Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-10-20
MILLI0HAIRES
IN BRlBE PLOT
Whitney and ksene Are
Named In tho Racing
Lobby Expose.
FUND OF 100000

I
of Walter Wellman and his assistants
In his daring attempt to cross the At
lantic ocean in an airship is the sen.
sation of the hour. The party was
rescued at sea from the dirigible bal
loon America by the steamship Trent
Captain Charles e. Down, Royal Mai
Steam Packet company, about 37c
miles east of Norfolk early Tuesday
morning.
Mr.. Wellman, still wearing the khaki
aviation clothes he has worn since sail
Ing from Atlantic City in the balloon
at SOB o'clock last Saturday morning,
showed no i'll effects of the voyage any
more than did his companions other
than that he was pale and carried one
arm In a sling owing to an injury to
the little finger of his right hand.
MI. Wellman surprised his interview
ers by saying that the airship had met
with no serious engine troubles and
that the escape of gas from the bag
was negligible. In the wireless state
ments signed by Mr.. Wellman and re-
cefyed her just after the rescue and
in conversations with Captain Down
and passengers on the Trent Mr.. Well
man was quoted as saying that the
dirigible had met with mishaps so Sc
rious that the balloon when sighted by
the Trent could have remained above
the sea only a few hours longer and
that her machinery had gone awry.
Mr.. Wellman stated that the expe-
rience had not dimmed his ardor for
transatlantic aerial voyaging, and that
he believed he would later succeed in
crossing the ocean in a dirigible of a
type somewhat different from the one
which he was forced to abandon.
Mr.. Wellman described his trip in
part as follows:
"Ths moment we were off we ran
into a fog. The land was shut out
from our view and 1t was some time
after that before we saw land again.
1--WE headed northeast, but the fog
got thicker and thicker. Our motors
worked perfectly and as there was not
much sea running we had no trouble
then with the equilibrator. We all sat
around in a group and talked over
things. Our roster was Walter Well
man, captain; Melvin Vaniman, chief
engineer; J. Murray Simon, navigator;
]. X. Irwin, wireless operator; Fred
B. ALBERT and Albert Louis Loud, me-
chanics. I cannot praise too highly the
bravery of my assistants.
How the First Meal Was Cooked.
"The first day was not very exciting.
We were In fog all the time, but we
found plenty to do. Vaniman was
fussing with the motors all the time,
and Irwin kept sending wireless mes
sages. We never knew how many Of
them got anywhere, but we kept test
ing everything, determined that moth
ing should get disarranged suddenly.
"It was late Saturday afternoon
when some of us began to feel hungry.
We had been so keyed up during the
day that we hadn't thought of our
hunger. Irwin proposed to be the best
cooker of ham and eggs that ever
sailed the air, so we appointed him
cook. Down in the lifeboat beneath
US we had a small gasoline stove. IT.
win stepped into the boat, and soon
the aroma-of the ham began to float
up to US. None of US ever smelled
anything better, I can assure you.
"Pretty soon we Degan to sniff cof-
fee, and then Irwin passed up a huge
platter of food, and we ate 1t. l dc
not think a meal was ever cooked un.
: der such circumstances. There We
were nearly 200 feet in the air In 6
: : dense fog, our ~propellers sending us
falong DIT about twenty miles an hour
4 eating ham and eggs and drinking cot
fee that we had made aboard ship.
Trouble With Equiilbrator.
1--WE set a watch Saturday night
and some, of us got a little rest. Ther'
wasn't much sleep, however, for W.
were too excited and too anxious t
8 see where we were when we got on
! of the fog.
3 Sunday afternoon the weather clear
7 ed somewhat, and we saw we We're OF
3 Nantucket. We kept right on on
course and struck our first trouble OF
Nova Scotia. A heavy wind blew VI
and we began to feel the lack of cor
troll of our ship. We were blown frs
e one way and then the other,
9 s"The cylinders of the e%quilibrato
Q would jump out of the water, and W
9 would shoot ahead. Then they woui
drop back in the water, and we woul
be checked with a jerk. This sort Q
thing not only racked us, but raeke
the ship. 1t also caused q great strai
on the engines and used up gasoline 9
n y tremendous rate.
IS Toward evening, while Simon wa
II steering. we almost ran down a for
g masted schooner. The fog had gait
cred around us again and we wei
h right on the schooner before we sa'
te her. We managed to get past, but
guess the people on the boat WEI
nightly frightened. | know We wer
We shut off the Engines after that an
irifted about for awhile. When W
IN started up again we almost ran In
Is the schooner's masts once more.
ii eve began to realize that the wiz
60 was too much for us with that lnfe
r nal equihbrator jerking behind. Mo
q day we found ourselves considerab
south OF Nantucket. A hot sun can
out and caused the gas in the bag
expand.
Shot Upward at Great Speed.
o tThe speed with which W. shot
was alarming. We estimated that '
had gone up a.eae feet without stc
ping and dragging the equilibrator al
g, its heavy cylinders with rs. We h