FLYING THE ATLANTIC.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 990, 3 December 1910, Page 10

FLYING THE ATLANTIC.

WELLMAN'S EFFORT ENDS IN m it DISASTER. vi ll si _ ' REOUED BY S.S. TRENT. fl ( London, October 21. Mr. Walter Wellman's airship Ameri- " ca, which was built to make a trip i- across the. Atlantic, went up for the a first trial flight at Atlantic City at 11 ( . 8.30 on Saturday' morning. It started d v seaward, and disappeared into a . dense ti , f°g- a; Wlien tlio fog lifted at ten o'clock K 6 Air. Wellman's airship was out of sight, v; A statement was made beforo the tl y start that the flight was of tho nature a! of a trial, but Air.' Wellman at the n same timo conveyed the impression 0; 2 that he would undertake the Transat- n .*1 lantic voyage, and that lio was not ti V coming back provided the conditions f( . were auspicious. g Those on board wero: Mr. Wellman, tl [_ Air.; Jlelvin Vaniman, chief engineer.; tl j Air. Fourray Simons, navigator; Air. f ; y J. K. Irwin, wireless operator; All-.. C i Albert h. Loud, and Air. John Aubert, jc assistant engineers. Air. Jacon, motor expert, did not accompany the party, ti owing, it-is said,, to a dispute with a: ;s regard to wages. p e Mrs. Wellman and'her two daugh- i c is ters and Mrs. Vaniman were the, last a: e to grasp the hands of the aeronauts. CJ is Cheers were raised as the small motor K is yacht towed out of the iidet the big w " cigar-shaped balloon. . 0 1 V ' a n ; Wireless Messages. (.] ■ One of the wireless, messages from n the America,picked up on.Sunday said: "Outloo'k not so favourable, but we are T keeping. up the flight."; cl • -Another said"Have shut down, the si motor and are heading east-north-east, 0 n making twenty-five knots an hour with- si e out tho "'engine. Saving juice for wire- is 5 > (ess;/dynamos, not . working. Thick tl lS fog; no observation obtainable." tl ' A wireless message, amplifying Sun- a: d day's, was sent on by ..relays to Sea- b: ® sconsett ,in • the'evening. . It. was faint fi ; e and hard to decipher, and when patched a ;s up was found to say: ."AH well. Ma- ir chinery working well. Have turned a moi;e northerly to reach Transatlantic a: . steamer-track. Exact position not sure"; somewhere between three hundred and 0 eight hundred miles off shore." , But trouble was browing' for the fear--1 .less navigators of the -air, and their voyago was destined never to be accomplished. During Sunday and Alona day the airship was lost trace of, and. . u the gravest anxiety about her fate -arose. Severe storms were reported on the Atlantic, and it was apprehended y „ ;that the America might have eiicoun- J = tered_ their fury, and been driven out a: of the track of "steamers..- ■ ' ■ 'Oj l,Theso fears wero only too truly . real-. ' + ised. Tho -airship was sighted early on Tuesday morning by tho Royal 'Mail ?' steamer Trent at a' point 350 miles off ir 0 Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. It was l" learned by wireless telegraphy that tho T America, which, was drifting at tho ti 8 rate of twelve miles, an hour, was in n distress, .and, after long and hazardous n n operations,. tho rescue of all on board, e including the cat, which .was carried as (• J - a mascot, was effected by tho Trent. '<> The airship was abandoned. The aeron- s : 'r aiits had Deen blown 550 miles south- ti 0 wards .out of their course, .and Air. S a ; Wellman decided therefore that it was ii ? inadvisable to proceed further with the si , 3 voyage. 1,...... . a 0 Wollman's Storv. f ° The "Daily Telegraph" received the e ' "• 'following messago' from Mr. Wellman' ' 5 recounting briefly the adventures of tho ® Q Ainorica: — . h "S.S., Trent (via New York, Tuesday.) & ' (By Wireless.) ]> "After passing Nantucket on Sunday « morning, wo made an estimated 140 a miles east-north-east, drifting with a Sl j. frosh. breezo without the motor. h jj "In tho afternoon tho wind was wos- d k terly, and at 9 p.m. our' approximate tposition was lat. 42 north, long. 67 s n west. N-t. is "Hero the wind shifted to Borth-west, t V and blow, at thirty'miles an hour, tho 0 America drifting at twenty-fivo miles q ' an hour. ' r j _ "Tho equilibrator pulled hard, rid- b 1, ing over seas, jerking and shocking the. ,i ship, and setting up a rolling motion, c '„ which threatened total destruction. t . ."It was.a dreadful night, but the q !. entire crew wore calm and even cheer- p rt ful. c ' e "We were greatly exhausted." j b 5r . sTho special correspondent of , the s "Daily Telegraph" at Atlantic City, 0 j by whom the wireless message was re- t 5r ceived and transmitted to London, v 10 adds: — ' , ' ' ' a 11 "The abovo Version of Air. Well- p L B man's narrativo_ was wirelessed from the 3 : Trent to' Atlantic City, and came ashoro e in rather incoherent fragments owing f , to _ the electrical storm. Mr. Wellman t evidently tried to send tho . full story J l( j of his romarkablo journey, .'but was 1( i p'rovented, and so it happened that a a ] very few words occupied somo hours in transmission. , "I was present in the wireless station ->0 when Air. NVellinan was telling his HI story, and the operator told mo that he had tho greatest difficulty in piec- 5 ■' ing tho words together." | Tho Rescue, <- j a- Tho Associated Press of • Now York ] n- received the following wireless telegram ( is showing that the transfer of 'Mf. Well- ] fd man ■ from tho America to the Trent , was - accomplished with difficulty:— ] bo . v "Aboard tho Trent, 4.30 a.m. - j :1- "The Trent sighted the America, and ( id wireless communication was immeaiatest ly established. { a- . "Irwin, the operator on the airship, ( is- informed the operator on the Trent . ly that the airship's crew wished to ! ly abandon the balloon. ■ , n- . "Wireless communication was kept ve up from this timo onward, rs "Aleanwhilo daylight was rapidly ap- , be proaching, and the Trent was requested 1 rd to follow the America, which was then drifting at tho rate of twelve miles an hour.- ' ■ "After a council held on tho airship, it was decided that the best means of resu- cue would bo to launch the lifeboat, in But this was a hazardous undertaking, ty, and much time elapsed before tho , n manoeuvre could be executed, as the ill airship's' tail, consisting of tanks, of gasolino and blocks of wood, threatened A 0 to capsizo tlio lifeboat while boing dropu' pod from the balloon into the water. 111 "This danger was at last overcome, ! os and the operation was carried out with lss success. "In the operation tho trailer 'struck ( ' a Messrs. Irwm and Loud,' and also :a ' knocked a small liolo in tho lifeboat's 5r > side. ; _ - , "Immediately on being relieved of the weight of the boat and crew, tho airship shot up into tho sky. , "A moderate sea was running at the time, , and after somo slight difficulty, 7 1 " the crew, with tho boat, were taken 10 aboard UlO Trent at 7.30 a.m. "All the members of the airship's le [ crew are well. 1 "Wireless telegraphy has distingnish- :?.® od itself by its assistance in accomplishing tho work cf rescue. Alorse lamper" signalling also took a great part in tho ?, r " communication between Irwin and tho officers of tho steamer Trent, giving sig- ' . nals which led to the rescue of tho crew. IOX "Mr. Wellman said that the airship ms was blown so. far out of her course that it was inadvisable to proceed." j) i 850 Miles Covored. The course of the airship up to the . timo she was wrecked shows to what ... extent she was at tho mercy of wind and weather. Tho total distanco covered was 850 J " 0 miles, and tho Ainorica undoubtedly rs " broke all records for both timo and distance, as slio was in tho air continued ously for sixty-nine hours. af- Air. Walter Wellman is fifty-two years ol use. Ho is known aa on introjjid.

