The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-10-21
TRIP IN A|RSH|P WAS
FILLED WITH THRILLS
WELLMAN AND HIS CREW SAVED
BY A STEAMSHIP.
Rescue Is Thrilling One; Transfer of
People From an Aerial Craft to a
Steamer Without Parallel in His
tory; Balloon That Was Endeavor-
ing to Cross Atlantic to British
Isles in Distress When Located.

New York. Oct 1S--MaE's first at
tempt to cross any ocean in an airship
has failed, but Walter Wellman, five
companions and kitten, who essayed
The voyage, are safe. The airship--
The giant Americas a battered aer.
ial derelict, abandoned at sea, perhaps
still In the air, perhaps sunk beneath
the waves with her costly equipment
When deserted she had been in the
air probably seventy-two hours, q new
worlds record for dirigibles. and.
driven by the wind, has Travelled
doubtless 500 miles. Whether the dis
lance record for dirigibles-S70 miles
also will be broken remains to be
computed.
Picked up by the steamship Trent
of the North Carolina coast Wellman
and his fellow air navigators are due
in New York today.
They left their craft only because
she was in distress and blown SO far
from the line of transatlantic steam.
ship travel that q continuation of the
voyage with the British isles as the
objective point was hopeless. So,
summoning aid by wireless. the diff
cult and dramatic transfer to the
Trent was accomplished and the
America was left TO the fate of the
winds
In uJif oraIIa1 in
history--the transfer Of passengers
from an airship to a steamship-mea-
ger were the details obtained by wire
less Wireless, at all times more or
less uncertain, was rendered more so
by the tropical storm which swept
northward, but wireless stations in
the vicinity of New York picked up
from the Trent q word here and a
word there, simplifying on the early
dispatches.
All Safely Transferred.
1t was learned that Wellman had
found it necessary to rid the airship
of the burden of most of its gasoline,
retaining only enough. to reach land in
The event the Trent had not come to
the rescue. When the steamship
needed the calls of distress and drew
near it's aerial sister Wellman shouted
his predcament through megaphone
and decided that he would lower his
lifeboat, which swung from the diri.
gible's belly. AS precaution the
Trent lowered her lifeboats, which
stood by until the transfer was effect.
ed and Welman and his crew. even
down to the frightened. squirming kit,
ten, were safe on board the liner, sur
rounded by the excited passengers.
The rescue was accompanied at a
time when two continents awaited
breathleSsly the fate of the diriSible
and her crew, a feeling that had be-
CONNIE so acute here that President
Taft had authorized the navy depart
ment to send out vessels in search OF
the missing airship. which, prior to
the rescue, was last in communication
by wireless with the MarcOni station
ar Siasconset, Nantucket.
At Atlantic City, Mrs. Wellman and
Mrs Melvin Vaniman. wife of Well.
mans chief engineer, were torn with
anxiety, while every wireless station
on the Atlantic coast was exerting eff
forts to pick up some news OF the
navigators.
Captain Down of the Trent flashed
first news of the rescue in message
to the New York Times. which Wit
the Chicago Record-Herald and the
al Tolnoronh ri nf af Il
$4,000 for the purpose of the expedi-
ton.
One of the Motors Broken.
Further wireless messages reaching
cas- motors had broken, which made
more serious the predicament created
when all the gasoline that could be
spared was cast into the sea. It also
is probable that the craft had suffered
severely from the jerking OF its great
rat-like tail, or eQuilibrator, which
served the triple purpose of elOngat,
ed gasoline tank, balance and wire.
less ground" Wellman had flashed
by wireless to Siasconset that this i'm
mense appendage, battered by the
waves, had caused trouble and anxiety.
necessitating shutting Off the motors
at times Buffeted as the craft was
by the winds. it is likely that the
equilibrator caused greater trouble in
the Americas unwilling southwark
Journey.
The America is. or was, 2S8 feet
long and 50 feet in diameter, with q
lifting capacity of 1850 pounds. The
envelope alone weighed two tons
There were three gasoline engines
aboard, two of from eighty to ninety
horsepower for the propellers and the
smaller a donkey engine. The craft
was practically the same in which
Wellman made his two starts for the
North pole.
Mr.. Wsllman is fifty-two years old
and was born in Mentor. 0. AS q
Journalist and explorer he became in
terested in ballooning, and has had
great faith in the possibilities of ex
ploration and voyaging by dirigible.
Sent Out Distress Signals