The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-08-23
WALTER WELLMAN'S
 BIC BALLOON The Explorers Devices for Food as Well as For
 Navigation. WONDERFUL AIRSHIP. The Fuel Supply Provides For 15O Hours of Steady
 Motoring.
WONDERFUL AIRsHIP.

bergen, lying we'll within the arctic circle, north of Norway, comes the news that Walter Wellman, the Amer ican newspaper correspondent and ex- plorer, has nearly completed his final arrangements for a dash to. the North pole in his dirigible airship, the Amer ica, and that the huge balloon has been successfully inflated with hydro gen gas manufactured at the head quarters of the expedition at Dane's Island, whence this wonderful cruis- CT of the upper air is expected to start on its hazardous voyage. The crew will consist in addition to MT. We'll man, of Maj. H. B. Hersey, inspector of the United States weather bureau, the government and the geographic society; Melvin vaniman, the engineer who superintended the .construction of the airship, and Dr. Walter N Fowler of Bluffton, Ind, who will act as surgeon. The only passengers will be 12 carefully chosen Siberian dogs, to be used in case of necessity for pulling sledges over the frozen ice fields or which may be eaten as last resort.
 The explorer Andree was the first of the pole seekers to use a balloon, but his was not one of the dirigible kind equipped with it's own motive power. He also started from Dane's island in the summer of 1897. but whether he ever reached the pole is unknown, for nothing has since been heard either of the exrsorer or his balloon. The ill-fated Andree's ex- perience does not appear, to dismay MT. Wellman, for in recent number of McClure's magazine he gave a graphic description of his airship and hopefully discussed reaching the pole
 and returning safely again to civiliza- ton. Summing up his chances of success, the explorer intimates that his party have no desire to- pose as mar tyrs. They have Sour strings to their bow which MT. Wellman gives as fol- lows: 'A
 1 First We believe that we have q fair chance to go to the pole and back to our headquarters, or to other land, in ten days or two weeks time, navi- gating with our own power as a true ship of the air 70 >s5 1 Second If that fails, and the motor and fuel serve only to carry us to the pole, after the gasoline is exhausted we can use the motor and machinery And many other appurtenances for ballast, throwing them over piecemeal and thus counteract tlfe losses of lifting power through leakage and keep the America af1oat in the air simply as drifting balloon for to- tai of from 25 to 30 days from the
 start, And in that time there is a good chance that favorable wind would drift us south. The distance from the land of safety to the pole is only S60 miles, which with a fresh breeze we could accomplish In two or three days,
 l Third, Should the airship serve tc Icarry us to or near the pole we have in our equipment, complete sledgine outfit and a dozen picked dogs, and believe that within the two months oi more of light before the dark Arctic iwinter sets In we could sledge pack lover the ice to Spitzbergen or Green Hand
 Fourth. We are able to carry Ienough food with us so that if by any lchance the America should be blowr
 to some spot in the great unexplored larea, or if accidents or i'll conditions lshould make it inadvisable to attempt a sledging return in the autumn, wt lcould pass the winter wbzre we hap lpened to come down and sledge bacl
 the following spring
 The America is described by him aS Igiantic in proportions steel muscled Ifull lunged, strong hearted, built fol
 war, for work. for endurance, ablt
 to fight the winds that sentry thu
 pole and perhaps defeat them Int Ieigar-shaped balloon is 183 feet long
 with a maximum diameter of over 5: fleet, and from the bottom of the cal
 to the top of the balloon the distance lis 65 feet, about the height of four lstoried house. The cotton, silk ant rubber envelope which forms the bal lloon would cover half an acre | lspread out, and weighs about twC
 tons. The car is a marvel of skill II both design and construction It il
 1l5 feet long, eight f<et high anC three feet wide, shaped Nike the lette V, and is built entirely of the fines Isteel This triangular shape wa,
 adopted In building the car to ob Itain greater tensile strength and alst Ito provide under the platform for lgasoline tank capable of carrying l., I150 gallons of this fuel for the motor IThe car Is divided into IA section, leach of which is little over eight fee
 in length. In the first section is tn, navigating deck, in the second are tht Imotor and machinery, and in the thirt lis the cabin where the crew slee, land eat and where spare supplies art Icarried The strange craft is pro IpeIled by two twin-screw propeller made of the finest steel, II 1-2 feet il
 diameter, driven by an S0-horsepowe, ILorraine-de Dietrich motor. Upor
 the top of the great tank which form
 the body is placed light board run 1 way, giving the crew access to ever, Ipart of the car. This runway is only lsix feet from the bottom of fthe bal Iloon and all valves and rigging ar, within reach of man standing upol the framework All the suspension apparatus which binds the car to tn, balloon is of steel cables of thethigh