"HOME COMFORTS" IN THE AIR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 85, 4 January 1919, Page 7

"HOME COMFORTS" IN THE AIR

H.M.A. No. ——.which, being inteipreted, eignifies His .Majesty's Airship, number blank, had beeu out half the nig'ht and the beat part of tho next day f escorting a convoy and looking for Ui boats. Two of the aeveral bombs with t which she had been armed were missing i from their frames.- ("Loosed off at an oil patch/.' explained the captain.) . The landing party took 'the-ship into her shed, some keeping: the car off the ground,' the remainder hauling on-the ship's guys, and then the captain and crew , clambered out. ■.' Between them: they carried various articles which probably would have struck [i the uninitiated as extraordinary. One had - a. pack of playing cards, another a writ-ing-pad and a fountain-pen, a third a novel and e. of the previous day's newspaper, a fourth a fox terrier pup. . To airship people all this is perfectly usual, however.. In the bigger types of ehips, responsible for protracted overisea patrols, much is possible that could . not be dreamed of in heavier-than-air . craft. These ships carry sufficient crew' to divide the work into'watc'hes, as at sea, and in many ways the cruise of an ■ airship is much: more akin to the voy- | age of, say, a submarine than .to the • flight of a seaplauo or an aeroplane. An ■airship stays out hours longer than any flvingi machine; it works at a considerably lower .speed; its function is in many ways different from that of a flying boat or a : Haudley Page/' ■. ■ ''It''is'by no : means', exceptional for a ship to remain the clock round in ttie •air and to,cruise hundreds of miles bei fore leturmug to "the deck." Obviously, ' in such .circumstances, tlio same officers and men cannot remain on ■ perpetual dutyj'ithey must have rest, meals, and recreation, ' . • •' Sleep?is possible, though not over-cosy or comfortable; meals aro mostly in the form of sandwiches and chocolate, and through the.medium of vacuum flasks; but recreation can, be almost as varied L as one carce to mako it, within bounds. . ■'. Get well -down inside tho car and there . is little or-no draught. An electric ! inagazino lamp' will give you plenty of good light. A small table- and, perhaps, a canvas' chair arc ordinary "comforts." With all these adjuncts it is easily possible to whilo away your off-duty hours i in an airship. You can play patience, ! write letters, read the news, or a novel, or even practice on Hie penny whistle! In fair weathor'the motion of a big airship is so steady that shaving would . be quite safe; and it is not very astonish- ' ing that one should know people who '. have written printable poems and comppsed playable tunes whilo cruising in airships. The actual navigation of them requires I vast skill, knowledge, and judgment, how- ! ever, and in this respect airship work in no wiso resembles joy-riding.—Richard George, in tho "Daily Mail."