A PEOPLE VANISHED
The Great Mystery of Nadiria

The mystery of the Lost Colony of Antarctica has baffled scholars for decades. A vibrant, thriving colony that flourished for over 30 years simply vanished overnight. No trace of the over 300 colonists was ever found. The return of the first rescue mission in 1901 yielded few clues. Many speculated that the colonists marched into the sea, but all the ships were accounted for save one. The Recovery and Salvage Expedition of 1921 brought back many answers, but also many new questions.

The colony of Nadiria was first occupied on February 7, 1866. Nadiria subsisted on annual resupply expeditions launched from Constonia, the plantation in southern Argentina. Many of the supplies, as well as the fleet of ships, came from the Southern Star Shipping Line in New York. The Southern Star was wholly owned by Angus Kilbourne, patriarch of one of the Founding Families of Nadiria. When Kilbourne and his wife Kathleen joined the colony, he put his brother Bruce in charge of the company. Bruce Kilbourne was a fair manager, but not the tycoon his brother was. Under Bruce's management, the Southern Star began a slow

decline. Finally, in 1895, the Southern Star Shipping Co. falls into bankruptcy and shuts its doors. The majority of the ships at Constonia were recalled to New York to pay off debts.

Most important in the collapse of the Southern Star Line was the inability to send Heaven's Fire chemicals to Nadiria. As soon as the colonists determined that the resupply expedition would not come, the Council of Elders enforced rationing of Heaven's Fire. The colony had an emergency supply of the precious chemicals, but only enough for one or two years. When the shipping company collapsed, the Elders of the Church in America sought other means to help the colony. They mounted one last resupply mission warning the colony of the collapse of the shipping company. Unfortunately, most of that small expedition was lost in a hurricane off the Bermuda islands. By the time the people of Constonia realized that the expedition from New York was lost, it was late February. An emergency rescue expedition was readied and launched from Constonia, but it failed to reach Nadiria due to ice floes.

The following year's resupply expedition never arrived as well, and Nadiria became cold. Entire levels of the colony were cut off from the heating system and lights throughout the colony were extremely dim. On August 17, 1899, all journal entries stop throughout the entire colony. Every single journal, record, diary, and receipt stop on that date. Numerous journal entries from the previous few days mention a "preparation" or "journey" but no specific information was found.

Something calamitous or incredible happened on that fateful day in August. There has been much speculation regarding the fate of the colonists, but no hard evidence of what really happened was ever found. Ongoing research continues at the Nadiria Historical Society, which was founded by the infamous Mme De La Rue.