PERILS OF THE AIR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12587, 17 August 1910, Page 3

PERILS OF THE AIR.

WRECK OF THE DEUTSCHLAND

THRILLING EXPERIENCE

Tli© complete wreck of the Zeppelin tlirigiblo airship, Deutschland, was repur ted by cable. The special correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph," who was a passenger in the Deutschland when the disaster occurred, sent v graphic account of it, from which wo make the following extracts: —

At a quarter-past 8, mounting by a rope ladder, as if going on board a steamer, wo took our places in the central cabin, as large as a tramcar, attached to the body of the dirigible. Our party consisted of 20 journalists, invited, by the Aerial Transportation Company. Already a wind of 16 miles an hour was blowing, and at certain moments it seemed as if the dirigible would carry off the black knots of men who held her in check. At that moment the Observatory at Aix-la-Chapelle telegraphed to Frankfort announcing the approach of a hurricane from the southvest, but the news reached Dusseldort after the balloon had started. . . We lmd been travelling for 40 minutes, when we sailed over Elberfeld and then over Barmen. We are at a height ot I,oooft. The sky is broken here and there, and vivid patches of sunlight run quickly along the ground, all in tho same direction, and accentuating the colours. Afterwards the gloom becomes denser, the wind grows more impetuous, the balloon turns her prow to sail in the opposite direction, but she cannot overcome the gusts. She tries and tries again. The motors roar inoessantly. and at certain moments the Deutsch land advances with painful slowness, only to be driven back immediately afterwards._ The storm is varied by deoeptivo periods of calm. For long minutes the airship makes desperate efforts to reach her only port, from which an iuvisible force fatally and inexorably repulses her. Not to return to port on a stormy day means destruction for an airship. The Deutschland rises; sho "searches in a higher sphere for a favourable current. The earth becomes moro remoto and imperceptible; we reach an altitude of perhaps 2,500 ft. The storm -continues even above us, where- tho clouds race after each other. Few of the passengers are really aware of what is happening. Later on all understand, but nobody speaks of it. Nobody cares to give expression to the black and heavy doubt "which is forming in the depths of every soul. One is afraid tt< clothe with, words a hidden thought, which one is unwilling ,to form, but which besieges the mind, and will not b& driven away. It is the thought of the catastrophe.

And then a strange and interesting thing happens; everybody becomes calm and smiling, and in the calm of other's one's own anxiety is dissipated. Wo pretend that all is going well, and thai wo are making headway. Tho waiter on board is busier than ever in executing orders. We empty bottles and demolish the assortment of sandwiches.

It must be admitted that this colossus maintains a wonderful dirigibility, and if she had another 50 h.p. she might perhaps feel herself even yet the mistress of space. But we are forced backwards, and sometimes the engines are reversed. At some moments we descend to 600 ft., then rise again with the assistance of the elevating planes. Thus the airship acquires a twitching motion, which throws Us in a heap, now to> one extremity, now to the other, of our car. It seems as if the .airship were roaring, and wished to assume a vertical position, like a flying minaret. It is not without a feeling of relief that w<S see the car slowly return to the dear, horizontal linu.

The gale, still urges us'towards tfoa cast, despite the heroic efforts of the airship, which turns her nose to the enemy like an animal at bay. For an hour and a. half Aye remain stationary abovo the little railway station of Kettonvenne. between Minister and Osnabruck. Tlie airship attacks and is repulsed, attacks again, carrying on a perpetual and varied assault. It is half-past 4. We have been troveiling for eight hours, two-thirds of tho supply of petrol has h-een consumed, wo havo enough fuel to last until 8 o'clock. Thanks to the power of our motors, wo havo been able to keep within a radius of eighty miles of Dusseldorf. We must land at all costs before the- petrol is finished and the dirigible finds herson rcworless and completely at the mere> of tho storm. Suddenly »v* i see- an proaching from the south west a dense black mass of low clouds, :ia immenso A-all of vapour. It is impossible to avoid it It is upon us in a flash, and as if by magic everything disappears from sight. We no longer see earth or sky. ~\\o f;ail iv a mist so dense that not even the forward car, with the propellers, or the stern of the airship, are visible. At a distance of a few paces we can hardly &co each other. The cold mist penetrates the windows. We are isolated in a grey chaos, in which only the sense of gravity enables us to recognise that tho earth is below and the sky above. The flight becomes a sort of nightmare. Whore ar-3 Aye going? At what height arc we? The- great aerial craft is blind, and it flies onward in sheer desperation. It is 5 o'clock We £eel tired with nervous fatigue. We have a great def.iro to sleep and wake when it is all over. This, continual anxiety, which haw lasted for hours, becomes positively painful. Wo become numbed with cold. From the inclination of the car we understand that the airship is rising, and, in fact, fearing to encounter a hill, Engineer Durr, our trusty pilot,- throws out ballast and rises to an altitude of 3.000 ft. During the voyage the balloon has lost gas, the ballast is exhausted, and now she is descending rapidly, precisely when the wind is. beginning to 1 drop, and it .would havo been possible to reach Osnabruck. The trees seem to 'ccmo nearer, and stretch towards us their pointed tops. Hurried orders pass between the cars, which communicate with each other by means of a wire along which messages are sent enclosed in tubes. All sorts of objects are thrown out, including the firo extinguishers; but the j«ro\v; still descends, and tho elevating planes are unable to restore equilibrium. Then., in order to bring down the stern. Captain Khollemberg, requests three' of us to leave the cabin and lend oui 1 weight to the after-part of the airship. We agree, and L with two colleagues, enter the curious' triangular tunnel which, attached to the body of the balloon, unites the stem to the stern. We walk along the aluminium network, holding on to the slender stay* of the same metal. Beneath my feet I see the green of the forest, which appears to be terribly close. Over my head half-inflated ballonnets fall in large folds, giving out a strong odour of rubber. 1 had accomplished half tho journey when the inclination of the dirigible increased, and I found myself burled forward. The fabric all around prevented mo from seeing. Holding on

; to tho stays, I remained motionless for an instant to regain my equilibrium. At that moment a sinister crash resounded in the silence.

I There was a tremendous lacerating, ' long, metallic creaking, then a breaking j of branches, a clatter of smashing glass, ji ripping of fabric ,a sonorous trembling all over the airship, which for a few moments seemed to pant like a dying leviathan. I did not know what ; had happened. I thought we were still jin tho air and that the dirigible was coming to pieces. For a moment I had the sensation of falling, and I clutched | tightly to the stays. Then T saw the whole <}f the metallic tunnel distorted before my eyas and the grille along I which I had walked twisting until it i formed a kind of steep bidder, while j tho leaves of trees unexpectedly appear- ! Ed around me, coming from 1 knew not where, and tearing holes in the cloth. Nut a voice was heard; not a shout. All this lasted perhaps for less than twenty seconds. It was 18 minutes pasb 5. 'There followed a silence, in v hich the humming of the forward propellers was still heard. I found the cabin in disorder, its floor penetrated by the trunk of a tree, which had emeiped a few inches from a German colleafnio who had been sitting beside me. Tho rear ear Mas touching the ground. Its stays were broken, the propellers bent and wrenched off, and the smoking motors were binied beneath a greon coverlet of leaves which had been torn off in the descent. Gigantic branches, ! shorn of their leaves, lay all around us. Tho body of the dirigible, broken for about a third of its length at the stern, svayed from side to side. The cabin iva.s' suspended about 10ft. from the ground, and the prow, still inflated, waved in the air at a height of about 40ft.