He related furthermore that the rain
squalls are of tropical violence, while the vertical thrusts of
air are such that no dirigible as yet constructed could ever hope
to live in them. Under such conditions, he continued, the gas is
certain to cool intensely, and the hull must then become
waterlogged, not to mention the downward thrust of the rain.
Under such conditions buoyancy must be imperilled to such a
degree as to demand the jettisoning of every piece of ballast,
fuel and other removable weight, including even the steadying and
vertical planes. When this has been done, he pointed out,
nothing is left with which to combat the upward vertical thrusts
of the air. To attempt to run before the wind is to court
positive disaster, as the wind is certain to gain the mastery.
Once the airship loses steering way and is rendered
uncontrollableit becomes the sport of the forces of Nature, with
the result that destruction is merely a matter of minutes, or
even seconds.
Every navigator who knows the North Sea will support these
conclusions. Squalls and blizzards in winter, and thunderstorms
in summer, rise with startling suddenness and rage with terrific
destructive fury.
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