: and they were more than five hundred miles or about 373 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: eight hundred kilometers into their ride for the next week, 374 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,200 Speaker 1: the three men plotted what their next move should be. 375 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 1: They had, as part of their preparation, made plans for 376 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:27,440 Speaker 1: various possible events, and this included packing. Sledges are very 377 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 1: heavy sleds for each of the men to pull, so 378 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: the trio spent their planning time carefully selecting what they 379 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: would load onto these sleds, which they pulled using ropes 380 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: that were wrapped around their shoulders like harnesses. These sledges 381 00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:43,480 Speaker 1: weighed hundreds of pounds, so this was really no small task, 382 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,719 Speaker 1: and sometimes the men would all three pull one sled 383 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:48,359 Speaker 1: and then go back and do the same with the 384 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,359 Speaker 1: next one, and then bring up the third. And they 385 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,320 Speaker 1: had also arranged to have depots set up in two 386 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: places in the events that they needed them. The first 387 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:00,680 Speaker 1: was on Franz Joseph Lynn, which was part of a 388 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,159 Speaker 1: Russian archipelago, and the second, smaller depot that they had 389 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,880 Speaker 1: arranged was on the Seven Islands, and that's back part 390 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:10,680 Speaker 1: of this small Bard archipelago. After they had packed their sleds, 391 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 1: the first men set out towards the Russian depot. The 392 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: men managed to shoot several polar bears along the way 393 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: and prep them to use as food. Picking their way 394 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 1: through the ice flows was really treacherous and exhausting, but 395 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: the men all seemed to bolster one another. They did 396 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,680 Speaker 1: fall into the water from time to time, though, and 397 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,919 Speaker 1: the average temperature stayed around thirty two degrees fahrenheit or 398 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: zero celsius, although it did drop from time to time, 399 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,919 Speaker 1: so I would imagine being in wet clothes. I wouldn't 400 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 1: even imagine. I would know for certain being in wet 401 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 1: clothes in those conditions would be very treacherous, it would 402 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:48,160 Speaker 1: and miserable. But really, all their diaries are so sort 403 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: of like positive, it's it's almost freaky. I wonder if 404 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: it's one reason. I wonder if it's because hypothermia was 405 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:59,399 Speaker 1: affecting their their attitudes. Maybe we'll get we'll get to 406 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,959 Speaker 1: one reason why they might have been happy despite their 407 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 1: seemingly miserable circumstances. Um So, several days into their trek 408 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:10,960 Speaker 1: towards friends Joseph Land, there were two major setbacks. First, 409 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: Frankel started to experience snow blindness. So this is known 410 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: clinically as photocarrotitis, and snow blindness basically occurs when the 411 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:26,200 Speaker 1: cornea of the eye becomes burned by ultra violet b rays. Uh. 412 00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:28,199 Speaker 1: This happens a lot in cold areas with lots of 413 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,399 Speaker 1: ice and snow because it reflects off the snow up 414 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,080 Speaker 1: into your eyes even when your head is down. Second, 415 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:35,399 Speaker 1: they became aware that they had been walking east on 416 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: the ice, but that same ice was actually drifting west 417 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: at a much faster pace than they were making. So 418 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: they had been struggling all that time with the sledges 419 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,080 Speaker 1: and working out all the pushing and pulling, and they 420 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:51,000 Speaker 1: really had made no headway whatsoever. So by August four 421 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: they abandoned this plan to travel east to the Russian Archipelago, 422 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:58,240 Speaker 1: and instead they decided they would switch directions and head 423 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:02,399 Speaker 1: to the Seven Islands depot. To make matters worse, the 424 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: temperature started to drop by several degrees, and fortunately they 425 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,560 Speaker 1: did have food supplies, including butter, bread, and biscuits, as 426 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:14,120 Speaker 1: well as water. They supplemented this with polar bear meat 427 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: when they could, and they even tried eating the bear 428 