spitzbergen

The date of this picture is likely July 11, 1897, or shortly before. "Andree" is Salomon August Andrée, who attempted to reach the North Pole with a hydrogen balloon. The expedition was a complete failure and led to the deaths of Andrée and his two companions, Knut Frænkel and Nils Strindberg.

Thanks for supplying a more precise date. We'll fix the source data and reload the description.

Arnold Pike, an Englishman, put up the house to the right of Andrées balloon house in 1888. Andrée used this house during both attempts, 1896 and 1897, to reach the North Pole with his balloon Örnen. Andrée renamed in 1896 this small bay on the northern side of Danskøya to "Virgos hamn" after his transport vessel S/S "Virgo". Today's name is Virgohamna. Fridtjof Nansen visited the bay in 1912 and he describes the constructions bear evidence of heavy decay.

The battle for the North Pole



Virgohamna
on Danskøya of today. Andrée's balloon house stood at the foot of the hill - see note.
(The note does not follow the image. You have to visit me to check it up!)
The remains in the foreground is from the Walter Wellman expeditions in 1906, 1907 and 1909. He tried to reach the North Pole with the airship America.

This image is shot 1992 on reversal film.

This photograph is featured in the Indicommons.org post Exploration across the Commons -- from the high seas to outer space, in archival collections from around the world.

Wow! That's quite the remarkable recent image!

In spite of the caption, this suspiciously looks like Sarkofagen (in Longyeardalen), with its unmistakeable shape, doesn't it? And answering to myself: this is most probably Longyeardalen, taken at the height of the small tributary valley from west called Tverrdalen - and that is Sarkofagen.

csant; You are definitely right, this is Longyeardalen and Sarkofagen. The photo is shot a few hundred meters up from the seashore. The valley witch today is called Tverrdalen takes off to the west at the end moraines of the Longyearbreen. This glacier is located to the right of the mountain Sarkofagen. To the caption; This valley is located at Advent Bay / Adventfjorden, and the valley of Longyeardalen got its name in 1905 or 06, after the place Longyear City was established the year after JM Longyear took over / bought the rights to take out coal from the area. After some research, maps or papers prior to 1905 does not state any name of the valley - So - for the moment the name Tverdalen seems to be a plausible truth! Name translation Tverdalen; "side valley" or geological "valley that runs counter to the direction of the geological layers"

www.panoramio.com/photo/11335291

Awesome, I love this!!!

Funny that. The midnight sun must have gotten a lot brighter over the years...

davvero surreale! complimenti!!

beautiful but there is a trick !! midnite sun is not looking like this !!

Here is another photo of the midnight sun (2003). It's from Melkoya, an island on the coast of Finnmark, Norway. www.snohvit.com/STATOILCOM/snohvit/svg02699.nsf/Attachmen...