Evening star., 1936-09-30
WORLD ENC|RCLER
ON TRAVEL TEST
Reporters Trip, Starting
Tonight, Recalls Feats
Back to Magellan.
BY LAUREN ID. LYMAN.


NEW YORK, September 80 (N.A.
N.A).-Leo Kieran, reporter for the
New York Times and the North
American Newspaper Alliance, leaves
Times Square, New York, at 8 o'clock
tonight to start on trip around the
world. Throughout his 22,000-mile
journey he will make use of only
scheduled and regularly established
commercial. modes of travel.
From Times Square Mr.. Kieran
will go by automobile to Newark Air
port. An American Air Lines plane
will fly him to Lakehurst, and the
dirigible Hindenburg will carry him
to Frankfort, Germany. From
Frankfort he will travel by airplane,
train and steamship eastward across
Europe, Asia and the Pacific Ocean
to the United States on a schedule
which should land him back in New
York 201a days after his start.
The trip is being undertaken in
search of no records, although the
schedule Mr.. Kieran has laid out
should bring him back to Times
Square in record time for
the journey. 1t is being undertaken
primarily to show that today, with
existing means of transportation,
without chartering airplanes or spe-
cial trains, it is possible to go around
the world in few hours under three
weeks.
Magellan Trip in 1919.
1t is more than four centuries now
since the first adventurer able to get
together an expedition said, "I am
going around the world" Fernando
Magellan started out in August, 1919.
with five ships and 237 men. He
died in the Philippines, and his cap
tain, Sebastian Del Cano, finished the
voyage-with one ship left out of
the five and with 18 survivors of the
original expedition. 1t took 1888
days-a month over three years.
Nearly so years later Sir Francis
Drake sailed from Plymouth and re-
turned to Plymouth again, having
cut a month from the time of the
Spanish expedition. Then came the
record journey of Thomas
Cavendish in 2 years and 81 days.
With the establishment of trade
routes following these explorers, the
building of the Yankee clippers for
the China trade, the Australian wool
and grain trade and the discovery of
gold in California, those old records
were surpassed and cut hundreds
of times. 1t remained for the
imaginative Jules Verne to draw
world interest to the establishment
of world circumnavigation speed
records with his story of the 80-day
journey of Phileas Fogg. The Eng
lish hero Of this novel used steam
vessel, trains and an occasional
chartered elephant. Phileas departed
at times from conventional modes
of travel, but not very often. His
use of elephants in the Far East
might well be considered conventional
under the circumstances.
Nellie Bly's Record.
The first important effect of the
book on world travel was the trip of
Nellie BLY,, reporter for the New
York World. who made the journey
by boat and rail in 72 days, 6 hours
and IL minutes in 1889. However,
her record was made possible by the
chartering of a special train from
San Francisco to Jersey City, so that
it cannot be said for her that she
used only the established and sched.
uled means of transport.
A year later her record was cut
four and one-half days by George
Francis Train and, in 1901, Charles
Fitzmorris frightened the travel girdle
around the world by travelling from
Chicago to Chicago in so days, IS
hours and 20 minutes. J. Willis Sayre
Of Seattle Topped seven days from