New-York tribune., 1911-11-05
.D|R|C|BLE MEETS M|SHAP
Cold Air Contracts Gas and SENDS
Vaniman to Ground.
TOWED HOME BY M0T0RB0AT
Propeller Broken, but This VIII
Delay Another Flight Only
Few Days.


Atlantic CIV Nov 4-Aftcr postponihs
his tr.el trip from day to day for week.
Melvin Vaniinan made a fight to-day III
bi. big dirlgible. but lack Of gas TO keep
II IN tho air brought the trial 20 sudden
crd. However the fight was success'u'
I'm yoriman's view Of IL. and he Is more
than ever confident that he VIII he ap'e
to take the great aircraft ac-ocs the ~
lantic Under lis own power.
The big balloon landed or the meadows
cf Grassy Bay. seven miles from hero. an"
wa toved back to the hangar al o cioch
! tonight. A broken propeller blade ana
saappcd guy wire is tie only Damage
dun".
TIE airship left the hanga. al the inlct
at tie no-thorn end OF the city shorty DO
fore ~ d. n. and made q spectacular hieht
a,ong The beach. across the city and oVcF
tac II, adows between this resort srd inc
nan line. at q height Of shout Three nun
dreC to foC- hundred feet The baIi0cn
was Up nearly two hours. when the coid
ctr feenn 20 AFFECT the gas, end she failed
To snow p-Oncr bUcyancy. Several Ianc-
mss were made. and finally the Akron
could not rise again to a sufficient height.
. and assistance was sent for. The FEDERAL
lifcsayers stationed on the Atlantic CITY
ana Rrigantinc beaches went TO the rescue.
ana with several other launches dragged
the airshio loose from the meadow grass
and towed her home.
Vaniman knew when lie started out ;hat
he did not have sufficient Gas In the big
envelope TO serve him and keep him buoy
ant without sunshine. II was CLOUDY ana
chilly. but nc told his men he thought u
would be all right II the sun came out.
He anrounc6G TO the crew that he was
ready ord asked II they we're willing.
They said Yes" with such readiness thai
Il took Vanimlu's breath away. Haul h"r
out. t''cn," he shouted. and . vas not long
before the Dig 4lrship was dragged into ,h"
o1en. Then there was G. terrific olatter irJE
the engines. and In fcW minutes the great
balloon arosc. Tho sun cam oct FOR a fcw
minutes. and everything looked soo1 for
long fight
The big bag was plainly visible from the
Country club, where a golf tournament
was coirg on. Interest I'm golf at once be
came secondary. and even Walter J. Tra'is
stopped his match to "have q look." Nari
man sailed toward Pleasantvile. Suddcai"
lie was seen to Clip. The thousands o:
watcl ers believed something had gene
wrong and held their breaths. Naniman
then was seen 20 settle near the bay OIL
the meadows. Workmen from the hangar
thought something was wrong, too. and
put out in a fast motor boat. but before
the" had gone far Taniman started up in
the air again He went over toward Abse-
con. settled down on the meadows there
and anchored" while his men were get
ding warm. Then lie rose again and start
ed ba ok for the hangar.
But while ne had been floating about
the sun had crawled back behind the clouds
and the air became colder. il caused the
gas I'm thc bag To contract more than had
been expected, and tho balloon. losing it,
buoyancy, went down to the meadows
This time il stayed down. All the bags OF
sand which Vaniman had taken out with
him for ballast were thrown overheard. but
/; wss no use. The balloon would not rise
ard that ended the flight. She rested easily
or 2 small sand fiat in the bay just north
OF Shad Island, with hcr stern stuck up
boats rescued her
I'm just ucllled to death" Vaniman said
Everything worked to my entire satisfac-
lation on the sun coming out everything
woud have been rosy. We had no trouble
at all until we went down the last time
I The other drops We made designedly. We
went down TO get a ground for the wire
less once, and then We went down to get
water for the new equillbrator. We had no
trouble at all In getting back in the air
again, and know that when we get ready
| 10 start on our big trip we shall get to the
/ other side.
The Akron is good boat and we are
/ going to show the people something new
in the next trial flight, which will be made
! just soon as | can put in new blade
/ and pump little more hydrogen into the
! envelope.
! Mind YOU, / am not asserting that We
of the Akron will assuredly cross the At
/ lantic We may fail. But even having
faled-and | surWvlng-that failure would
In no way shake my belief in the practi
, cability OF crossing the Atlantic In midar.
| Through the experiences OF the two voy
ages in the Arctic regions. while trying TO
reach the North Pole in a dirglble. and the
trial over the Atlantic Ocean little more
than a year ago, ] am more than ever
convinced that the crossing of the Atlantic
by a dirigible is perfectly practicable 1t
is only through experience and repeated
| experience that a pioneer project is fur
thered. The first campaign proved that we
could not navigate an airship with the SEX
tant and compass. The compass told us
which way north was. but II did not tell
us which way the airship was going. The
sun was not visible, and the sextant lay
I'm the case unused The result was that in
two hours In the air We became helplessly
lost in a snowstorm and finally landed on
a glacier.
This experience caused the drift dial