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Show -WELLNAN, IN JURSHIP, SUMS Iff IS TOP ACROSS THE ATLANTIC He Is Accompanied by Five Men and at Last Report Was Well Out at SeaHiirricane Now Passing Along the Coast Is Alarming His Friends 0 . dlcate. which has supported the pro- ject. It says; ' AH did "nobly. Wo are doing our best to repay your loyal support. (Signed-, "WELLMAN " In reply to the message received by President Slans of tho Aerial club, (Continued on Page Seven.) Atlantic City, Oct. j. The long-deferred long-deferred attempt of Walter Wc-llman, Journalist, aeronaut anil explorer, to j cross the Atlantic in a dirigible airship, air-ship, was begun this morning at an early uuir when his balknn,l the' America, left the Hangar and disappeared disap-peared to the eastward in a heavy At 11:03 the "lirsl wireless dispatch dis-patch from the America was received here. "Headed northeast," it said; "all well on board; machinery working work-ing fine. Goo'l-bye .1. Irwin " Wireless Operator Miller, Just before be-fore ni Mm had again sioken to the America; the purport of the message was that Wellman and his cie had decided to make the daring attempt to reach Europe. "We aro beaded duo northeast but Jiave taken no observations and will not Idow our exact location until noon," it read. The America's wireless apparatus has a radius of 10 miles. Another message received here at 12 o'clock brought the news troni Wellman that the start had been made for Europe The America is making 2u knots an hour, according to Wellman, with the course laid cast by northeast. "All well on board. Fog lifllng ut 11. 1.'. and every bit of machinery working smoothly," says the message. What little wind thai was blowing tit the time tin; America started was from the west. Six Men Aboard. There are six men in the airship. They are provided with provisions sufllcic-nt to last a month. The only means of cooking is on a small oil siove but this, Mr. Wellman says, will do all they require. It was esti- I mated that the two engines would push the balloon through the air at the rate of 26 miles an hour. With Europe. O.ooo miles away, it ca i readily be calculated how long it will take them to reach the other side of the Atlantic ocean. The crew aboard the America, vhen she left the ground, included Walter Wellman, MelvSn Yaniman, chief engineer, F. Slurry, J. K. Irwin, wireless operator, and Albert Louis Loud and John Airbert, assistant engineers. en-gineers. If it bellies close to the water, the wood blocks aud the tanks would Moat and relieve it of some of Its weight As the gasoline is required i lie steel cable will be pulled up Into the car of the balloon, aud a tank emptied. , The American carries O.OoO pounds ef gasoline. She Ik thoroughly equipped equip-ped with sextants, compasses and oth. er instrumenui lor locating positions. a are the big ocean liners. After the airship rose aud went out of sight It developed that one member of the crew had been left behind He Id Jean .lacon, the French motor expert. It is not known whether wheth-er he as at the baneer when the balloon was brought out Jacon Is fa-Id to have had some di! Terences with Mr. Wellman over wages. Description of Airship. The America is 'a larger craft than the euie in which Wellman started fer the North Pole. The airship's gas bng is shaped like a cigar and is 22S feet long. Its width is about feet md Is said to be capable of Rifling i. early twelve tons. The passenger car Is 156 feet long, "the tloor of which is a flat in which ihe gasoline is stored The America rarrb's three gasoline engines, one is a donkey and the other two are tor motive power. They are in t lie-center lie-center and are of aliout eighty heirse power. Beneath the car hangs a boat 27 feet long, to be used if the balloon is wrcckr-d. Strung beneath (ho car is a :!"0-foot :!"0-foot eepiilibrlaior which takes the place oi a drag rope used on balloons. The equUibrialor consists of a long xieel cable lo which are ataehed thirty thir-ty Khiall steel tanks, each carrying 75 pounds of gasoline and fourteen blocks, about 20 inches long. The cqulllbrlatora make It unnecessary to carry ballot. It is intended (hat ti e balloon shall sail along at a height of alout 200 feet. A menage, timed 12:10 and signed by Wellnuoi himself, said: "All we. on board. Making excellent excel-lent progress," Exchange of Messages. The first message from We'lman and bis crew to the local men who backed his enterprise was reee'vrd at 1 p. m. It was directed to Joseph W. Slans, president of the local syn- of steamers up the Nantucket and then turn eastward and follow tbo tracks of the trans-Atlantic liners, across the oceau. Ho expected to make every effort to keep In the sUnmshlp tracks, ho in case be met with an accident he would be close to the steamers with wlrcb-ss and could be quickly rescued If the crew was compelled to take a life boat at-toched at-toched to America. All Well at 1:45 P. M. New York. Oct 15. The airship America, with Walter Wellman and his men on board, was making favorable favor-able progress over the Atlantic In a northeasterly direction at 1:43 this afternoon. af-ternoon. This information was contained con-tained In a dispatch received, here at 2 p. m. It was dated: "On airship America, 1:45 p m., Oct 15." aud read: "The sea is smooth We are n-t crowding the motor hard. Averaging about ir knots an hour. All doing well (Signed ) "Wellman." Word was received hero from the weather bureau at Washington that the West Indian hurricane Is coming up from the cast. An effort Is being made by Well man's friends to reach him and warn him to keep clear of the track of the storm. j WELLMAN STARTS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN (Continued from Page One ) Operator MUlor flashed the following message to all ship within his sending zone, with the result that they picked up the Steamer American. "Walter Wellman Airehlp American. Great work, one of the achievements of tho century. Plaudits from everybody. every-body. Our best wishes and Crdd speed to yourself and Vanlman. With your family and will stay with them unt'l we hear that you have reached Phi-rope Phi-rope Please continue to flash. (Signed): "JOS. SLAUS." At 12:30 p m, a message sent by-Operator by-Operator Irwin on the America was picked up hy the United Wireless station sta-tion In this city. It ald: "Going to sea. We are forced to stop motors to .get wireless outfit In working order. Now able to work wireless and motors again Blarted'' Wellman's Plana. After woeks of delay, which bad aroused doubt In the minds of all but tho staunchest of his supporters, that any real attempt would be made to start the flight, news was flashed at 4 o'clock a. m. today that a strat would be made this morning. Molvln Vanlman, chief engineer and F. Murray Simmons, navigator, had paced the balloon shed throughout the night, halting their work of examination examina-tion on every part of the balloon only to look out "of doors nt the weather. Shortly nfter midnight, the wind dropped drop-ped to a slow southeast breeze, followed fol-lowed by a settling of one of the heaviest heav-iest foB6 known on the coast. Friends of Vanlman were overjoyed when at H o'clock he declared that they weuld leave within the next few hours. It took more than two hour3 to get the airship out of the hanger with the assistance of policemen and fire- men, and It was S:30 wben tbo cratt left the ground. B floated Into tho fog off ahore and within five minutes was l.Bt to view. About 1,000 persons, who had not lost faith In tbo expedition, saw the jdart. When the airship bft the ground. Mr. Wellman did not know whether only a test would be made or whether the trip to TOurope would be Marled nt once. It depended on hw he found things when he got into the air. bo nald. When he left here, It was his intention in-tention to go north, following the i ew Jersey coast as far as New York. If he found the nirshlp working to hU satlsfactlon and conditions r-malnod xtfc'ht, he Jnteudcd to follow tho route t |