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: meat raw, as well as making blood pancakes out of 429 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,240 Speaker 1: bears blood mixed with oatmeal and fried. They also made 430 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 1: algae soup, which does not sound nearly as disgusting as 431 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:32,119 Speaker 1: the bear blood and pancakes to me. I was talking 432 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: with friends about this last night while I was working 433 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,520 Speaker 1: on it, and I was describing blood pancakes to one 434 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:40,440 Speaker 1: of my friends, who is also a big food evening 435 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: goes that sounds kind of French. I'd try it, and 436 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: it does. Then, when I thought about some of the 437 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,560 Speaker 1: things my grandmother cooked, it does sound pretty French um. 438 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,639 Speaker 1: So despite their exhaustion and this totally desperate situation, the 439 00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:59,679 Speaker 1: tone of Andrey's journal entry still is almost oddly positive. 440 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 1: And this could have been because in addition to their 441 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,800 Speaker 1: food rations, they had also brought quite a bit of 442 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: opium with them. They used it as a pain reliever 443 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,359 Speaker 1: and also to treat diarrhea, and they also had morphine, 444 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:14,600 Speaker 1: and in some cases they were double dosing with the 445 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 1: opium and the morphine. Frankel in particular seemed really plagued 446 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 1: by problems. He twisted his knees, he had digestive distress. 447 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:26,919 Speaker 1: This is actually kind of uh ironic because Frankel one 448 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,399 Speaker 1: of the reasons he was chosen was because he was 449 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: very athletic, and they kind of envisioned him being like 450 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 1: the strong pack mule of the group. But he seemed 451 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,040 Speaker 1: to struggle the most with all of this travel, so 452 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:39,160 Speaker 1: according to Andre's notebooks, he was the one that they 453 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: were kind of constantly having to figure out when he 454 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,639 Speaker 1: needed opium dosages. And the first days of September, the 455 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: crew managed to travel by boat, which, while grueling in 456 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,920 Speaker 1: its own right, was a really welcome change from pulling 457 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 1: these heavy sledges to celebrate Strindberg's birthday. On the fourth 458 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: of September, Andre gave him letters from his family and 459 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: his fiance which had been went to Hymn before they 460 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:05,399 Speaker 1: left Danes Island. This is a happy surprise, though, but 461 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,600 Speaker 1: unfortunately Stenberg later fell into the water and ruined all 462 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 1: the rations that he was carrying. Yeah, it was kind 463 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,160 Speaker 1: of a day of ups and downs um. And then 464 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,920 Speaker 1: a few days after that, on September nine, they realized 465 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,359 Speaker 1: once again, since they had switched directions on August four, 466 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: they had again been thwarted by the movement of the ice, 467 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:27,680 Speaker 1: so they had been trying to travel a little more 468 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: than eighty miles or roughly nine kilometers southwest, but again, 469 00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:35,080 Speaker 1: because the ice that they're walking on is also shifting, 470 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,399 Speaker 1: they had actually been drifting about the correct distance, but 471 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: instead to the south southeast. This is also the day 472 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,560 Speaker 1: when Andre's diary kind of drops off. He stopped doing 473 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 1: his regular entries, which seems like a little bit of 474 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,440 Speaker 1: a clue that he might be losing heart. On September seventeen, 475 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 1: he wrote that an especially bad blister on Frankel's foot 476 00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 1: had rendered him unable to pull his sledge anymore, so 477 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,040 Speaker 1: he and Stronberg had been running back to get the 478 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:01,919 Speaker 1: third one and to play catch up with the others 479 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,040 Speaker 1: periodically as they all traveled. There had also been some 480 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 1: snow which added extra weight to everything. They managed to 481 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,600 Speaker 1: kill and eat a seal, and then they realized that 482 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,159 Speaker 1: they were going to be trapped out there on the 483 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,160 Speaker 1: ice through the winter. Even with all this hardship. Uh 484 