Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-07
LOG OF THE R-34
EPIC OF COURAGE
Rainbow SaIutes Vessel as It
Speeds Between Layers OF
FIeecy Clouds
CAT AND PIGEONS ABOARD
BY the Associated Press

story of this great adventure, this
gamble against the elements, is re-
vealed only through the human incl
Y dents of the trip, chronicled in the form
Of log by Brigadier General Edward
NJ. Maitland, official observer for the
British air ministry.
Scenic effects appealed to- the log
writer's love Of beauty and there are
! descriptions of rainbow that encircled
the ship. Of a marvellous sunset and of
2 cloud formations, weird and enhancing.
But the general did not neglect the
practical incidents of the voyage. A
cracked bit of machinery was repaired
with chewing gum; there were exciting
moments in lodging storms, and at the
last there was grave danger of INSULT
Client fuel.
A cat, mascot for one of the crew,
was a stowaway, and other guests in
( cluded two carrier pigeons whose beds
= were far more secure than those of the
human passengers, who had only thin
strip of fabric between their hammocks
and dizzy drop through the clouds to
the sea below.
With the airship sometimes immersed
in filmy mist and at others traversing
clear lane between cloud formations,
the fight was of unending interest, as
the following excerpts from the log
reveal:
e"1.42 a. M, Wednesday, July 2-The
R-34 slowly arose from the hands Of the
q landing party and was completely swal-
lowed up in the low flying clouds at a
height of 100 feet. When flying at
night, possibly on account of the dark
ness, there is always feeling of loneli-
ness Immediately after leaving the
ground. The loneliness on this occasion
< was accentuated by the faint cheers of
the landing party coming upward
through the mist long after the signs of
the earth had disappeared.
Breakfast in Skies
$3.50 a. m. - Breakfast in crew
space up in the keel consisted of cold
ham, one hard boiled egg each, bread
and butter and hot tea. We breakfast in
4 two watches, generally about fifteen in
each.
"11 a. m.-Still plowing our way
through the fog at 1900 feet. Sea com
pletely hidden by clouds and no visibil-
ity whatsoever.
"Cooke is now on the top of the air
ship taking observations Of the sun.
using the cloud horizon with a seXtant.
\ The sun is visible to him. but not to us.
the top of the ship being eighty five feet
above us down here in the fore control
cabin
11:45 a. m.--Lunch excellent beef
stew and potatoes, chocolate and cold
water.
"12 noor-Watch> off duty turned
IN for their routine four hours sleep
of duty-only two hours in this case,
as it is the first of the two dog watches.
~ Life in the keel of a large, rigid
airship is by no means unpleasant.
There Is very little noise or vibra-
tion except when one is directly over
the power units--a total absence of
wind and except in the early hours of
4 dawn greater warmth than in the sur
rounding atmosphere.
"Getting into ones hammock is
\ rather an acrobatic feat, especially if
1t is slung high, but this becomes easy
with practice. Preventing oneself
from falling out is thing one must
be careful about in service airship
like the R-34. There is only thin
outer cover of fabric on the underside
of the keel on each side of the walking
way, and the luckless individual who
tips out Of his hammock would, in all
probability, break right through this
and soon find himself in the Atlantic.
Rainbow Encircles Airship
1918 p. m.-Sea now visible at in
tervals through the clouds-a deep blue
in color with big swell on. Our shadow
b on the water helps us to measure our
drift angle, which both Scott and Cooke
worked out to be 21 degrees. Running
on the forward and two aft engines
n resting on the two wing engines. Speed
making good - forty nine miles per
hour.
Remarkable rainbow effects on the
clouds. One complete rainbow encircled
the airship itself and the other, smaller
4 one, encircled the shadow. Both are
4 very vivid in their coloring
Talking With Steamships
"5 p. m.--Tramp steamer S. S. BAL
lycally Head, outward bound from Bel
fast, destination Montreal, picked VI
our wireless on their Marconi speak
set, which has a range of thirty miles
only. She heard us, but didn't see us
as we were well above and completely
= hidden by the clouds. \
$3.50 p. m.-Messages were received
from both Fl. NJ. s. battle cruisers Tiger
and Renown, which had been previously
Z sent by the admiralty out into the At
lantic to assist us with weather reports
and general observation.
70 p. m.-We ar~>5ust ca top of tn,
clouds, alternately in the sun and then
plunging through thick banks of clouds
The sun is very low down on the west
hnrizon and we are steering straight
zhaking Pritchard, at the eleva
curse himself for not having
bfSdght tinted glasses. Ship now oil
an even keel.
80 p. m.-The sun is now setting
and gradually disappears below tn,
lower cloud horizon, throwing a wen
derful pink glow on the white clouds il
every direction. Course steered 32(
degrees; course made good, 200 de
grees air speed, forty four knots speet
made good, fifty five miles per ho5r.
as p. m.-Harris unwisely shut
his hand in. door of wireless cabin
painful but not serious. Flow of Ian
guage not audible to me, as the forwar.
Aengine happened to be running.
Stowaway Is Discovered
80 D. m.-Ope of the engineers ha
reported sick-complains of feyerish
ness.
"A stowaway has just been discov
cred, a cat smuggled on board by one O
the crew for luck. 1t is very remark
able fact that nearly every member O
the crew has mascot of some descrip
fion, from the engineer officer, VIII
wears one of his wife's silk stocking
as a muffier around his neck, to Majo
Scott, the captain, with small gol,
charm called thumbs up
ssWe have two carrier pigeons o.
board, which it has been decided not Z
use Anyway, whether we release then