Strange interlude at Virgohamna, Danskøya, Svalbard, 1906: the merkelig mann, the engineer and the spy

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Authors: Capelotti, P. J., Van Dyk, Herman, Cailliez, Jean-Claude
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2007
• Subjects: Danskøya; North Pole; Polar Research; Svalbard; Virgohamna
• Online Access: https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2007; https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v26i1.6208

Just over a century ago, the American journalist Walter Wellman first tried to reach the North Pole by airship. Despite the hoopla that surrounded the expedition, it was a fiasco and the attempt became a quirky and somewhat obscure episode in the history of polar exploration. In this issue of Polar Research, we present two complementary contributions about this event. The first paper, below, is a collaboration between Penn State University Abington College archaeologist P. J. Capelotti, engineer and airship historian Herman Van Dyk and Swiss aeronautical historian Jean-Claude Cailliez. It presents new data on the initial operations of Wellman’s attempt to reach the pole in 1906.