explorer. Ho endeavourod to reach tho North Polo by way of an airship. Mr. Wellman' had already made two attempts to reach tho Polo when ho mado'his das}i in tho airship, a daring voyage, which had a disastrous conclusion, for the Fridtzof, tho vessel -which carried the airship, was wrecked,' and fifteen lives wero lost. ;; Wellman's Reflections. Tho "Daily Telegraph's" New York correspondent, cabling on I'Wednesday night, - says:—Air. Walter Wellman dictated tlio "following narrativeWo travelled one thousand and ten miles, and were in the air seventy-two hours. Mr.' Vaniman and myself learned invaluable lessons. Now we know that the equilibrator is a failure—one might almost say a great failure. It is hardly realised that the action- of tho waves on tlio equilibrator was. enough to torment us mentally and physically all tho time. Both Vaniman and myself suffered greatly from nervous strain. At first our course was roughly northerly, then easterly, then southerly, but all the time we kept going, and with a fair degree of luck wo should have completed at least a third of tho joiirnoy to England.' As to Navigator Simon, he was a treasure. He, had .not been tried in tho art of seamanship in tho air.' Similar praise is duo to Jack Irwin, tho wireless operator, who was always smiling and joking, even in times of greatest crisis. Loud, the engineer, went almost without any sleep. His experience was invaluable. . Young -. Aubert, the child of the expedition, proved himself a man. Even in moments of crisis there was no lack' of 'discipline, no murmuring, against orders. The airship generally was a success. The gas was well retained. Tho machinery was good, and the steel car stood a tremendous strain successfully. Our greatest difficulty was how to get sleep, which was irregular and /spasmodic. Tho switchback railway', called the rocky road to Dublin, was as nothing to unexampled series $f whacks and of our unfortunate equilibrator, and when we. almost collapsed from fatigue, we simply slept for a few minutes at a timo. We brought away instruments and logs. ' The airship must be still bigger, more powerful, and not dependent on an equilibrator.