The indirect cause of death of the three members of the Andrée balloon expedition on White Island in early October 1897 was the ice drift during their attempted retreat after the forced landing at 82°56′N 29°52′E. They initially tried to reach Cape Flora to the southeast of their current position in the Arctic pack ice even though they could deduce from prior explorers’ experience that the expected long-term direction of the ice drift in the area would be to the southwest. However, when they finally turned towards the Seven Islands in the southwest, the ice unexpectedly began to drift in a southeasterly direction. In this paper, trigonometrical methods are used to derive more precise measures of the ice drift the expedition members actually experienced, based on their own position fixes and their own descriptions of their marches. The results confirm that they were exposed to a southwesterly ice drift, on average, during the weeks they were trying to head southeast, and to a southeasterly ice drift, on average, during the weeks they were trying to head southwest. Hence, the disastrous ending of the expedition was, at least to some extent, a result of bad luck.

中文翻译：

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1897 年安德烈气球探险期间的冰漂

1897 年 10 月上旬，安德烈气球探险队在怀特岛上的三名成员死亡的间接原因是他们在 82°56′N 29°52′E 迫降后试图撤退时的冰漂。他们最初试图在北极浮冰当前位置的东南方到达弗洛拉角，尽管他们可以从之前的探险者的经验中推断出该地区冰漂移的预期长期方向将是西南方向。然而，当他们最终转向西南的七岛时，冰竟然开始向东南方向漂移。在本文中，基于他们自己的定位和他们自己对行军的描述，使用三角函数来获得更精确的测量探险队员实际经历的冰漂移。结果证实，在他们试图向东南方向前进的几周内，平均而言，他们暴露在西南方向的冰漂移中，而在他们试图向西南方向行驶的几周内，平均而言，他们暴露在东南方向的冰漂移中。因此，这次远征的灾难性结局，至少在某种程度上是运气不佳的结果。