Evening star., 1926-06-06
NORGE FLIGHT MENACE BEGAN
SHORTLY AFTER PASSING POLE
q. ----
Fog and Ice Gathering Airships Seemed Harbin.
ger of Destruction at Certain Parts of Trip.
Wireless Thrown Out of Service

| beTlHS sea t1at seemed 10 De SlalioA-
airy. How the report helped to advise
Mobile where to land Is to be men
/ toned later. Gottwaldt and Storm
johnson did their best to re-establish
communication with land. calling up
all Alaska stations according to wave
length given us by the Government
offices in Washington, but 1t was in
vain.
The antenna, covered with ice,
looked as If it were made of porcelain,
and all the energy Of the station was
lost. They rolled up the antenna sew
eral times to clean it from ice. Also
they cleaned. as well as possible, the
wheel of the generator. But all was
| in vain, their calls were never
answered.
After our arrival in Nome we heard
that all the more powerful stations In
| Alaska-Nome, Fairbanks, Cordova.
| etc.-had listened in on our various
wave lengths TO enter into communica-
ton with our station, but in vain.
They didn't even hear our signals, a
circumstance that shows the strong
effect of the ice forming on the
Norge's antenna.
Up and Up to Avoid Fog.
However, the flight went on, and
the fog. lying higher and higher. we
had to go up to almost $500 feet. This
time. as when compelled to fly over
the fog before reaching the Pole. we
could assert that we had no land
under us. A few openings in the fog
permitted us to look down on ice. This
had always the same character. with
few leads running in an east-west
direction.
During the day our troubles in
creased with every hour. The sky was
covered with clouds Of very high alti-
tude. thus making it impossible to take
astronomical observations. The sun
compass, with q cloud-covered sky,
was also of no use. We could, how
ever, continue to fly in q settled direc-
ton, due to the fact mentioned ear
lier. that the isogones were correctly
drawn. and we could use the magnetic
compasses. And often an opening in
the clouds permitted us to take astro-
nomical observations, we controlled
cur direction.
Ice Coating an Added Danger.
The situation in the evening became
worse. Clouds were over us and fog
under us. going together in one woolen
mass First we went down to lower
altitude. but. snow falling, we re-
turned to a greater altitude, but here
we met a new danger. The ship be-
gan to be loaded down by ice. Mobile
asked our meteorOlogiSt what to do.
Malmgren started at once to make
systematic observations Of the amount
Of rime at various heights. and re-
peated this many times during the
flight.
The best altitude for flying was de-
termined after his observations. Some
times they showed that it was better
TO fly high, the fog being thinner
there, but also it happened that the
amount Of rime was less nearer the
Ground, this probably being the case
when the temperature was lower near
er the ice than higher up in the air.
During these maneuvers we once
tried to go over the clouds, but they
were so high that the ship couldn't do
it without losing too much gas.
But the fog didn't only create dif-
ficulties for the fight and observa-
tions; far more dangerous was the ice
crust that began forming on the ships
engines and propellers. This threat
ened us also in another way. Wnen,
for the first time. we heard the ice
bits loosened from the outside wires
of engines by the propeller were
thrown as projectiles through the
keers canvas, making holes In 1t. all
the crew understood perfectly that we
had begun a critical stage OF our
flight.
If the blades of the propellers were
smashed by the loose.end bits or ice.
pieces of them certainly would make
such big holes in the balloon that iii,
mediately we would have been forced
l,0 {,n nd
coast. When the ice bombardment on
the keel started we were more than
200 miles from the coast. Up to that
moment, while looking down on the
ice. we. had only watched it with the
ewes of explorers. We had photo-
graphed it, had made notes about the
number and greatness and direction OF
it's leads, and had tried to state how
high the ice foes were on its broken
up surface. Facing the possibility or
marching on it down to the coast the
Ice got still greater interest for every
one in the ship. All were glad that
the ice bombardment had not started
before.
Dog Senses the Danger.
Here a quite interesting little detail
is to be mentioned. Mobiles mascot
l.
time. covered by her masters sleeping
bag, but on the last part Of our flight
the little dog became more. and more
nervous When the situation was
most critical she jumped down on the
cabin floor, growing, whining, putting
her tail between her legs and appar.
emily looking for help. She behaveo
herself several times that way. How
ever, the flight went on. the propellerS
not being smashed. But again and
again we heard the ice bits going
through the canvas of the keel, giving
the crew a hard job to repair the
breaks. One break was so big that
the airship had to be slowed up in
order to repair it. Once more we
learned to appreciate the carefulness
with which Mobile had prepared sfhe
airship for the flight, having strength
ened the envelope outside the gas bag
near the propellers just to avoid the
danger that now threatened ship, crew
and expedition.
However, we couldn't trust that en-
velope and the gas bags resistance,
and as long as the ice bombardment
went on we eagerly watched its effect.
For a while after the big break was
made the ship went only at half speed.
Several times the motors by turns
were stopped to clean the blades of
the propellers from ice-
In this way we continued the flight
toward Point Barrow. In a later Sec
ton, already alluded to, we shall give
a detailed description of the naviga-
ton, which on this part of the flight
was very difficult, and also give ex.
citing details with relation to naviga-
ton. However, readers will under
stand that with increasing excitement
we looked for land.
The distance covered indicated that
we were approaching the coast and
probably would be in Point Barrow to-