Evening journal., 1899-02-11
COIQUssY OF tbs EOR7H POLE
DESCRIPTION CT AN ENGLISH
AERONAUT'S TEST OF AN
DREE's ARCTIC APPARATUS.

AERONAUT'S TEST OF AN
DREE's ARCTIC APPARATUS.
For some time Mr.. Percival Spencer,
the most celebrated aeronaue, has mad
it in contemplation to tssl the sail
and trail rope gear used by Andree in
his attempt to effect the aerial con-
quest of the north pole. The ccnjCint
system Of trail rope and sail has never
yet been practically tested to any ex-
tent, and the idea Of it is this: In a
free balloon you are always in per-
petual calm, for you are travelling at
the same rate as the Wind. A sail
Would therefore, be as little use for
directing purposes as a rudder in a
boat drifting in a current without cars
or any means cf propulsion. To use
your sail you must have a trail rope,
so that Immediately you descend and
set a certain proportion of your trail
rore with it's weight on the ground,
your balloon is retarded. You are not
then travelling at ,he same rate as
ihe wind, l. e., you are nc. in a perfect
cl.m and your sail can act. by prop
er manipulation Of ballast you ar
range that a certain portion of your
trail rCue shall he earth borne, and
the course Of the balloon correspond
ina'y retarded.
You have, however no guiding pow
er in the trail rope, and for This the
sail is used. The retardation OF the
balloon given by the drag Of the trail
rope creates a breeze, and this acts
en- the SAIL which, by a manipulation
OF the trail rope, causes the balloon to
be slanted to the right or left Of the
wind course, according to the direction
in which it is desired to diverge. The
trail rope we used was ordinary three
inth hemp-tt must be remembered
That rope is measured by its circumfer-
ence-and was 500 feet in length. The
tests, therefore, required that the bal
loon should be at a height of less than
500 feet. The san we carried was nig-
ged as in Andree's balloon, on a spar
made fast across the equator OF the
ring that supports the car, and
stretching upward, it was made fast
to the netting of the balloon It was
of sort of duck. or very light can
vas, in fact, an ordinary square sail OF
twelve feet, Weighing ten pounds. The
trail rope was attached to The centre
of the ring. AT each side of the spar
where it crossed the ring pulley blocks
were fixed, through which guy ropes
were passed and fixed, by what APP
/ peared to be a rolling hitch" knot
to the trail rope some feet below the
car. To bring The gear inro operation
as soon as part of the trail rope is
earth borne. you haul on one Of Uhe
/ ropes either to right or left and sc
bring your sail surface to the wind
according to the direction in which
you wfsh to guide your course.
AT 1.55 we came down and began
( our trail rope experiments, being
then over CuanAam Han. Almost i'm
me5tate,g we had got some hundred
| feet or so CT cur rope Garth borne. we
found that it would come straight
across a field, and over four plows
each with it's p,owmnn and pair oil
/ horses. A hail to the men warned
them to take their teams forward; oui
rope trailed safely past the handles o.
tine plows just behind them, and q
shout from the men gave us our loca-
tion. One of the pre;eiest sights OF
the trip occurred n field a little fur.
ther on. Four young horses were
there grazing. and their amazement
at the great. weird snake that wa.
swiftly crossing the field, was deli
ciOus 60 behold A wild s.ar.. and ther
they trotted up and shifted at it delib-
erately. A shout sent them eff in a
headloug gal[bp, only. however, tc
trot back again and wonderingly
watch the rope. but this time at a DIS
erect distance.
At 2.1O We had rather AN excilns
contretemps. We suddenly saw tina
our tratl rope was bound to pass ovei
the roof Of a large house. which was
hid in thick trees. First resting On tht
trees at one side. the rope as w,
crossed, dropped straight across thl
reef. To our delight however, thl
chimney pos over which it tra.led ap
pearei TO suffer ITO damage, ana in ;
second the rcpe was again borne OF
the trees tops at the other side Of th
house This. perhaps, may explain n
incident that happened a few minnte.
,ater for. suddenly. gancing down. W.
saw a blrly policeman running for al
he was worth across a field, after ou
trail rope. He never reached It, how
ever, though he made a long run of it
ana the last we saw Of him he wa
gazing wrathfully up al us from the
cen,re Of a huge p-owed field, evident