Evening star., 1909-06-06
ONE Or THEHUGE PRoPEL-
LER5 OF The Ar1ERIcA

an uninfabited country (not under the
jurisdiction of any country situated
north of Greenland. Here are the great
balloon house for sheltering the airship
machine shops. gas plant. etc. How ex-
tensive is Wellmans scientific village In
the Arctic may be surmised when 1t Is
stated that fifty men worked throughout
the summer of 1908 and used four ship
loads of lumber and other supplies in
the construction of the various buildings.
etc. of this aeronautic headquarters.
But how the plant had Jared dur
Ing the winter of 19GS09. a ques-
He had an exemplifcation of what an
arctic storm could do to his balloon
house on July 4, 1917. when within
few hours the elements did damage that
1t required four weeks to repair. No
wonder then that after winter OF un-
certainty, with all communication cut Off
he welcomed the tidings of the spring
that all was we'll at his northern out
post The headquarters on Danes Is
land is stocked with provisions and the
three men on guard report that not only
are the supplies intact but the airship
nan and other buildings are in good con-
ditlon. The entire equipment at the
Spitzbergen base of supplies and SO the
hlg alrShlp of discovery is now Mr.. Well
mans personal property, having been
turned over to him free of charge oy
the men who furnished the backing for
the enterprise at the outset The ex-
~
and they will naturally be very heavy
are being borne by Mr.. Wellman and
group of wealthy Americans who are
interested in the enterprise solely on
scientific and patriotic grounds.
The airship America has been in
Paris since the abandonment of the at
tempt at flight in 1897 and the chief. en-
gineer Of the expedition. Melvin vaniman
an American. for all that he has spent
SO much of his life abroad-has been al
most constantly working over the craft
with an inventors proverbial craving for
greater perfection. The result is that the
arctic balloon has been improved and in
a great measure reconstructed Perhaps
the greatest advance that has character
lZed the regeneration of this polar cruiser
Is IN the provision Of two complete mo-
tive systems instead of the one system
upon which she was formerly solely de-
pendent. The effect Of the doubling OF
the driving power will be to increase the
speed of the sky craft if both are used
together. while leaving her still an ef-
fective ship if one system should be put
out OF commission by accident.
The America is the largest airship
ever bullt, with the single exception Of
the Zeppelin She is twice the size of
those famous cloud scouts. La Patrie
and La Republique. constructed by En-
gineer Julliot for the French army, and
she is thirteen times larger-difficult as it
Is to comprehend-than the United States
Armys dirigible No. |. which was built
for the government about year ago by
Capt. Thomas Baldwin. The Wellman
craft. while commonly referred to by the
arctic aeronaut and others AS an "air-
ship, is. it will be understood. more prop
erlv designated a dirieible balloon, and i'm
general outline it closely conforms to
what might be termed the regulation or
standard type of diriaible. having the
huge. oblong. cigar-shaped gas bag from
which is suspended car or framework
carrying the machinery, supplies and the
aeronauts themselves. There is this diff
ference, however. that this long, slender