ZEPPELIN'S POLAR FLIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 189, 14 September 1909, Page 4

ZEPPELIN'S POLAR FLIGHT.

Notwithstanding the statement given out by Professor HergeseJl to the tilled that the main object of the proposed Zeppelin expedition from Spitsbergen next y«ur would be to explore northern (jreenlnnd, there is little doubt that, with favourable weather conditions a llight to the North Pole will be attempted. The Herman, papers are unanimous in urging l.'ount Zeppelin, on patriotic grounds, to plant the Germaa Hag at the pole. Count Zeppelin's friends favor the scheme and are conlident that the attempt will be successful. Dr. Eckner, one of Zeppelin's intimates. is of the opinion- that the Nortn Vole will 1m- much more easily attained by dirigible airship than the South Pole, for many reasons, the Jiivt being that

110 such acvere gales are anticipated as at the South Pole, which, as Lieutenant Miackleton discovered, is situated on an elevated plateau. Protuberances on the earth's surface, such as mountain ranges and forest*', offer a resistance to air current* which results in. those dangerous gusts that have proved fatal to 1 many ail airship. This friction is 11011exissteiiit in the arctic regions, always •supposing that the ice-covered Arctic Ocean extends beyond the Pole ithVlf, for which belief there is every ground. Scores »f experiments carried out with kites and register balloons between the 72nd and 82nd degrees "northern latitude have showni that wind was only twice observed at heights exceeding 1000 feet, above which, as a rule, almost complete calm reigned. The same result luw been obtained by ])r, Xanscn during his Fram expedition. Severe thunderstorms and rains such a> were met by Count Zeppelin on •land are not believed to occur with frequency around the Pole. Assuming that operations would I>e inadvisable with a wind blowing at a rate of more than twelve miles an hour, experiments at sea level "have s'hown oiat in the month of July this rate is rarely reached, white in June also there arc lengthy periods of comparative calm. Seeing that the sun in Polar regions remains half a year above the horizon, there would be no great danger of sudden

> variations in the temperature, which cause loss of gas and ballast. The i .shortness of the distance between Spitzbcrgen and the Pole, about <IOO .miles, ! ought to make it possible, so Count Zeppelin's friends think, for a dirigible air- ! ship to accomplish the journey during ■ a period of Polar calm in twenty hours, i The, new Zeppelin airship, which will have a capacity of 17,000 cubic metres, ■ would carry three 150 horse-power ben- ■ zinc motors, two of which could keep the airship afloat for seventy hours', or with one working for 140 hours. Thus it would be possible to reach the Pole and come back to Spitsbergen or effect a landing in Eastern Siberia, Greenland, or Northern Alaska, distances of, say. 1800 miles. The return from these inhospitable regions wmiljj, nowevei, ne an cx|iedition in itself; Tieuce preference is given to the idea of returning to tlie

bas'o on Spitzbergem Fog is another enemy to be reckoned wifch, though it is held that it is never so dense in Polar regions as to .obstruct the view of the ice beneath, and steering can be effected with tlie aid of a couqiass by day and with help of the stars by night. Asked for Ills opinion, Lieutenant Shacklt'ton says that 'ne is no aeronaut, and know*' nothing about the Xorth Pole. This, however, he does know, that i( would bi' impossible, owing to the severe gales prevailing im the Antarctic, for an airship to conquer the South Pole, lint frmu a meteorological point of view

[ lie thinks it quite within the bounds of possibility . that success would attend Zeppelin's dash on tlie North Pole. .He advise* however, that sledges lie taken on board for use in an emergency. His sledge motors, he ways, never gave him any trouble, although the sledges themselves proved useless in huiunioek-strewn regions.