ATLANTIC AIRSHIP VOYAGE.

North Otago Times, 9 December 1910, Page 4

ATLANTIC AIRSHIP VOYAGE.

WRECK OF THE AMERICA. • (London Times.) ;■' • ■ Mr Walter Wellrnan 1 and crow of ■ five men made an unsuccessful Attempt, tg cross the Atlantic in the airship ■'■Amflrica, They started from Atlartic City on Saturday M, and on Tuesday they were rescue 1 250 milj3 north-west of Bermuda by the royal mail steamship Trent. Mr Wellman Is an American journalist, who previously attracted much notice 'by Jjis daring attempts in , 'HOI and 1909" to i'tach the Pole Dy. airship. The America in.which be set out to crpss the Atjanbic was a nonrigid airshjip "228 ft ' lgng, specially constructed fo sglve, thq prpblem of flight across the:seas, Its equipment included ft lifeboat, fittej wj'th wireless apparatus,' at car ISGfb long, two engines of SO h.p. and a third of 10 h'.p„ and o steel tanh, toi to storage of 1250 tons of gasoline. Provisions for 20 days were taken. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the America"'was tjie efflUbrator, a steal cable. 200 ft Jong, hanging quite vertically'frgm 'the centre of the car. Half' the jengtji' of \\\& equiftrator was weighted with 'taijikfi! and the other half with wooden blocks. Tj}e cpef of t&'e) America besides Mr Wellman," yW jsted of Mr Melvin Vaniinau, ' ciiiei engineer; Mr F. Murray Bimon;,|' navigator; Mr J, )<■• Irwin,---' wireless operatW ;' and Mr Albert 1.-. Louid' and Mn'.Aubert, assistant engineers. The crew to-ok 'with th* m a black cat, which was also rucugd. Tho vpyage was made under tie' auspices of lite Daily Tele-. graph aiid ttie tfew, York Times. r ' L .-The AsceSt.-' - The ascent fisn Bantjc City- W very impressive.' 'After s|. month sidelay awaiting favorable weather, ■ the-; public had- so 'l'af hst tope that only. a comparatively jma}l crowd, had gathered wifen-ir 'Wellman was ready to'start, HP arrived a- lew minutes before 8 o'clock.in a motorcar driven'by his daughter. His wife and Ms other daughter were nlwady s'tandteg bfigide the inflated gasbag. He then cjimbett on board, and ..spun afterwards the crew embarked, and jthß order was given to let go. The I m Atlantic Oity firemen and policemen who .tad been helping the vessel to set 'off re}easedj.the!ropes,.an3the huge*!? rose-to a height, of a .hundred feet, where she was-held. by a single rape attaohed to a small motor yacht>liicliiowedher. out to

se a , Th'o airship's own motors wer a sllenl and thf propellefs motionlesa.! There :was scarcely, any; wind and the flags above the hangar hung limp agaitist the.flagßta'ffs,.■'•:'■■'• ■■:.'' •.. : Various wireless messages were received diirlng.' ( tlie' first few' hours. 'L'ho last d these was sent oil Sunday at 12.45 p.m., briefly Btating that all was well. From then, until the news of the rescue arrived on Tuesday,, nothing was Jnoard or seen of \ihe aiiship, ... There was considerable •cmiiety about its safety,, aniT preparations ware being made to despatch a warship ip search!of it. . -fitory of thd Voyage.—

The story of the voyage is told in acopyright mcEßagc to thejKew York Herald gi\ing an interview with Mr Simon, the navigating officer. Alter leaving Atlantic City in a heavyi fog in which we .could hot sej anything, we headed ,north-ea3t andPas3ed Nantucket on Sunday afternoon. The fog thickened, and off Nova Scotia the winds drove the, balloon in every direction, Once we nearly collided with a four-masted schooner. On Sunday the wireles3 apparatus attracted the lightning, so we lowered the balloon to within a few feet of the water. When we attempted to rise after the weather had cleared we found it aecessary.t 0 throw overboard several barrels of gasolene. On Monday the sun caused the gas to expand and the America shot up 3600 test. We had great difficulty in lowing her' again, Afterwards, we tfean to lose, gas and, it became necessary to reduce our weight by throwing overboard practically all our fuel. There was nothing to do but to await a chance .to signal a steamship. Mr Wellman found it necessary to rid the airship of the burden, of the gasolene, retaining enly enough to reach land in the event of the crew' not'being rescued, When the Trent answered the call for help, Mr Wellman megaphoned to the captain that he would lower the America's lifeboat. As a measure, of. precaution the Trent lowered her own lifeboats, which stood by until the i rescue was_ effected, One) of the motors broke during the voyage find, the craft was ' severely sha'nea throughout by the pounding of the erjiiiiibr&tor o ver the waves.-Reuter.

■ -The Rescue.— The rescue is described in the following, telegram :- &,!m. tho Trent siglbtedtha America and wireless communication was immediately established. Irwin, the operator in the-airship, informed Ginsburg, the operator in the Trent, that the airship's crew wished t 0 abandon ' the balloon, Wireless •communication, was kept up from this time, onward. Meanwhile daylight was rapidly approaching and the Trent was requested to follow th'e America, which was then drifting at the rate of 12 miles an hour. -After a council held onboard the airship it was decided that the best means of rescue would be to launch the lifeboat. But this was a hazardous undertaking and much t'me elapsed before the manoeuvre could be executed, as the airship's tail, consisting 0 f tanks of gasolene and blocks of wood, threatened to capsize the lifeboat while it was being dropped from the balloon into the water,

■ -The Airship's CourseThe course of the airship up to the time she wa3 wrecked shows to what an ' extent she was at the meroy of the 1 wind and weather.' On Sunday morning the America was 300 miles to the north-west of Atlantic City, off the Nantucket lightship, and on Monday she must have encountered strong northerly winds as she was driven 550 miles to the South. The total distance covered was 850 miles, and the America undoubtedly broke all "records" for both tinis and distance, as she was in the air continuously for 69 hours. -Renter.