ARCTIC EXPEDITION

Hokitika Guardian, 28 July 1931, Page 5

ARCTIC EXPEDITION

GRAF ZEPPELIN’S FLIGHT. Dr Ecketier, in a statement concerning Graf Zeppelin’s cruise to the Arctic, said that he had definitely dismissed the thought of undertaking such an adventure for sport’s sake only. But when Sir Hubert Wilkins suggested his co-operation in the cruise of' the Nautilus, and the Hearst concern offered financial assistance, he changed his mind. It had also been possible to come’ to favourable terms with the insurance company, in spite of the disasters of the airships Italia and R.lOl. There will be room for about a dozen passsngers, but besides the representatives of the Hearst concern the places will be- reserved for scientists only. Dr Kckencr will take charge of the airship himself, but other experienced captains will accompany him, and the rest of the crew will be carefully chosen from the old company. The equipment of the airship will comprise all the necessaries of a North Pole expedition, such as tents, sledges, fur coats and' so on. Graf Zeppelin will start from Friedrichshafen and will first fly 'to Leningrad, where it wjll complete its provisioning, then cress Finland and the Lake of Ladoga, and follow the coast of the ‘White -S'ea as far as the twin islands of Nova Zembla. Then it will fly due north to the eightieth parallel, cross Franz-Josefsland, and follow the sixtieth meridian to the Pole. No landing is intended there. After the scientific tasks have been solved it will return by the route of the fairest weather conditions to Friedrichshafen. The whole trip will measure about 10,000 kilometres. The mishap to ‘the Nautilus on its voyage across the Atlantic has prevented what would have been a most interesting 'experiment in co-operation between aircraft and a submarine. It had been arranged that communication j with the Nautilus was to be taken up on the way as soon as possible, and the two vessels hope to sight each other at the Pole. The airship might have been able to furnish the submarine with valuable information as to the surface of the sea and open waterways. But Dr Eckener laid stress on the distinc-j tion between the two tasks of the Zeppelin, the principal task bejng research work, which has been cherished for many years by the Zeppelin Company, and the secondary being the finding and assisting of the Nautilus.

Graf Zeppelin is the third dirigible 1 to fly into the Arctic. Amundsen and Nobile flew over the North Pole in 1926 in the Norge. Then in 1928 the. Italia flew over the Pole,* but crashed on the return journey, and Nobile narrowly escaped with his life, and Amundsen sacrified his when going to the rescue of Nobile. Dr Eckener, who is leading the present expedition, constructed Graf Zeppelin, and has carried out many notable flights in the airship. He has not previously ventured into the Arctic.