By Airship to the North Pole

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12, 21 September 1907, Page 8

By Airship to the North Pole

Apparently Mr Walter Wellman has not yet succeeded in starting on his adventurous journey to the North Pole. Heavy gales from the north have prevented the launching of his airship, and according to last week’s cables the most extraordinary of all Arctic explorations must be put off for another year.

This will doubtless be a most bitter disappointment to the intrepid voyager, who is iirmly convinced that he will succeed in his mission. It is nearly two years since the editor of the “Chicago Record-11 era Id” started Mr Wellman on this adventurous project; but he is by no means a novice at Arctic travel. In 1894 he led an expedition to the northeast shore of Spitzbergen; and in 1898 he went as far north as the 82nd parallel in Franz Josef Land. Three summers and one winter in the Arctic zone have taught Mr Wellman more than most explorers have learned about the dangers and hardships of these desolate regions. But his experiences have convinced him that the traditional method of forcing a way to the Pole in dog sledges over the ice is foredoomed to failure, and he is fully persuaded that a voyage either by airship or dirigible balloon is not only practicable. but relatively safe and certain of success. Mr WCllman’s confidence in airships is based on a fairh wide experience of

THE WELLMAN EXPEDITION

seen the Santos-Dumont and Lebaudy airships at work; and the splendid success of the French military balloon “La Patrie” at last induced him to risk his life in this remarkable quest. A company to finance the expedition was formed. and Wellman has received valuable advice and help from the French Aca-

demy of Science and several of the most eminent European aeronauts. Andree’s ill-fated balloon-trip to the North had been scouted as suicidal in Paris; but the few years that have elapsed since his disastrous experiment have made a marvellous difference in man’s control over the air. A large airship was ordered from the best constructors, and the foremost scientific skill of the day was employed in fitting it for its stupendous task. “La Patrie,” on which the Wellman airship is chiefly can average 25 miles an hour in calm weather. for about 15 hours. To be sure of forcing an airship ahead even in the face of a heavy gale a speed of 50 miles an hour ought to be attainable; but this, so far. is beyond the range of practical possibilities. Moreover, the motive power requisite for even 30 miles an hour would have required engines so heavy and a framework so huge that the airship would have been unmanageably large. In the end the Wellman ship was a compromise; but it certainly promised success. The starting point fixed

upon was Danes Island, on the northwest extremity of Spitzbergen, and there, through the short Arctic summer last year, the members of the expedition strove hard to complete their preparations, and make a start across the six hundred miles of sea that separated them from their goal. Mr Wellman’s account of his sojourn at Danes Island last year has been wide-

ly published; and no one reading it can fail to be impressed by the magnitude of the task that the explorer had undertaken. The mere practical difficulties of construction and equipment were prodigious. The “hall” in which the airship has been set up and inflated was a huge structure 82ft high, 83ft wide and 190 ft long, built on steel arches. There were about 400 tons of iron and steel for this building, 125 tons of sulphuric acid, 75 tons of scrap-iron, 30 tons of chemicals, half a ship load of provisions, and an immense assortment of engines, tools, sledges, and minor paraphernalia, all to be landed and handled on this frozen sea coast by a small party of men. The airship is 183 ft long and 521 ft thick; its steel car is 115 ft long, and the distance from the bottom of the ear to the top of the gas reservoir is 65ft, the height of a four-storey house. The surface of the balloon is 24,000 square feet, or more than half an acre, and the weight of the cotton, silk and rubber envelope alone is two tons. In all, about ten tens solid weight of men and materials will be thus transported through the air. Naturally, all possible precautions have been taken to prevent the escape of gas and to minimise the risk of accidents; and as the airship can sail 15 sea miles an hour for 150 hours on gasoline and for ISO hours with both liquid and gaseous fuel—about 2250 to 2700 sea miles in all—there ought to be, theoretically. no doubt about her ability- to cover the distance from Spitzbergen to the Pole and back again to the margin of the habitable earth. We need not enter into technical details about engines and screws and rudders. It is sufficient to say that the “America” combines all the most ingenious and effective applications of modern science to the problem of aerial navigation. Every conceivable opportunity has been utilised to increase the security of the aeronauts, or to provide for their comfort. Even the guide rope dangling from the car is a great leather cylinder, tightly packed with pro-

visions for use in an emergency. Only four men will start on this unprecedented voyage—Mr Wellman and three aeronautic specialists and scientific observers; and with good fortune they may reach the North Pole in two days or even less from the start. With winds blowing against them at the average rate of 10 miles an hour it would take them five days; but if the winds

were prolonged at a higher rate of velocity. as Mr Wellman says, they would never get there at all. However, he means to get back. In the first place, with good luck, they should easily reach the Pole and get back to Danes Island within 10 days. If + “e gasoline is exhausted by the time they reach the Pole they could reduce the weight of the airship by gradually throwing overboard most of the mechanism and returning as an ordinary drifting balloon. If the airship takes them near the Pole, the dogs and sledges they carry should enable them to travel back

across the polar ice to land. In the last resort, so large is their stock of food that they could pass a whole winter in the Arctic regions in safety, and start back again in the following summer. It sounds satisfactory enough, and it is impossible to help being infected by Mr Wellman’s courage and confidence as we read his own graphic statement of the case and his forecast of success. But most people will find mingling with their expressions of goodwill for the adventurers something more than a suspicion that the fate of Andree may be repeated in an even more tragic fashion in the voyage of the American airship.