Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-07-07
LOG OF R-34 TELLS FIRST
COMPLETE STORY OF
VOYAGE OF AIRSHlP
continued from Page one.)

\ An excellent cloud horizon now
4 presents itself on all sides, of which
Cooke at once takes advantage. These
observations, if the cloud horizon i!
| quite flat, ought to prove a valuable
J rough guide, but cannot be regarded
! rs accurate unless one can also obtair
check on the sun by day or the moor
. and stars by night.
Cooke reckons it is easy to make
/ rs much as a fifty-mile error in locat-
/ ing ones position when using a cloud
/ horRon as a substitute for a sea hori.
( Zon.
"73O 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 two watches
/ generally about fifteen in each.
The first watch for breakfast was
Scott, Cooke, Pritchard. Admiralty
| Airplane Expert: Landsdowne. lieu
/ tenant commander United States air
| ship service. Shotter, engineer officer;
| Harris, meteorological officer. myself
and half the crew.
Jazz for the Crew.
conversation during breakfast re-
verted to the recent flight un the
! Baltic and in the adjoining Compart-
ment graphaphone was entertaining
the crew 10 the latest jazz tunes such
as The Wild, Wild Women
al "A. m.-Still ploughing our way
through the fog at 1900 feet. Sea
completely hidden by clouds and no
visibility whatsoever. Stopped for
ward and two aft engines ana now
running one only the two wing en-
gines at 1000 revolutions. These are
giving US an air speed of thirty knots
or 1876 miles per hour This is the
airship's most efficient speed as she
only consumes on the two engines
twenty-five gallons of petro. per hour
Wind is east. seven miles per hour
and so we are making good forty miles
per hour and resting three engines.
Cook is now on the top of the air.
ship taking observations of the sun,
using the cloud horizon with a seXt-
ant. The sun is visible to him but MOI
to us, the top of the ship being eighty
five feet above us down here in the
fore control cabin.
our position is reckoned to be lat
itude IS degrees 10 minutes north and
longitude IA degrees 40 minutes west,
our starting point at East Fortune and
200 miles out in the Atlantic from the
northwest coast of Ireland
We are in wireless touch with East
Fortune, Clifden on the west coast of
ireland, and Ponta de! Gada, Azores,
and messages wishing us good luck
are received from air ministry. H. NJ
S. Queen Elizabeth and others.
Beef Stew and Potatoes.
"ll:45 a. -Lunch-eXceIlent
beef stew and potatoes, chocolate and
cold water.
The talk as usual was mainly
shop, dealing with such problems as
the distribution of air pressure on the
western side Ct the Atlantic. what
winds were likely to he met with, what
fog we should run into, the advant-
ages of directional wireless for navi-
gational purposes. cloud horizons and
the like.
"12 noon-Watch off duty turned in
fer their routine four hours sleep
before coming on for their next period
of duty-oniy two hours N this case
as it IS the first OF the two dog
watches.
The sleeping arrangements consist
of a hammock for each of the men off
watch, suspended from the main ridge
girder of the triangular internal keel
which runs from end to end of the
ship.
in this keel are situated the eighty
one petrol tanks. each of seventy-one
gallons capacity; also the living quar-
ters for officers and mon and storing
arrangements for mbricatng oil for
the engines. water ballast rood and
drinking water for the crew. The lat
ter is quite a considerable item as well
be seen from the following table of
weights:
PETROL 400 Gallons $1,000
pounds, 1873 tons.
"Ou. 2.O7O gallons. o ton.
Water, three tons.
Grew and baggage, four tons.
Spares $50 pounds, = tor,
Drinking water. 500 rounds. AL
ton.
Total, 2432 tons.
Life Not InDICasant.
Life in the keel of a large rigid |
airship is by no means unpleasant. |
There is very little noise or vibration |
exccpt when one is directly over the |
uoWcr un!ts--a total absence of wind, |
and except in the early hours of dawn. !
greater warmth than in the surround |
ing atmosphere.
Getting into ones hammock is |
rather an acrobatic feat especially if |
it is slung high. but this becomes easy
with practice--preyenti oneself |
from FILLING out is a thing one must |
he careful about in a service airship |
like the R-S4, There is on;v a thin !
outer cover of fabric on the undersde |
of tho keel on each SIDE of the walk !
mo vnv ard fha niCl<less individual |
who tins out of his hammoci would |
in all probability break right through |
this ana find himself in the Atlantic.
ar.