On June 29, a test trip was decided upon. No passengers were taken, but 19 newspaper correspondents were invited guests. The Count had been warned of weather disturbances in the neighborhood, but he either disregarded them or felt confidence in his craft. It was intended that the voyage should last four hours, but the airship soon encountered a storm, and after 6 hours of futile striving against it, the fuel gave out. Caught in an upward draft, the “Deutschland” rose to an altitude of over 5,000 feet, losing considerable gas, and then, entering a rainstorm, was heavily laden with moisture. Suddenly, without definite reason, it began to fall vertically, and in a few moments had crashed into the tops of the trees of the Teutoberg forest. No one on board received more than slight injury, and all alighted safely by means of ladders. The “Deutschland” was a wreck, and was taken apart and shipped back to Friedrichshafen. On July 13, another giant passenger airship, designed by Oscar Erbslöh, who won the international balloon race in 1907 by a voyage from St. Louis to Asbury Park, met with fatal disaster. It was sailing near Cologne at an altitude of about 2,500 feet when it burst, and Erbslöh and his four companions were killed in the fall. On July 28, the “Gross III” left Berlin with the object of beating the long distance record for dirigibles. Soon after passing Gotha the airship returned to that place, and abandoned the attempt. In 13 hours a distance of 260 miles had been traversed. Undismayed by the catastrophes which had destroyed his airships almost as fast as he built them, Count von Zeppelin had his number VI ready to sail on September 3. With a crew of seven and twelve passengers he sailed from Baden to Heidelberg--53 miles in 65 minutes. It was put into commission as an excursion craft, and made several successful voyages. On September 14, as it was being placed in its shed at the close of a journey, it took fire unaccountably, and was destroyed together with the shed, a part of the framework only remaining.