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 1: he he wrote, quote, our humor is pretty good, although 485 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:25,439 Speaker 1: joking and smiling are not of ordinary occurrence. And on 486 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:27,800 Speaker 1: September nineteenth, there was actually a little bit of a 487 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:31,560 Speaker 1: ray of hope. Andrea managed to shoot three seals, and 488 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: that meant that with those, once they were dressed for 489 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: food and they're remaining food stores that they still had 490 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:38,640 Speaker 1: with them, they were going to be able to get 491 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:40,680 Speaker 1: through at least half of the winter. So they knew 492 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,119 Speaker 1: like they had rations for at least a little while, 493 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:45,440 Speaker 1: they could keep trying to gather more and they might 494 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:47,560 Speaker 1: be in okay shape. Like it looked like they might 495 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: be able to do this. And they also started building 496 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:52,679 Speaker 1: a snow house on the ice that they were on 497 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:55,639 Speaker 1: to live in by forming snow into kind of like 498 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,480 Speaker 1: walls and structure and then pouring water over it to 499 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 1: harden everything. Their ice hut was completed on September twenty eight, 500 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,399 Speaker 1: but just four days later, the ice blow that they 501 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,320 Speaker 1: built it on broke apart and water came rushing in. 502 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: The three men had to hustle to get all their 503 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,520 Speaker 1: supplies together and to get it up off the breaking 504 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:20,480 Speaker 1: ice before everything drifted away. The end of the entry 505 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,080 Speaker 1: in Andrey's diary, and he had two diaries, and this 506 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,199 Speaker 1: was the end of the first one reads quote, no 507 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:29,399 Speaker 1: one had lost courage. With such comrades, one should be 508 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,920 Speaker 1: able to manage under, I may say, any circumstances. With 509 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,359 Speaker 1: that kind of positive attitude, even in the face of 510 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: complete misery and seemingly loss of all hope, The men 511 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:42,240 Speaker 1: started construction on another snow house two days later. They 512 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: had spotted White Island earlier in their journey, but they 513 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 1: thought they'd be unable to land there because it looked 514 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,600 Speaker 1: like it was totally iced over. But October four, which 515 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,520 Speaker 1: was the same day they had started on their new house, 516 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,240 Speaker 1: they also saw a spot on White Island where they 517 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 1: thought they might actually be able to move ashore. On 518 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,960 Speaker 1: October five, they did. They named their new camp Mina 519 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: Andrea's Place after Andrea's mother because October five was her birthday, 520 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 1: and so while it seems like things are looking up 521 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: at this point in the story, Andrea's last entry is 522 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: just three days later, on October eight. He describes their 523 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: happiness at being off the ice and actually on land 524 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:25,800 Speaker 1: and in a tent, and he kind of sorting through 525 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,440 Speaker 1: what they're gonna need to do, including collecting some driftwood 526 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,000 Speaker 1: and whale bones so that they can get some fires 527 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: going and meet some other needs. So we don't know 528 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:38,959 Speaker 1: for certain when or how the three adventurers died. When 529 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 1: the White Island camp was discovered in ninety their supplies 530 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 1: were still in the boat. There was a pile of 531 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:47,520 Speaker 1: driftwood that was gathered but unused. Nearby. There was an 532 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 1: entry in Strandberg's notebook for October seventeenth which read home 533 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 1: seven oh five am. But based on the fact that 534 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 1: it was written in ink, which would have frozen and 535 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 1: been unusable in the climate that the men were in, 536 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 1: they believe that the this was an expectation he had 537 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,400 Speaker 1: of arriving home in Sweden on a train. Yeah, they 538 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,479 Speaker 1: think that entry was written before long before any of 539 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:14,440 Speaker 1: their kind of polar adventures happened. Um, As we said, 540 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,959 Speaker 1: the cause of death we