◆ SpookStack

A Lge ON RIE NR ee pe rt ee 9 FE MBB ee. FA [.. top of the water tower, 186 feet in height, was indicated at six mots. There was occasional lightning in the South and Southwest; the weather conditions were improving rapidly and Commander Rosendahl indicated, in his opinion, the weather was entirely satisfactory for landing. The ship made a sharp turn to the starboard, but this was not unusual. The approach, in his opinion, was normal for a ship inflated with hydrogen and they utilized the backing power of the engines to check the approach of the ship, which is customarye The ground crew was, in all respects, ready to receive the ship. The men of the ground crew had been instructed in groups, under their respective leaders, as to“the handling of the ship on the ground. They dropped the landing ropes from the bow of the ship at a point about 700 feet from the mooring mast which were immediately connected to the ground lines, These lines are used to draw the ship into position for attaching the steel landing cable which is drawn into the mooring mast. The approach was made at an elevation of 200 feet or less. Commander Rosendahl was located at the mooring mast and gave the necessary instructions as to the handling of the ground crew at this point. He indicated the wind blew to the Westward when the ship reached the surface and he believed the con- ditions were satisfactory in general and that they were proceeding in a normal manner to land the ship. About four minutes after the control ropes had connected with the growd and while the mooring cable was being lowered, but which had not as yet reached the ground, certain events occurred which changed the normal landing procedure. The nose of the ship was about 50 feet from the circuler track which is 671 feet from the mooring mast. The ship never got any closer to the mooring mast than this point. At this time he indicated he saw @ small burst of flame on the top of the ship toward the stern and, in his opinion, this indicated to him the doom of the ship. Imme~- diately, the entire stern took fire and after this initial burst of flame, the fire progressed forward. He expected more in the way of explosion than was apparent, although he had never seen an airship burn inflated with hydrogen. There were several mild ex- plosions and the ship was generally consumed by fire. He had no Imowledge of the origin of the fire, The ship continued to come down at the stem and thereafter the front portion of the ship settled to the ground at a moderate rate of descent. He ran from the vicinity and commanded the ground crew to do likewise in order to avoid their being caught under the ship as it fell. When the ship settled, the ground crew immediately returned to effect the possible rescue of the injured. They immediately arranged for the necessary fire-fighting apparatus, they using chemicals for this purpose. There is no water line in the immediate vicinity of the mooring mast and this necessitated the laying of considerable hose