The ''America'' was a non-rigid airship built by Mutin Godard in France in 1906 for the journalist

Walter Wellman Walter E. Wellman (November 3, 1858 – January 31, 1934) was an American journalist, explorer, and aëronaut. Biographical background Walter Wellman was born in Mentor, Ohio, in 1858. He was the sixth son of Alonzo Wellman and the fourth by ...

's attempt to reach the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Ma ...

by air. Wellman first conceived of using a balloon to fly to the pole during a failed polar attempt by boat and sledge from

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group rang ...

in 1894. He then visited Paris to review the state of balloon technology but left disappointed by the lack of acceptable steering and propulsion capability. A decade later while at the 1905 Portsmouth Peace Conference he learned of recent innovations in French

dirigible An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

design and believed a solution might be at hand for his Arctic aerial plan. After receiving the backing of newspaper publisher Victor F. Lawson, the Wellman ''

Chicago Record-Herald The ''Chicago Record-Herald'' was a newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois from 1901 until 1914. It was the successor to the '' Chicago Morning Herald,'' the ''Chicago Times Herald'' and the ''Chicago Record''. H. H. Kohlsaat, owner of the ' ...

'' Polar Expedition was announced, and Wellman traveled to Paris in search of a suitable design and manufacturer. In the meantime a public company was established to raise the $US 250,000 required for the expedition and airship (to which Lawson contributed $60,000). As originally constructed, the ''America'' was long and wide at its greatest diameter and enclosed a volume of of hydrogen. The envelope was of three layers of fabric and three of rubber, and contained no internal framework. The

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, ...

could hold a crew of five, and power was supplied by three internal-combustion engines delivering a total of to two propellers, one fore and one aft. It was delivered by ship to

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Nor ...

on July 8, 1906, where Wellman and his team attempted to erect it. Their efforts met with failure when the engines fell apart. In September, the ''America'' was dismantled and returned by ship to France. Wellman returned to Spitsbergen with the ''America'' in June the following year, 1907. The airship had a new centre-section sewn into it to increase its length to and volume to . The weather was very unfavourable, however, and it was 2 September before the ''America'' could even leave the hangar. Wasting no time, Wellman launched later that day with mechanic Melvin Vaniman and navigator

Felix Riesenberg Felix Riesenberg (9 April 1879 – 19 November 1939) was an American maritime officer and writer of maritime professional, historical, and fictional literature in the early 20th century. Biography Riesenberg was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ...

in an attempt to reach the pole. Unfortunately, more bad weather forced this to be abandoned after only a few miles and the ''America'' was deflated to avoid a crash landing. ''America'' once again returned to France for repairs. America_Crew

She returned to Spitsbergen one more time in July 1909, and at 10 AM on 15 August, launched with Wellman, Vaniman, Russian balloonist Nicolas Popov and Vaniman's brother-in-law Albert Louis Loud on board. The flight began well enough, but two hours and later, a device Wellman called the "equilibrator" failed. This was a long, leather tube filled with

ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship ...

that was intended to help gauge and maintain a fixed altitude over the ice. ''America'' gained altitude rapidly, until brought under control at and gradually lowered back to the ground by venting hydrogen. The crew was rescued by the Norwegian steamer ''

Farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is use ...

''. Wellman began plans to extend the hangar so that he could return the following year with a larger airship, but on learning of Dr.

Frederick Cook Frederick Albert Cook (June 10, 1865 – August 5, 1940) was an American explorer, physician, and ethnographer who claimed to have reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908. That was nearly a year before Robert Peary, who similarly clai ...

's claim to have reached the pole, abandoned the adventure.

Instead, Wellman resolved to make the first aerial crossing of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. He had the ''America'' enlarged again, now to . A

spark gap A spark gap consists of an arrangement of two conducting electrodes separated by a gap usually filled with a gas such as air, designed to allow an electric spark to pass between the conductors. When the potential difference between the conductor ...

radio set was added to the underhanging life boat and operator Jack Irwin used it during the flight,

callsign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assi ...

"W", and with the frame of the airship as the antenna. Given the hydrogen used for lifting the craft this was a very dangerous system. The unit made some of the very first air-to-ground transmissions, when the airship's engineer Melvin Vaniman sent one of the first aerial radio transmissions urging the launch boat to "come and get this goddam cat!" – the cat Kiddo who was (at first) not happy about being airborne. On 15 October

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

, takeoff was made from Bader Field in

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

. Condensing water on the airship's skin added excess weight, and it was difficult to gain height. A passing storm also made forward navigation difficult. The engines failed 38 hours into the flight, apparently due to contamination by beach sand, and ''America'' drifted. The crew jettisoned all excess weight, including one of the defunct engines. The ship had gone as far as a point east of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

and south of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

before floating generally south. After another 33 hours, and having now traveled a total distance of from launching, they sighted the Royal Mail steamship ''Trent'' west of

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

. After attracting the ship's attention by a signaling lamp using

Morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one ...

, Irwin made the first aerial distress call by radio. The crew, and mascot cat Kiddo, got into the lifeboat and, after opening the gas valves on the airship, abandoned the ''America''. The airship drifted out of sight and was never seen again. ''Trent'', having barely avoided running down the lifeboat in a high crosswind, was able to rescue the crew and returned them to New York. The first successful aerial crossings of the Atlantic came nine years later.

See also

References

Further reading