Walter Wellman's Expedition 



207 



made 500 ascensions; the engineer and 

 mathematician, Andre, who is M. God- 

 ard's scientific collaborator; Gaston Her- 

 vieu, an engineer and aeronaut, who is 

 also an expert mechanic; Alexandre 

 Liwenthaal, who was associated with 

 Count Zeppelin in the famous airship ex- 

 periments in Germany and Switzerland, 

 and others. 



Mr Wellman gave to M. Godard the 

 contract for the construction of the great 

 airship, and the work is now under way. 

 The aeronef is to be completed in May. 

 All its motors, propulseurs, and me- 

 chanical parts are to be thoroughly tested 

 in Paris. In June all the paraphernalia 

 of the expedition is to be assembled at 

 Tromsoe, Norway, where the ice steamer 

 Frithjof is lying — a craft well known in 

 Arctic annals, having been used by the 

 Wellman expedition to Franz Josef Land 

 in 1898, and employed later by the Zieg- 

 ler expedition. 



About June 20 the Frithjof will 

 sail for Spitzbergen, and Mr Wellman 

 expects to establish his headquarters at 

 Low Island, North Spitzbergen, latitude 

 8o° 20', about July 1. The party will at 

 once proceed with the erection of head- 

 quarters buildings, a huge shed large 

 enough to hold the airship when inflated, 

 gas apparatus, etc. An idea of the large 

 scale upon which the expedition is or- 

 ganized may be gained from the fact that 

 at the headquarters will be assembled 

 about 35 men, including the scientific 

 staff, engineers, aeronauts, mechanics, 

 sailors, and workmen. To make the 

 hydrogen for inflation of the airship 105 

 tons of sulphuric acid and 75 tons of iron 

 filings are taken. During the latter part 

 of July the airship is to have its trials 

 under meteorological and other condi- 

 tions almost identical with those which 

 prevail along the route to the Pole. 



The expedition has announced a two- 

 years' campaign for the Pole, and has 

 chartered the Frithjof for the seasons of 

 1906 and 1907. If upon being carefully 

 tested the dirigible is found to be in fit 



condition for the voyage, an effort to 

 reach the Pole will be made this year. If 

 not, the flight over the Arctic Ocean will 

 be deferred till next year, as Mr Well- 

 man has announced that he will not start 

 till all his equipment is in the best pos- 

 sible order, whether it be this year or 

 next. If the final attempt goes over to 

 1907, the party will return in the autumn 

 and spend the winter and spring recon- 

 structing the airship in the light of the 

 summer's experience, improving and 

 strengthening it, and, if necessary, build- 

 ing an entirely new aeronef. 



An interesting feature of the expedi- 

 tion is the plan to maintain wireless com- 

 munication between the Arctic regions 

 and the outer world. Wireless station 

 number 1 will be established at Hammer- 

 fest, Norway, in touch with the Atlantic 

 cable. Station number 2 will be at the ex- 

 pedition headquarters in Spitzbergen, and 

 it is expected that constant communica- 

 tion between these points, 600 miles 

 apart, can be maintained. Station num- 

 ber 3 will be on the airship, and it is be- 

 lieved that messages can be sent from the 

 neighborhood of the Pole itself to the 

 headquarters at Spitzbergen, and thence 

 to Hammerfest, in case the expedition 

 should be fortunate enough to reach the 

 vicinity of the Pole. 



The period of the whole trip by diri- 

 gible is assumed at 10 days, or 240 hours. 

 Mr Wellman believes the airship can be 

 kept in the air as long as 20, possibly 25, 

 days, because the loss of ascensional 

 force should not be more than 200 pounds 

 per day through leakage of gas, or say 

 5,000 pounds in 25 days, while in that 

 time he expects to burn 5,500 pounds of 

 gasoline in the motors, thus lightening 

 the load by this much, not counting the 

 provisions consumed, etc. He carries 

 gasoline enough for about 140 hours of 

 motoring at approximately 12 miles per 

 hour. Hence each assumed period of 10 

 days is divided into 140 hours motoring 

 and 100 hours drifting with the retar- 

 dateur. 



