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!

great shot

Picture from the upper part of Longyeardalen / Longyear Valley The Snebrae=glacier is named Longyearbreen (Longyear glacier). Left side is the mountain Sarkofagen (also called Kistefjellet, sarkofag=kiste) Right side of glacier is Nordenskiöldfjellet (1050m)

Today's view: www.panoramio.com/photo/43481516