Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Expedition

The expedition was led by meteorologist Evelyn Briggs Baldwin [de] and financed by William Ziegler who had made a fortune with baking powder.

[1] For this endeavour, Baldwin chartered three three-masted steam ships: The flagship was the America of 466 net tons, that was previously called Esquimaux.

The 260 ton Frithjof that had been used by Walter Wellman's expedition to Franz Josef Land, in which Baldwin had also participated, functioned as supply ship.

[3] For communication purposes, Baldwin had taken 40 balloons able to carry a string of message buoys that would be successively dropped at each surface contact, as well as a generator to create the necessary hydrogen on site from sulphuric acid and metal.

After meeting the Frithjof at Cape Flora, both ships were sent through the channels of the archipelago to establish a northern base camp, preferably at Rudolf Island.

[11] On Baldwin's return to Camp Ziegler, he decided to use his communication balloons to send out requests for a ship to come and supply the America with additional coal.

The coal supplies were running low while the ship had to be kept under steam to avoid being damaged by ice bergs in the newly formed open water around it.