344 THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR. 



instead of enjoying- a well-earned rest, set to work to build air- 

 ships. The able soldier, used to discipline, knew that he would 

 have to become an engineer first. Count Zeppelin took no steps 

 of which he was not convinced that they were logically and scienti- 

 fically correct. Time after time he asked the leading men of 

 one of the greatest engineering societies the world knows — the 

 \'erein Deutscher Ingenieure ; " Tell me, gentlemen, where I err, 

 where I go against scientific laws, where my investigations want 

 extending." This conscientious training and experimenting stood 

 Zeppelin in good stead when accident after accident befell the 

 aged Count. " I will build a ship which is as much at home in 

 the air as a ship is on sea," were his remarks. " Not a balloon, 

 I want, I will have a proper ship." 



Near Manzell on the Lake of Constance, there rises a huge 

 hall. Since 1899 Zeppelin has been experimentino- on a rigid 

 dirigible, spent all the money he possessed, gained successes, came 

 to grief, built afresh. Two days of accidents destroyed the work 

 of years. 



Five years were required before the Count had collected suffi- 

 cient money to enable him to build his second ship. Then arose 

 the magnificent and huge Z2, and in the first Winter days of 

 1906 Zeppelin commenced his journeys. A sudden and strong- 

 wind drove the ship from the lake and landed it on a frozen field. 

 (The steering planes were not large enough.) The following night 

 of gales made a complete wreck of this ship. But Zeppelin, now 

 68 years of age, did not despair, and nobly was he supported by 

 wife and daughter. They sold even their jewels and gave up 

 their comforts to enable their hero to build a third ship. With 

 the perseverance of a Manichee, and the briskness of a boy, he 

 secured the remainder of the money he required. Already in the 

 Spring of the same year Z3 was commenced and finished in 

 October. We all know the success of this ship. The world was 

 astonished when it read of the Count's successful trips, on which 

 the ship attained train speed. The nation now took the matter 

 in hand and Zeppelin was asked to build a ship for the Govern- 

 ment. Z4 was commenced in the Spring of 1908. The world 

 was electrified, when it heard of the brilliant trip into Switzerland, 

 lasting 12 hours, the greatest journey made by a dirip-ible. Then 

 came the epoch-making journey from Friedrichshafen to Mainz 

 and back. Once more the elements made havoc of the ship after 

 it had made an effective landing on terra firma at Echterdingen. 

 A squall bumped the ship against the ground, electrical discharges 

 set the gas on fire, and within a few minutes the magnificent ship 

 was a complete wreck. This heavy misfortune, however, roused 

 the patriotism of Germany in a manner that may serve as an 

 object-lesson to other Nations. Within a few weeks a sum of 

 ;£30o,ooo was collected and placed unreservedly in the hands of 

 the national hero. Town Councils subscribed money from the 

 Municipal funds, children gave their mites, rich and poor opened 

 their purses. Manufacturers provided the aluminium and cover- 

 ings free of charge. Where formerly a lonely man made his 

 experiments with "a few enthusiastic admirers, there now stand 

 large factories built with the money of an admiring nation, a free 



