The Minister of War, accompanied by two officers and other passengers, made a trip on October 24th, which was the seventy-sixth voyage of this stanch vessel. On November 10th, the hard-worked and successful air ship went into winter quarters, being now the property of the French government, and the first of her modern aërial cruisers. The _Patrie_ and the _République_, planned on the general lines of the _Lebaudy_, but in ascending scale of magnitude, were built expressly for the French government, and experienced brilliant if ill-fated careers. Both vessels had whale-shaped hulls, with rather sharp-pointed noses and rounding sterns. The original volume of the _Patrie_ was 111,250 cubic feet, which was later increased to 128,910, by the insertion of a cylindrical section at the major diameter of the hull. The _République_ had a volume of 2,000 cubic feet more than the _Patrie_, and a length of 200 feet, or a little less than the enlarged _Patrie_. She also had a diameter of 35½ feet as against 33¾ in the sister vessel. As the technical reader may like more complete details of these two noted air ships, a fuller account is given in Appendix III. The _Patrie_ was a swift and graceful ship which, during its brief activities in 1906-7, made many remarkable trips at an altitude of about half a mile, and frequently maneuvered with the troops. She sailed with excellent stability, had a speed of about 28 miles an hour, and, with four men, had a radius of action of 280 miles. In November, 1907, carrying four passengers, she voyaged from Paris to Verdun, on the German frontier, where she was to be stationed. In spite of a quartering wind, the total distance of 175 miles was traversed in seven hours and three quarters, or at an average overground speed of 25 miles an hour. But while at Verdun, after some maneuvers, she was too insecurely anchored to the ground by means of iron stakes. A strong wind came, tore out the pickets, and overpowered the soldiers, some two hundred in number, who were trying to hold the vessel. As she was pulling them along the ground, they were ordered to let go. The huge ship bounded high into the air, soared across France, England, Wales, and part of Ireland, then far out over the Atlantic where she vanished, leaving no trace behind.