On our second to last night onboard the Polaris I, we made a late night landing at Virgohamna, a small bay on Danes Island. It’s one of the eeriest places I’ve ever seen. Originally a whaling base first used in 1633, the site is filled with whalers graves and human bones. More famously, it’s the site of Salomon August Andrée’s ill-fated 1896 expedition balloon launching site. Andrée attempted reaching the Geographic North Pole in a Hydrogen balloon. They failed to make the pole and landed on Kvitøya Island instead. They perished shortly after landing.