ZEPPELIN WRECK.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1739, 2 May 1913, Page 3

ZEPPELIN WRECK.

FAIR-WEATHER AIRSHIPS. ADRIFT AND HELPLESS IN A GALE. Berlin, March 20. The now- Array airship Ersatz Z which was wi'ecked after descending in a forty-five-mile-au-hour wind at Karlsruho yesterday, has been overtaken by tho same fato as six of her sister Zeppelin vessels. , , Of fourteen Zeppelin airships built nl tho Freidricliihafen "dockyard" seven havo no IV keen cither destroyed or seriously damaged in similar cr identical circumstances. Nearly. .£500,(100 has been lost in this wav since the first Zeppelin was desLroved'by the force of tho wind. The experts who explain that the ship was destroyed because she had to land at a point whei'o there was no shed, overlook tho fact that she came down at Karlsruhe only because earlier in tho day she had tried and failed to effect a landing at her own station at Oos, near Baden-Baden. After having cruised all the previous night and yesterday morning for fourteen or fifteen hours, the vessel appeared above the shed at Oos at one o'clock yesterday, afternoon. The strong wind prevailing rnado a descent out of the Question. There was'also an insufficient number of sokHers at hand to help in a "storm landing. A regiment of fusiliers-stationed at Kastatt was warned;. and, with tho assistance ot several hundred riflemen, tho commander of til j rfltip, Captain Horn, attempted to land near St. Weiler. Ropes were thrown out.and seized by willing-hands, but .before they could be properly grasped 'a gust of wind struck the airship, . which was swept off in the direction of Karlsrune. It was sighted there at two o'clock. ' The vessel battled for an- hour and a half with a wind blowing at more than fifty miles an hour before Hie commander da-red to risk <an emergency descent. By now tlie eighteen hours' supply of petrol had been exhausted and one of the engines had become defective. The officers and creiv congratulated one another heartily wh?n they 'had landed in'safety after a more tempestuous voyag3 'than any Zeppelin had. hitherto survived. .'The wind having subsided to some extent, Captain Horn gave orders for . another ascent, but while preparations were being made disaster overtook the vessel wi"i dramatic suddenness. : A • strange crash was heaird. It was the'snapping o* due of the aluminium girder.? near tho bov. The work of destruction then set in along the entire surface of tlio 475 ft. vessel. Although tho airship was "anchored" on all sides by stout ropes, held by strong arms, she seemed to be hanging almost entirely by the how, which proved to be her weakest spot. .. . SOLDIERS TOFT. IN THE A lE. Tho vessel was whirled helplessly higher and higher by the wind. Tho soldiers holding the ropes at the stern were lifted 70it. from the ground, and would havo been killed if another gust had not suddenly plunged tho vessel downwards. A lieutenant who found himself under tne bow narrowly escaped teing crushed. Dozens of soldiers had the spikes of their helmets ripped off. _ Two particularly violent gusts of wind, now scaled the fate of the airship. The soldiers had long since got-out of orghnised control, and each was doing wnat lie imagined best to save the ship. Gradually the bow caved in. Balfonet after bailonet burst with a report like an exploding shell.. Then another gust, the most violent of all, struck the vessel squarely amidships. AH hope of saving .Her vanished. Only the battered stern remained undemolished. The wrecked vessel had only been in commission since January. On February 22 she carried out o. splendid non-stop cniiso of twelve and a half hours by night, covering 500 miles at the rate of. forty miles an hour.—"Daily News." PREVIOUS ZEPPELIN WRECKS. The folio King is a list of previous accidents to Zeppelin airships:— January, I'JGli.—Zeppelin II wrecked in a gale and caught fire. August, 10C8.—Zeppelin IV broke loose in a squall at Echterdingeii, trok fire, and was destroyed.

May, 1009.—Zeppelin .It ; (rebuilt) crashed into a tree on landing and was damaged. August, 1909. —Zeppelin 111 suffered many mishaps on voyage from Berlin to l''r:eclrichshal'en and was much damaged in a storm.

April, 1910.—Zeppelin II torn from its anchorage and wrecked in a storm at Woilburg. June, 1910—Passenger ZeppelinDeutschlond driver out of its course in a storm and wrecked in a. forest at Teutoburger Wald.

September, 1010. —Zeppelin VI destroyed by tiro at Baden-Baden. tfune, 1912.—Zeppelin 111 outer envelope caught fire and was burned. September, 1912.—Zeppelin II (rebuilt) wrecked at Cologne in the Kaiser manoeuvres. ■>