OVER THE ATLANTIC ♦ . ■ •

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 85, 7 October 1936, Page 12

OVER THE ATLANTIC ♦ . ■ •

HINDENBURG'S TRIP TRAVELLING IN AN AIRSHIP COMFORT AND SPEED On Sunday, August 9, we drove down from New York to Lakehurst, New Jersey, arriving about 9.15 in the evening, and parked the car immediately outside the hangar, says a writer in the "Manchester Guardian." We had been officially warned to have only 401b of luggage each and to have no cameras or drink in our bags. We had three bags—two lightweight aeroplane suitcases and one old-fashioned leather kitbag. After waiting to see: the Newark aeroplane come in, bringing the last of the Hindenburg's. passengers, we said good-bye to our friends, and were driven out to the Zeppelin, looming up across the airport, half a mile away. We climbed on board and saw our bags placed in our cabin. ..■■--. The plan of the Zeppelin's passenger accommodation is simple. On the lower deck there are shower-baths on the port side, and on. the. starboard side the bar and smoking-room. The upper deck has the twenty-five double cabins in the middle, flanked on the port side by the dining saloon and on the starboard by the lounge and reading-room. Each of these main-deck rooms is subdivided by a railing about six feet from the windows, forming promenades. The windows have twelve-inch sills about waist high, so that one can rest on one's arms while looking out. Several large window sections open upwards so that one can lean out. QUIET START. Soon we realised , that we . wore already under way. There had been no commotion, no .whistles, no' noise. The engines were warming up when we came aboard, and now we sinipiy slidgently into the. sky. ' It was, tenthirty, a little earlier than the usual time.of departure. After rising five'or 9ix hundred feet we circled round' the aerodrome, and then bore off towards New York. It was a beautiful,'clear night, and the lights of Asbury Park and other coast. resorts : stood'out clearly. We neared. New York and soon were over Staten'lsland, then up the Hudson, flying quite low, arid over the city from 72nd Street, 'across to 110 th, and Fifth Avenue, and so up, over Hunter's Island, and • along the Connecticut coast. After passing ■ over New Haven and New London we bore off over Providence and Boston, and then out to sea, headed for Nova Scotia. Once over the sea it was too dark to see anything but the waves, picked out by our powerful vertical searchlight, and soon we all.turned in. When going on board we were not searched for matches, but shortly after the airship started a steward passed a basket round among the fifty passengers requesting the surrender of all matches and lighters. - THE SLEEPING CABINS. The sleeping cabins proved to be small but comfortable: upper .and lower berths; no upper sheet or blankets, simply one big feather comforter; no windowa, but an adjustable air-blower in the ceiling; plenty of room for bags under.the lower berth; a small wardrobe with room for three or four dresses or suits; an. oldfashioned ship's folding washstand looking like porcelain but actually made of celluloid; hot and cold water. On the wall over .each berth was a picture of a burning cigarette with a superimposed red cross—a gentle reminder not to smoke. I woke about 6.30 .next morning, to find we were over Nova Scotia, moving on to Newfoundland and the Straits of Belle Isle. Passing over farms it was amusing, to see. the. panic chickens and cows were thrown into by the sound of our engines. Zeppelin-flying is wonderfully smooth compared with the . sudden swooping and dippings of much aeroplane travel. One has a feeling of complete security. Occasionally the great ship dips or rolls a little, but so majestically that one does not mind it in the least. Monday was a beautiful sunny morning, and having a: tail Wind of 40 m.p.h. we cruised along at about 112 m.p.h. 800 or 1000 feet up: .We passed two icebergs, neither of them large, but still interesting to see'from above. It was not until after luncheon that we saw the last of Labrador and headed out over the open Atlantic. The rest of the day was uneventful, and most of the passengers spent the time writing innumerable postcards to be posted; on. the Hindenburg with special stamps, and cancellations. DECORATIONS. The decoration of the'passenger quarters on the Hindenburg are- light and simple. The bar and smoking-room had nine panels illustrating - previous lighter-than-air vessels, one showing the first Zeppelin ■of 1900. To enter the smoking-room- one passed .through a revolving door into a minute bar presided over by a Cerberus-like German steward, then through a second door which was kept shut as fair as possible. The lounge had on the wall facing the windows- a huge map-of the world showing famous -voyages, of history, from those of Lief Ericson arid Magellan down to Dr. Eckener arid the Graf Zeppelin. The, reading and diningrooms were divided by panels depicting various places visited by . the Hindenburg. The window-sills on both sides of the ship had strips of maps to help in identifying the places passed over. The dining-saloon had two" long tables seating about, twenty each, and several small tables seating from two to four. Meals were simple but good, and there seeriied to be a fairly comprehensive . wine cellar, if an airship can be said to have a "cellar." On Monday afternoon the chief steward took us in groups of four or five through the interior of the ship to the control car. We walked along through a maze of aluminium girders and wires on a narrow cat-walk up to the bows and then down a vertical ladder.six feet or so to the control gondola. Here we found two helmsmen, one looking after the vertical and one the lateral controls. There were more instruments than I can think of, altimeters, drift indicators, compasses, barometers, chronometers, and so on, and also a small plan of the ship showing all the ballast compartments, with a handle under each one which if pulled emptied that particular compartment. • . . AVOIDING ENGLAND. About ten o'clock on Tuesday, August 11, we approached the Scilly [slands, and a steward came around collecting all cameras. Soon England loomed up ahead and Land's End was identified. We- realised then that, ;hanks to the fuss a section of the Press tad made about it; England was not .o be flown over. Having spent four or ive summers in Cornwall and Devon it vas not hard to pick out the old landmarks—the Lizard, Eddystone Light, ?almouth—but soon to our disgust it Degan to cloud over and we only,got )ccasional glimpses of the coast. We nissed Plymouth entirely, but managed o recognise the Isle of Wight and later he while cliffs at Dover. The fog now thickened so that only >ccasional!y could one see the sea lireclly below, and we passed' over the 3utch cofiSt before we knew it. Onco >ver the-land-the fog' cleared a little