8/10 Love letter island

Day 6: 

After a long morning of sailing, we anchored at Love Letter Island. The island was named after the ill-fated Arctic balloon expedition of S. A. Andrée in 1897. Andrée and two of his expedition members lost their lives in Svalbard while attempting to voyage by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard to Russia or Canada, passing straight over the North Pole on the way. 

Andrée overlooked many early signs of the dangers associated with his balloon plan. The polar balloon Örnen (Eagle) was delivered directly to Svalbard from its manufacturer in Paris without being tested. When measurements showed it to be leaking more than expected, Andrée failed to acknowledge the risk. In July 1897, the balloon lost hydrogen quickly and crashed on the pack ice after only two days. 

The explorers were unharmed but faced a grueling trek back south across the drifting icescape. They were inadequately clothed, equipped, and prepared, and were shocked by the difficulty of the terrain. As the Arctic winter closed in on them in October, they were unable to make it to safety. Andrée dropped his last love letter to his fiancé Anna from the balloon when they were over this island before the catastrophe. Unfortunately, Anna never received it.

On the deck back to the boat I started to create cyanotypes with snow and ice. They turned out amazing. The exposing time was 3-4 hours under the Arctic sun, very different from the super short Florida sun exposing time. 

My first drone images;