TO THE NORTH POLE BY AIRSHIP.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 16 November 1907, Page 3

TO THE NORTH POLE BY AIRSHIP.

I mi WJiLLMAN'S SCHEME. Tromsoe, September 14. « Following are the detail* of .Mr Well 'nnns in Iho Polar airship Ainc- i ru-a. on September 2, when tliii weather moderated, the wero loaded, and Messrs Well man, Yanniman, and KiesenhtMi::, with the dogs, entered the ship. 4 According to instructions, workmen took the balloon from its shod and swung it by ropes in different directions above the s'hure. Then the steamer Kmpress towed the America above the open i *ea uliove Amsterdam island. j Mr Welimau then ordered the balloon to be east loose, and the vessel rose, i about 400 ft above the sea. It sailed J first to the suuth-wer-t bel'nre the wind, j but when the motor was started advaiic- 4 od au:\insl. the wind. The motor work- J iml satisfactorily, and the ship was found J to be quite dirigible. The Express and 4 (he I'Yithjof with dilliculty kept below J Ihe America as she advanced north- J west. 4

Meanwhile tin- wind increased and n snowstorm came oil. Tlio shore was hardly vi-ilile, and (lie Imllnon disanpearcd. snow covering it thickly. Mr Wcllman now perceived an Island t„ tin. northward, which In' thought wns Vofti'lhaiiij. lie steered round it. liopin™ , jo flint open Wilier. Iml found high ii'e inountnins with a tjord. Ho liail mistaken Foul r.av Jsiawl for Vogcbaftg, mid'tin- Fjord was Foul Bay itself. He could not, raise llie balloon above the so inountaiiis, partly o\vin« to Hie scarcity of gas partly cuius to (lie weight of the towlines. lie then discovered below liim a gl.v ) i-inr. upon which the America descend'',! safelv. X,i was done except lor the liendinir of some uuiinporta it metalwork. The America was in the air for r.vo hours, and covered about I I miles. The lwlloilll was dctlated, and taken aboard the Frithjof. Mr Wcllman asserted in mi interview Unit Ihis was only a (vial flight, and tlrnt the test was successful,