don't know, and it remains 541 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:19,800 Speaker 1: one of history's mysteries and it will probably remain that 542 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: way forever because the remains that were found by the 543 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:28,200 Speaker 1: crew of the Norwegian sloop Bradwag were actually cremated before 544 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:31,400 Speaker 1: they were buried, so additional testing of those bodies can 545 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:33,800 Speaker 1: never be done. We're gonna step through some of the 546 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: most common theories and some of the common arguments against them. 547 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: So the first is poisoning from their food tens. There's 548 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 1: a fingernail from a glove that was tested and had 549 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:45,880 Speaker 1: high levels of lead in it, but it's not to 550 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 1: believed to have been enough to have killed anyone. Uh. 551 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,719 Speaker 1: There is also a theory that one of the men 552 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: had a psychotic episode and it resulted in a murder suicide. 553 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,040 Speaker 1: But since the men were rather shockingly upbeat throughout all 554 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 1: of this horrible nous, most people think this seems unlikely, 555 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,880 Speaker 1: although there certainly have been cases throughout history of people 556 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 1: that seem really happy and excited and then they have 557 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,000 Speaker 1: a psychotic break, so it's possible, but we're not sure. 558 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:16,600 Speaker 1: There's also the possibility of dehydration. Yeah, there's not a 559 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:18,680 Speaker 1: lot of way you can detract that since once they 560 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 1: found these bodies, they were pretty much completely decomposed, so 561 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,280 Speaker 1: there wasn't any tissue to really test. Then, even if 562 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:27,680 Speaker 1: they were cremated, there's not much we wouldn't know, right, 563 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 1: and a lot of the nearby water that would have 564 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,240 Speaker 1: been available to them would have been saltwater that would 565 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,520 Speaker 1: not have hoked to them. Trickin Nosis or botuli is 566 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:39,440 Speaker 1: um is another popular theory from eating uncooked polar bear 567 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 1: or seal meat. Uh, none of the diaries really describe 568 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:46,320 Speaker 1: anything that could be pointed to as evidence of the 569 00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: symptoms associated with trichinosis. However, this was a new and 570 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 1: exciting fact I learned while doing this research. Botuli is 571 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 1: um is apparently really common in seal meat if it's 572 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 1: not really thoroughly cooked, so it's possible. We know they 573 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:03,880 Speaker 1: were eating eel, so that's one possibility. People have suggested 574 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 1: that it might have been scurvy, but three months really 575 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:10,280 Speaker 1: isn't long enough for scurvy to kill someone. Now, it 576 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:13,040 Speaker 1: can make you pretty sick in that time, but probably 577 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:17,200 Speaker 1: not to the point of fatality. Another theory that has 578 00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: been put forth is a polar bear attack. Uh, this 579 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:25,920 Speaker 1: one isn't really terribly likely. For one thing, Andre's gun 580 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:27,600 Speaker 1: was next to his body when they found it, so 581 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: it seemed like he was actually like watching for danger, 582 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: and it would have been unlikely. But also the bodies 583 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,280 Speaker 1: that they found Andrey's looked like it may have been disturbed, 584 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:38,480 Speaker 1: But most people believe that may have happened by a 585 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: bear after he had already been deceased, because it just 586 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 1: looked kind of shuffled about. It didn't look so much 587 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: like an attack situation. There's also the idea that maybe 588 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:50,160 Speaker 1: since they had all this opium around, it was a 589 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 1: deliberate opium over overdose, but they had all seemed to 590 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,720 Speaker 1: be in such reasonably good spirits that that seems maybe 591 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 1: not as likely. Yeah, you would think that if they 592 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:02,720 Speaker 1: were coming to that conclusion, there would have been a 593 00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:07,160 Speaker 1: diary entry about it. Another one that is is sometimes 594 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:09,959 Speaker 1: brought up is the possibility of vitamin A poisoning from 595 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 1: polar bear liver. However, we know that the men knew 596 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,720 