The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-05-18
TO THE NORTH POLE BY AIR
SHIP AND STEEL BOAT,

ures, Walter Wellman, internationally
famous as explorer, and news
paper correspondent, is soon to under
take for the Chicago Record-Herald a
dash to the North Pole in an air ship.
On two previous occasions, in 1894
and 1899, Mr.. Wellman has headed
polar expeditions, and about the latter
part of June, expects to start from
Spitzbergen, some 600 miles north of
Hammerfest, Norway, which is within
SIS geographical miles of the Pole,
and it is estimated that the party
should be able to make the trip to the
North Pole in ten or twelve days.
The trip will be made during the
long daylight months of the year, and
communication with the world will be
maintained throughout the trip by
means of three wireless telegraph sta
tions. The first will be located at
Hammerfest, where connection is had
with the Atlantic cable, the second will
be at Spitzbergen, the headquarters of
the expedition, and the third on board
of the air ship.
The air ship in which the Wellman
Record-Herald expedition is to make
its dash to the Pole is now being built
by Engineer Louis GODDARD in Paris.
1t will be approximately 165 #. long
and it's greatest diameter will be about
50 it. It will have a lifting power of |
10000 lbs, and the weight of the air
ship, with it's motors and machinery
complete, will be $500 lbs The |
weight of the crew, instruments wire
less and other apparatus, and gasoline,
will be 9,400 lbs. The air ship will be
propelled by two motors, one of so
and the other of 25 H. p, driving two
screws, and giving a speed of from ten
to nineteen miles an hour. The length
of the car, which is made entirely of
steel tubing, is a little over So it., and
the engine rooms and cabin for the
crew are enclosed.
Three thicknesses of fabric are be-
ing used in the construction of the gas
bags of the air ship, two of cotton ma
terial and one of silk, with three coat
ings of pure rubber All three are
into one fabric, giving
great strength.
Before starting on his trip Mr.. Well
man expects to be able to manage the
big air-ship himself and will make
many air ship ascensions and tests in J
France to perfect himself in the man. {
lgement of the dirigible balloon Sus- |
pended beneath the air ship will be a
Mullins steel boat, weighing about 225
bs, and with carrying capacity of
800 lbs. I
The boats now under construction Z
will be about 16 #. long by Az it. wide L
lmfdships, and will be made of pressed I
teel plates, with high gunwale. Both =
,oats will be completed about May Is @
md shipped to Tromsoe, Norway, a
where the steamer which will carry Z
he Wellman expedition and outfit to Il
is headquarters at Spitzbergen is now d
wing. After the most severe test, one s
# the two boats will be selected for u
he polar expedition
In case of the destruction of the air
hip, the steel boat will be used for
rossing the long stretches of open
water. and will be mounted on slides t,
or crossing the ice fields. In such d
vent, the steel boat would become the is
lost important part of the equipment, r.
s its strength makes it practically 81
while its lightness en- il
bles it to be handled easily. AS the ii
Vellman expedition will take but one Al
oat, it is presumed that Mr.. Well a,
ian made the most careful search E,
throughout the entire world, for the is
ghtest yet strongest boat which could
ossibly be built, and it is not merely
coincidence that the Peary expedi-
ION, which recently sailed in search W
the North Pole, should also carry Ell
Mullins steel boat as part of its III
quipment. IN
The whole world will watch with al
he greatest interest the attempts of 10
le Wellman Record Herald and the D'
cary expeditions to discover the II
orth Pole. Which will win, the ship ne
r the air ship?- Should Walter Well
ian succeed in reaching the Pole, and
pyeil its mysteries, it may be- only
few years before tourists will bring Tn
ack to U.S. from the Arctic resorts W
lowing stories of the beauty and an
randeur of the frozen north - OF
nc