Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-10-21
WEILMAN IN NEW YORK.
Men Who Started Across Atlantic Tell
Story of Their Trip.

| story OF ] nelT lTiP.
! New York, Oct 19.-Walter Well
man and his five companions were
landed here this afternoon by the
steamship Trent which picked them
Iup at sea after they had abandoned
their dirigible balloon America and
failed in the first attempt ever made
to cross the .Itlantic through the air.
| A bruised right hand which Wellman
carried in a sling was the only physi-
cal injury that resulted from their
| long voyage of approximately goo
miles and rescue the like or when
Is unknown to all history.
I None of the aerOnautS expressed re-
gret for the loss of the America. They
agreed that it had served its purpose
and taught its lesson. All stand ready
to renew the attempt as soon as Well
man and his engineers find a way to
conouer the difficulties that brought
their first trip to it's thrilling end last
Tuesday morning, 400 miles south
east of Sandy Hook.
Standing on the deck Of the Trent
Wellman made this stateI ent:
| I'VE thought we could not get along
without the equilibrator. Now we find
we could not get along with 1t. Our
| plans for the future are indefinite un-
til we find something that will do what
we thought the equilibrator would
do"
1.-THE "equilibrator," to which Well
man attributes the failure of his voy-
age, was the series of tanks contain
| ing gasoline, which floated in the wa
ter, attached to the airship by long
rope.
| The direct cause for abandoning the
America was the exhaustion of the
supply of gasoline, which had to be
thrown out to save the ship. When the
crew abandoned the ship only enough
was left to last about "a hours.
| The other members of the Ameri-
cas- crew said they felt as we'll as
ever, and they looked it. They are:
Melvin Vaniman, the engineer; j.
Murray Simmons the navigator; j. K.
Irwin, the wireless operator, and AL
bert r. Loud and John Auburt, the
air sailors
There was also the gray kitten,
which was taken in charge after the
flight by Mr.. Vaniman and christened
Trent.
The Trent was forced to anchor off
Sandy Hook and there she remained
until early in the afternoon. before
the fog lifted enough to make 1t safe
for her to come up the harbor
Meanwhile a party Of those nearest
ana dearest W lIlc oSiN
nauts had taken a tug and gone as far
as the quarantine station to meet
them. In the party were Mrs. Well
man, Mrs. Vaniman, Mrs. Leroy Cham
berain, Wellman's married daughter,
| and his two unmarried daughters,
and Mrs. Sarah Loud, mother Of Mrs.
Vaniman and of Albert T. Loud. They
had long wait at quarantine and 1t
was not until Ais that Wellman de-
scended the companionway from the
steamer to the deck Of the tug.
With tears in her eyes Mrs Well
man embraced her husband and kiss
ed him on both cheeks. The aged Mrs.
Loud stood weeping, with one arm
around the neck Of her son and the
other about her son-in-law, while Mrs.
Vaniman, also in tears of JOY, hung
on her husbands arm.
1t was the Morse lamp winking its
message through the darkness that
| lust preceded the dawn Of Tuesday
morning and not the wireless that
first attracted the attention of those
on board the Royal Mail steamer
Trent to the distressed airship. STAN
| ley Angel. an ordinary seaman of Is
years, and George Sangster, an able
seaman, had the early morning watch.
Angel saw ahead of him, high up in
the northeast, a faint light. "At first, "
said the boy in narrating his expert
ence tonight, II thought 1t was the
morning star. Tnen 1 saw two faint
red lights beside the white one and
next made out a dark blur against
the sky. The white light kept a-wink-
| ing and then l knew that 1t was a
signal and reported 1t to G. j. FitZ-
gerald, the fourth officer, in charge of
the watch"
Fitzgerald notified w. H. Lanison,
the chief officer. By this time the
outline of the airship had been made
out against the sky and Lanison call
ed CAPTAIN Down out of his berth.
Help, help" was the message the
white light on the America was Sig
Mailing to the steamer.
when l came on deck" said Cap
tain Down, the airshlp was plainly
visible In the light of the full moon
she looked enormous, hanging low in
the northeast and close at hand. In
reply to our signals she told us her
name and that she was in distress and
asked us to stand by"
Then the wireless was called into
use and between Louis NJ. Ginsberg.
operator on the Trent, and Jack X.
Irwin the operator in the lifeboat
suspended below the gas chamber of
the America, passed a series of mes
sages that will stand in history as the
first wireless communication between
ship at sea and a ship in the air.
"At this time" said Captain Down
of the Trent, 1--WE were in speaking
distance Of the America. She was
only 12 feet above our forestays and
moving about II knots an hour. We
kept beneath her with great difficulty,
for she swung two and fro In the air
currents and sometimes we were
forced to go full speed astern so as
not to lose her.
Then" continued Captain Down,
the crew of the airship began trail
ing wire ropes. Lanison, our chief Of
ficer, grabbed one and held on until
the skin was rubbed off his hands and
he was lifted from his feet and nearly
dragged overheard. After half an
hour of this we decided that this
method of rescue was hopeless and
much too risky. So Wellman asked US
to keep close while he and his crew
let down their lifeboat, saying he
trusted to us to pick them up. We got
two boats ready, and stationed men
along the sides with lfebuoys. I sig
nailed "all ready and Wellman low
cred his airship until the lifeboat sus-
pended underneath was within feet
of the water. The trailer, composed Of
tanks of gasoline and weighing thirty
hundredweight, was the great danger
and after the boat was launched this
struck her and stove a hole in the
side about 6 inches in diameter but
above the water line.
when Wellman dropped his life
boat it struck the sea broadside but
quickly righted itself. 1 went full
speed ahead and had considerable diff
fculty in picking up the boat. Mr..
Wellman injured his hand in trying to
catch one of our ropes.
"The last l saw of the airship she |
was Is or 20 miles away with one end
in the water. Her valves had been |
opened and she undoubtedly sank |
soon. dragged down by her heavy ma
chinery.
"Wellman and his crew came aboard |
and after baths. dry clothes and a
good breakfast, appeared none the |
worse for their experience.
The Trent carried 151 first cabin |
passengers, most OF whom had been |
making a pleasure trip to Bermuda. |
\ majority of them, clad in night