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[[caption]]Off for the north pole. The start of Walter Wellmann's arctic flight in the dirigible balloon America on Aug. 20, 1909, is shown at top of page

Unloading the Arctic on the expedition's arrival at Danes island[[end caption]]

[[title]]Brother of Explorer Who Attempted Polar Flight in Balloon 21 Years Ago Lives at Madison, Wis., and Tells of the Expedition Which Came Close to Sensational Success and Equally Close to Tragic Failure[[title]]

IT WAS just 21 years ago last Aug. 20 that my brother's dirigible America was cut loose and pointed north from Danes island, Spitzbergen, with the north pole and return or a flight beyond as his objective," said Arthur Wellman at his home in Madison the other day. "The flight started from the very spot from which 11 years before, Andree had started on the same mission in his balloon. I shall never forget that summer in the arctic.

"My brother, Walter, was a fearless explorer. When I received his urgent invitation to accompany him and to assist in the preparations for the arctic flight I eagerly accepted and was put in charge of the camp. On a previous expedition he had built a house 32 feet by 32 feet there, using rocks frozen in the ground as a foundation. Our workmen occupied the house built by Andree in 1897."

Arthur Wellman was living in Madison when he received his brother's summons. After his months in the arctic he returned to Madison, where he engaged in business, from which he recently retired.

"Ours was the first dirigible balloon to attempt such a flight," he says. "Once in the air, Andree's craft was at the mercy of the air currents. The gas would keep it aloft, but the winds were supposed to carry it over the pole, 600 miles away. Two ropes trailing behind were the only method of artificial aid in steering the craft. It was an ordinary spherical balloon attached to an open wicker basket. Its direction could not be pre-determined or directed. 

"The America was a cigar shaped dirigible, the forerunner of the remarkable craft now used successfully in long distance journeys. It used 250,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas manufactured on the grounds in our own gas plant under the direction of competent engineers.

"There was never a moment of misgiving or fear on my brother's part. he was as sure of success as those who are now successfully navigating zeppelins would be today.

"WE WERE on Danes island from June 18 until Sept. 2. On July 3 at 10 o'clock a snowstorm struck us and for two days it howled around our buildings. In the main, however, the weather was not very cold during the entire summer and we were kept comfortable indoors with our coal burners supplied with fuel landed from our supporting ship the Arctic, a four-masted schooner, which stood by in the bay all summer.

"Never had I experienced such a craving for food. In addition to out ample stock of provisions, we were provided by hunters of our party with thousands of eider ducks from the flocks of millions which visited us. I have seen one man eat not only one whole duck as a sitting but two, three and even four. We ate roast duck, duck pie and duck and duck dumplings prepared by our cook and his assistants. 

"I made the first trip from Tromsoe to Danes island and unloaded about 250 tons of material and provisions for our camp, which I was to organize while the ship was sent back for my brother, who brought six more laborers and mechanics with him, swelling our numbers to 35 men.

"In the main it was a happy camp, though many of the men left families in Norway. There were days of homesickness of course. I remember one Sunday wen I invited the men over to our house and played on the phonograph for them church music and classical productions, as well as some ragtime, ending the program with 'Home Sweet Home.' There were no dry eyes in the house when the program ended. That phonograph with 100 records did a lot to make life bearable in camp. 

"As evidence of the esteem which Walter Wellman felt for Andree, a monument to his memory was erected on Danes island and dedicated by a group of Norwegians who came to visit us that summer. Andree's ill fated expedition was the subject of many evening discussions in our camp.

"I had charge of the erection of our hangar. In a previous attempt a hangar had been destroyed by wind, but ours stood all tests.

"As we filled the silken envelope of the balloon with hydrogen gas it became necessary to weight the airship down in the hangar with sacks of sand, so that when we finally ran it out there were 100 sacks of this heavy ballast hanging to its sides. 

"In order to stabilize the airship in flight my brother provided a long hollow tube of leather of about the diameter of stove piping, each section--

Sunday, February 1, 1931

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Arthur Wellman, Madison business man, who was in charge of the Wellman arctic expedition's camo on Danes island. Photographers reproduced on this page are from his collection

being eight feet long. These joints were fastened end to end, making a long snakelike tube in which were stred 1,260 pounds of cooked food in cans to serve the double purpose of adding weight and of providing food for the crew of four persons in case of a forced landing in the ice wilderness. This equilibrator in case the buoyancy of the ship was reducing dangerously low, was expected to settle on the ice, thus lessening the total weight in the air and so making it possible to keep the dirigible afloat above the ice until repairs could be made. This 1,260 pounds also would act as a ballast. Our engineers had determined the exact lifting power of our 250,00 cubic feet of hydrogen gas.

"ON AUG. 20, 1909, all was ready. It was the day to which we had all looked forward. My brother was happy. I confess I had my misgivings, not because I feared that the preparations laked anything, but-well-Walter was my brother and it was to be, to my mind, a perilous undertaking at best. Every time I looked toward the Andree house during those last days of preparation I thought of that ill fated expedition, although there was really no comparison in the precautions taken for safety. To rise above the earth and trust to luck and to favoiring winds 




Transcription Notes:
same as page 9, but expanded