Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-02
GRAF PARTY HAS
FEW PR|VAH0NS
Scientists Reward Is Rich
for Small Trouble on
Arctic Cruise.
BY ARTHUR KOESTLER.


FRIEDRICHSHAFEN. Germany,
August / (NAN.A).-The Graf Yep
pelin swung gracefully into her home
port yesterday, the memorable polar
flight having reached its end. And we
aboard were abruptly transformed from
polar explorers into everyday citizens.
Grouped in the saloon as the Graf
fioated in over Friedrichshafen, we were
overcome by a general melancholy at
the thought that our adventure had
been concluded. And how we envy the
regular crew of the big ship, who will
accompany her on her next exploit.
The geographers aboard the Graf
Zeppelin on the arctic cruise. in fact
all the scientists who made the flight
earned rich reward for comparatively
small trouble. because apart from a
lack of water for washing and the ne
cessity to retire in sleeping sacks. the
northern voyage required few romantic
privations.
Hoped for Forced Landing.
Indeed. it may be that some of us
nursed a little secret disappointment
that things did go so smoothly. know
I cherished romantic thought of
compulsory landing somewhere in that
white desert of Arctic ice.
One of the thrills of the flight was
the privilege of manipulating the steer
ing gear. Capt. Schiller gave a few
lessons. and for one hour your cores
pondent steered the giant ship, amazed
to find how the colossus reacted at the
slightest pressure Of a finger.
The most amazingly fascinating
sight Of the entire fight spread before
us on our last day in the Arctic. We
were called by Comdr. Smith of the
U. S. Coast Guard Service.
Look" he exclaimed. I'VE are on
the moon
We saw a landscape so incredible
that 1t surpassed anything seen pre-
viously. Our altitude was 1900 feet.
Beneath us were abrupt peaks of about
coo feet. rising through swirling white
pits Of fog.
Had our instruments not told us. it
would have been impossible to say how
deep was that abyss beneath the fog
blanket, and where the earth lay. After
traversing this region we struck q
glittering snow desert. For hour upon
hour we riveted our gaze on a world
Of snow and glaciers. But now all that
strange beauty is only memory.
was the only correspondent aboard
the Graf, so my dispatches meant the
one bridge between the ship and the
IAfAAAACo WOL Ills 1CSDOIlSlUlllty
gave me the cold creeps. Hardly had
We reached the polar circle, where the
real expedition began, when the direst
misfortune befell. We heard everybody
on the air, but nobody heard US. Oc-
casicnally we picked up some Nor
wegian station. particularly Vardo, but
the communication was miserable.
Normally it takes only a couple of
minutes to radio so words, but on this
flight it took us an hour and q half
sometimes. At our rendezvous with the
ice breaker Malygin, the dramatic cli-
max of our flight. I implored Russian
passenger on that ship to flash my re-
port home. He did, heaven bless him,
for 1t was the last message for IS hours.
Wireless men worked madly, but they
could not even pick up the Dickson
radio station at q time when that was
lying Immediately below us. There
upon, when we dropped to the sta
tons crew a food package attached
to parachute, we inclosed a news
dispatch, which we asked them to send
on. That was the first report reaching
Berlin after long pause.
Copyright, 1881, by North American News
paper Alliance, Inc)