Speaker 1: of this danger they wrote about it, so it seems 597 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: unlikely that they would have taken that risk. They could 598 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 1: have asphyxiated because they were maybe using their cook stove 599 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: inside the tent. Yeah, that's a possibility. Again, we don't 600 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,480 Speaker 1: know for sure that one. They're just it's kind of 601 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:32,720 Speaker 1: like maybe we don't have a lot of evidence one 602 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 1: way or the other. Well, there's the reasonable people would 603 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,440 Speaker 1: probably think that's a bad idea. But that's the only 604 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:44,120 Speaker 1: counter argument I have. Yeah, well, and you know there 605 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: is there are opiates involved. There's the possibility that at 606 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:49,880 Speaker 1: some point they went, you know, it would be great 607 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,280 Speaker 1: and it will keep the tent warm, let's bring it in. Uh. 608 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: The last theory that we're going to mention almost seems 609 00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 1: in some ways like the most obvious, which is that 610 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:02,720 Speaker 1: they died from cold and exhaustion. I mean, at this point, 611 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: they had been dragging these multi hundred pounds sledges around 612 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:12,839 Speaker 1: for a while. They had gotten wet in freezing water repeatedly. 613 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:16,640 Speaker 1: You know, they were struggling with other issues. They were 614 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 1: dosing with opium and morphine, like their bodies were taking 615 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:24,000 Speaker 1: a lot of abuse. Yeah. Well, I keep thinking about 616 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:27,560 Speaker 1: two different video games during this episode, and one is 617 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:31,040 Speaker 1: like that this feels like a frozen wasteland version of 618 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:35,120 Speaker 1: Oregon trail Um and the other is one of my 619 00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:37,279 Speaker 1: favorite things to play recently, which is a game called 620 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,560 Speaker 1: The Long Dark, which is basically about surviving in this 621 00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:42,360 Speaker 1: frozen wilderness. Um. And one of the things that happens 622 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:43,960 Speaker 1: in the Long Dark is if you go to sleep 623 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:45,920 Speaker 1: and it turns out it's not warm enough to keep 624 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 1: your body warm and survive, you die, and it it 625 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 1: just a little thing comes up that just says you 626 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:54,440 Speaker 1: have faded into the Long Dark. And I think the 627 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:56,799 Speaker 1: most believable thing is that they thought they were warm 628 00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 1: enough to sleep through the night, but they were not. Yeah, 629 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:03,600 Speaker 1: which would make sense because uh, you know, we don't 630 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,560 Speaker 1: unlike something like the diatlov past incident where we see 631 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:10,680 Speaker 1: people like paradoxical and dressing and trying to dig through 632 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:14,160 Speaker 1: the snow. This seems like everything was pretty undisturbed. And 633 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:17,080 Speaker 1: if I'm understanding my research correctly, it seems like they 634 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:19,520 Speaker 1: all died probably around the same time, which is one 635 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:21,759 Speaker 1: of the reasons that like the opium theory gains a 636 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,399 Speaker 1: lot of UH fans. It's like, well, they all died 637 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:28,600 Speaker 1: around the same time, surely, uh, at least we think 638 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:30,400 Speaker 1: that based on how the bodies were positioned. For all 639 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: we know, they died and were propped up by you 640 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:36,360 Speaker 1: know another of the men, and they certainly couldn't bury 641 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: them in the ice, so we don't really know. But 642 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:41,759 Speaker 1: what we do know is that once those remains were 643 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: discovered in n Uh and the men were returned to Sweden, 644 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:48,920 Speaker 1: finally they were really greeted as heroes. Remember this was 645 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,400 Speaker 1: a big effort on uh Sweden's part, like there was 646 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:56,000 Speaker 1: a lot of fervor around it. There was a lot 647 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,359 Speaker 1: of excitement that Sweden could be the country that got 648 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,239 Speaker 1: to the North Pole first, this amazing approach that no 649 00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:04,120 Speaker 1: one else had ever tried. The king had backed them 650 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 1: and then they vanished, So there was a lot of 651 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 1: There were a lot of question marks that were finally 652 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:13,960 Speaker 1: getting some answers. And when they finally arrived Uh there 653 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,759 Speaker 1: in Sweden, two hundred ships had joined the procession to 654 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:19,600 Speaker 1: bring them home, and King Gustav the fifth met them 655 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:22,799 Speaker 1: at the pier. Among the items that were recovered from 656 00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,640 Speaker 1: Camp Mina Andre's place where several cans of film. Some 657 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,160 Speaker 1: of the film was damaged or exposed, but there were 658 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,600 Speaker 1: ninety three frames that were intact and were later developed. 