Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1906-06-23
READY FOR THE
DASH TO THE POLE
WALTER WELLMAN, AMERICAN
EXPLORER, is AT TRoMsoE,
NORWAY, ARRANGING DETAILS.
Special to the Herald.

NORWAY, ARRANGING DE NlLS'
Special to the Herald.
Tromsoe, Norway, June 29.-For the
second time within a dozen years
Walter Wellman, the American ex-
plorer, is here completing prepare
lions for a dash into the polar region,
which lies at the very gates of this
far northern town. If all goes well
another week or so will find the little
party of intrepid Americans ready for
their airship fight over the Arctic
seas with the North Pole as their goal.
The Norwegians are taking the
keenest interest in the Wellman expe
dition. Aerial navigation is new to
them, but Arctic exploration is not.
They view the American adventure
kindly enough, but at the same time
the Norwegians are true to their
idol, and their idol in Arctic work,
naturally enough, is the gallant DR..
hansen. The popularity of DR.. Nan
sen is very great among his country
men, and they look upon Mr.. Wellman
as a dangerous competitor of their
favorite in the race for the pole. The
vast majority, however, unite in the
sentiment that if Norwegian cannot
have the honor of winning the pole
then may it be an American.
Mr.. Wellman is putting the finish
ing touches to his preparations with
the same feeling that began the work.
He has the same faith in the feasibil-
ity of his plans, while at the same
time he appreciates all the difficulties
and dangers of the project
Two problems are uppermost in his
project. First, the vertical stability
of his airship, as affected by heat,
cold and precipitation, and controlled
by guide rope and ballast; second, the
possibility of successful anchorage
during high winds. A balloon is nee
essarily a very delicate balanced in
strument. A ray of sunshine, puff
of cold or warm wind, touch of damp
mist, causes the balloon to rise or fall
1t is most essential in a protracted
voyage to keep the balloon at an even
height. This the heavy guide rope
does. Trailing along the ground or in
the sea, it keeps the balloon down,
since, when the airship has a tenden-
cy to rise, it has to lift more and more
of the weight of the rope On the
other hand, as the balloon descends, it
is relieved of the weight The guide
ing The unstable craft, and for this
purpose Andree used several ropes.
According to Mr. Wellman's plans
his airship is at no time to be out OF
touch with the surface of the earth.
A smooth, tapering line Of steel is to
drag its lower end over the ice, keep
the ship at fairly stable height (150
to $50 feet and maintain, under or
binary conditions, the vertical stabil-
ity of the craft. Then there are other
factors involved in the problem of
vertical stability. There may be an
accumulation of frost, snow, sleet or
moisture upon the airship amounting
to several hundreds of pounds in an
hour or so. In operation the motor is
consuming fuel at the rate. perhaps, |
of 500 to 1000 pounds in twenty-four
hours. The airship may lose a con
siderable part of its ascensional force |
through cold and loss of gas at the |
very time when, instead of dropping |
weight to correspond through con-
sumption of gasoline, it is actually |
gaining weight through accumulation |
of frost and snow. Again, the reverse |
may be true-a considerable gain of |
volume and lift force at the very time |
the motors are rapidly reducing the
weight of the cargo.
The possibility of successful an
chorage is another serious problem |
In case the ship at anchor were to be |
attacked by a wind exceeding the |
tremendous velocity of fifty miles an
hour, the envelope probably would be
ruptured and the whole thing collapse
in ruin. In such an event the aerial
part of the voyage would come to an
end, because the gas would escape.
and the huge envelope would soon
come tumbling down upon the fee.
There would be nothing to do but to
continue the journey by means of
sledging over the ice with ice motors,
the fuel unconsumed by the engines of
the airship being available for this pur-
pose.