FIRST AIRSHIP IN THE ARCTIC.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9116, 23 December 1907, Page 2

FIRST AIRSHIP IN THE ARCTIC.

MR WELLMAN AND THE POLE.

Mr Melvin Vaniman, chief engineer.of the Welbnan Polar Expedition, designer and constructor of the airship America, arrived in London in September from Spitzenbergen. Mr Vaniman, who is the only member of the Wellman ' Ex • pedition who has reached England, is one of the three who formed par4of the crew of the airship America during her recent attempt to ■reach the North Pole— the first airship journey that has ever been made in the Arctic. Mr Wellman himself is taking a few weeks at Tromso, drying and packing the balloon. In the oouree of an interview Mr Vammau said: — . " The mental strain which has been placed on all of us lately has been very great, and has told more or less heavily upon every man. We knew that we ought to ftart from our base at Spitzenbergen colewards betw««n. July 15 and August 20; On the evening of September 1, experiments made with kites led ue to believe that the wind might die down, the following morning, being probably succeeded by calm or light westerly winds. Early next morning we were all astir, and there was every indication of calm weather. Every man went to his post, a final trial of the motors was made, and the America with the Stars and Stripes flying at her stern, emerged from her home, a perfect air machTne^ Once on board, we immediately repaired to our various stations. The chief went forward to his place on. the deck of the airship, Mr Reisenberg took up his position, a little aft on the bridge ,at the wheel and compass, while I went into the interior of the oar and took control of the motors. After swinging for" compass, the navigator reported all in readiness, and the steel cable was passed down to the steamer Express, which was to take us clear of the land. . THE MOTORS AT FULL SPEED. "Immediately afterwards, ainid absolute silence — for special orders had been given that no one was to speak except the officer in command — the Express towing us, we were, in reality, on our journey to the unknown. Immediately the America, with a slow, gliding movement forged . ahead passing the Express as though the latter were standing still, and it at once became" apparent that, instead of the Express towing~ us, we were, in reality, towing the Steamer. We signalled her to cast us off , and for the first time in mid-air I set the motors at full speed. " Then the America at once responded and in a few minutes the Express was out of sighrfc. A little later, looking j through the window of the engineroom, I saw that we were fast drifting upon land..- It was clear that something was wrong, and I hurriedly went on deck and, going, to the bridge, I saw Mr Wellman and Mr Reisenberg and inquired what was the matter- " Then they informed me that they had just discovered that the compass was not working properly and they had not the Remotest idea of their bearings. Tho only course was to endeavour to again get into communication with the Express. But where was sheP The fog and snow were impenetrable. Luckily a few minutes afterwards the weather lifted somewhat, and we saw our little steamer somewhere about a mile away. Mr Wellman now told me that the ship had made t\vo complete turns against the wind. Again the. fog closed in, the Express once more vanished from our view, the wind freshened, our ship blew round, and wo were utterly ignorant as to our course. < A MIGHTY ROAR, " We all now realised that both the ship and ourselves were in imminent danger. We knew that" we were surr rounded by high mountains hidden^ away from us in the mist, and we were* also aware that we were drifting rapidly on to a glacier. Our motors were instantly stopped, our anchor hanging from the keel of the airship was let go, and we prepared to make a landing. The emergency v\ilve was opened, and the baloori began to settle. Twice we touched the glacier slightly, with no other shock than a gentle rebound. Meanwhile, the cutting knife was unlaehed and run on to the side of the balloon. As the America approached the glacier for the third time, the incision, deflating the balloon was made. With a mighty roar the gas escaped, while the envelope fell gracefully and clear of the airship itself leaving the three of us standing on her deck.

"An examination of the charts led) «9 to believe that we were somewhere in the neighbourhood of Foul Bay, and our instruments indicated that we had been in the air for two hours and a quarter. The storm abated somewhat after this, and the Express hove in sight, and steamed up to the face of the glacier. Roped together, our rescuers climbed up and picked their way across the" glacier to where our airship was resting. Salvage operations lasted two days, at the end of which time the Express, which had gone back to headquarters to inform our steamer, the Frithjof, of our whereabouts, had returned, and we, with our airship embarked on the Frithjof for our headquarters. The airship was practically undamaged."

. In conclusion, Mr Vaniman said: — " Whatever critics may say — and there seem to be many who know more about this affair than we do — our experiences have proved to our satisfaction tnat we have an airship which is capable of making a journey to the Pole and back again, given norm&l weather conditions,"