659 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:35,680 Speaker 1: Strondberg was the photographer. More often than not, he had 660 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 1: dabbled in photography prior to the expedition. There are images 661 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,239 Speaker 1: of Andre and Frankel with a polar bear they had killed, 662 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:44,920 Speaker 1: and there's an image of the balloon lying on its 663 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:48,279 Speaker 1: side with Andre and Frankel standing nearby. There's even a 664 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:50,839 Speaker 1: timed exposure shot of all three of the men who 665 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:55,440 Speaker 1: are pulling one of the heavy sledges. And you can 666 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:58,520 Speaker 1: actually see these photos at the Grenham Museum in Sweden, 667 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:00,880 Speaker 1: and they also have them on line. The museum has 668 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:02,880 Speaker 1: scanned them all and put them online and will include 669 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:05,800 Speaker 1: that link in the show notes. Because of the three 670 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,800 Speaker 1: decades that this film spent out in the freezing cold, 671 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,640 Speaker 1: the images are not particularly perfect. They're flared and burned out. 672 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,359 Speaker 1: Some of them have ghostly images of the three men. 673 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:19,600 Speaker 1: The view of Andre in public opinion has really shifted 674 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:22,600 Speaker 1: throughout the years. Sometimes people label him as a madman, 675 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 1: other times people paint him as the hero of Sweden, 676 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:29,000 Speaker 1: and sometimes they portraying it more as a fool who 677 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:31,840 Speaker 1: had dreams of fame and glory. But he and his 678 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,759 Speaker 1: companions were it would seem really courageous and tenacious if 679 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:41,560 Speaker 1: nothing else. Yeah, I'm so blown away perpetually by just 680 00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:43,960 Speaker 1: how like upbeat they managed to stay through all of 681 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:46,560 Speaker 1: this because I know I would be a whiny complainer 682 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:49,120 Speaker 1: right about the moment that we lost the ropes at 683 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:51,840 Speaker 1: the beginning of the trip. But I also would not 684 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:54,640 Speaker 1: pop probably do a trip like this because I enjoy 685 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:59,920 Speaker 1: the comforts of home. Uh. Yeah, it's such a wild star. 686 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,480 Speaker 1: We've had a few requests for this. It pops up 687 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:08,440 Speaker 1: in various places. Um. It's sort of a ceaseless fascination. 688 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,400 Speaker 1: So uh and it's one of those things that we 689 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:13,759 Speaker 1: could go on forever and ever because a lot of 690 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,600 Speaker 1: the journals have been digitized and can be read online 691 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:26,160 Speaker 1: and it's very very cool stuff. Thanks so much for 692 00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:29,319 Speaker 1: joining us on this Saturday. Since this episode is out 693 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:31,320 Speaker 1: of the archive, if you heard an email address or 694 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 1: a Facebook U r L or something similar over the 695 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:36,719 Speaker 1: course of the show, that could be obsolete now. Our 696 00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:41,280 Speaker 1: current email address is History Podcast at I heart radio 697 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,680 Speaker 1: dot com. Our old health stuff works email address no 698 00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,480 Speaker 1: longer works, and you can find us all over social 699 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:50,880 Speaker 1: media at missed in History. And you can subscribe to 700 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,239 Speaker 1: our show on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the I Heart 701 00:38:54,320 --> 00:39:00,960 Speaker 1: Radio app, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Stuff 702 00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:02,920 Speaker 1: you missed in History class is a production of I 703 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:06,479 Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit 704 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:09,400 Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 705 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:10,800 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.