ABOUT THIS BOOK

By Airship to the North Pole chronicles the adventures of Swedish engineer Salomon August Andree, who made the first failed attempt to reach the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon in 1897, and of American journalist Walter Wellman who organized and led three unsuccessful air expeditions from 1907 to 1909. The book investigates the stories behind the quests to reach this remote and inhospitable outpost by air and examines how those stories were created and reported by the press. What he uncovers allows readers to reflect on the distortions of the written historical record, particularly unkind to Wellman, and what that may tell us about our own age of exploration as we look to the last frontiers in space.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

P. J. CAPELOTTI is a lecturer in the social sciences department at Pennsylvania State University at Abington and the author of Our Man in the Crimea: Commander Hugo Koehler and the Russian Civil War. He is a Fellow of the Explorers Club and a member of the advisory board for the Program in Maritime History and Archaeology at the University of Hawaii.

REVIEWS

P. J. Capelotti chronicles the adventures of Swedish engineer Salomon August AndrTe, who made the first failed attempt to reach the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon in 1897, and of American journalist Walter Wellman, who organized and led three unsuccessful air expeditions from 1907 to 1909. The book investigates the stories behind the quests to reach this remote and inhospitable outpost by air and examnes how those stories were created and reported by the press. . . . What he uncovers allows readers to reflect on the distortions of the written historical record, particularly unkind to Wellman, and what that may tell ys about our own age of exploration as we look to the last frontiers in space.

— Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society

This . . . engaging book focuses on the Arctic expeditions of S. A. Andree, a Swedish engineer, and an American journalist, Walter Wellman. Andree made an ill-fated attempt to complete the first balloon voyage over the North Pole in 1897, an effort that took his life as well as that of his two companions. . . . Capelotti has written an interesting analysis of human exploration.

— Choice

ItÆs the weirdness of these early airships and some of the people promoting them, especially in the unforgiving world of the Arctic, that makes Dr. CapelottiÆs book a æmustÆ for anyone interested in aviation history or in polar exploration. The author deftly combines archaeological and historical sources in a fresh and convincing way to tell his story.

— Richard A. Gould, Brown University

A brilliant and absorbing reconstruction of two polar expeditions. Dr. CapelottiÆs fascinating book lifts the veil covering the obsessions of explorers.

— Alan Gurney, author of Below the Convergence

P. J. Capelotti, an archeologist, became intensely interested in what might remain as remnants of two early attempts to reach the [North] Pole by air from Danes Island in the Spitsbergen archipelago. . . . Capelotti has provided thoughtful reading by examining artifacts to determine whether or not they substantiate a written record. In so doing, he gives us a truer understanding of the means required and the tools used in early attempts to get to the North Pole.

— Technology and Culture

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations
Preface
A Select Chronology of Northern Expeditions and Events
A Note on Norwegian Geography
Introduction
PART ONE - History: The aerial Polar expeditions of Salomon A. Andrée and Walter Wellman, 1896-1909
1 Saint of Swedes: The Implacable Mr. Andrée
2 The Greatest Show in the Arctic: The Unsinkable Mr. Wellman
PART TWO - Archaeology: Exploring the aerial Polar base camps of Salomon A. Andrée and Walter Wellman on Danes Island, Spitsbergen, 1993
3 Arctic Ghosts: Technology and Memory on the Island of Airships
4 The Spam What Am: Advertising in Search of a North Pole
5 Broken Dreams: The Airship Wrecks of Danes Island
6 Gasbag or Windbag: Was Wellman a Liar?
Conclusion: Virgo Harbor and the Archeology of Failure
Acknowledgments
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index