On October 15, 1910, the Wellman dirigible “America” which had been in preparation for many weeks, left Asbury Park in an attempt to cross the Atlantic. Its balloon was 228 feet long, with a diameter of 52 feet, containing 345,000 cubic feet of gas. The car was 156 feet in length, and was arranged as a tank in which 1,250 gallons of gasoline were carried. A lifeboat was attached underneath the car. There were two engines, each of 80 horse-power, and an auxiliary motor of 10 horse-power. Sleeping quarters were provided for the crew of six, and the balloon was fitted with a wireless telegraph system. All went well until off the island of Nantucket, where strong north winds were encountered, and the dirigible was swept southward toward Bermuda. As an aid in keeping the airship at an elevation of about 200 feet above the sea, an enlarged trail-rope, called the equilibrator, had been constructed of cans which were filled with gasoline. This appendage weighed 1½ tons, and the lower part of it was expected to float upon the sea. In practice it was found that the jarring of this equilibrator, when the sea became rough, disarranged the machinery, so that the propellers would not work, and the balloon was compelled to drift with the wind. Toward evening of the second day a ship was sighted, and the America’s crew were rescued. The airship floated away in the gale, and was soon out of sight. On October 16, a new Clement-Bayard dirigible, with seven men on board, left Paris at 7.15 o’clock in the morning, and sailed for London. At 1 P. M. it circled St. Paul’s Cathedral, and landed at the hangar at Wormwood Scrubbs a half hour later. The distance of 259 miles (airline) was traversed at the rate of 41 miles per hour, and the journey surpassed in speed any previous journey by any other form of conveyance. [Illustration: _Copyright by Pictorial News Company._ Wellman dirigible “America” starting for Europe, October 15, 1910.] On November 5, 1910, the young Welsh aeronaut, Ernest T. Willows, who sailed his small dirigible from Cardiff to London in August, made a trip from London across the English Channel to Douai, France. This is the third time within a month that the Channel had been crossed by airships. [Illustration: Diagram of the Capazza dirigible from the side. _A A_, stabilizing fins; _B_, air-ballonnet; _R_, rudder; _M M_, motors; _FS_, forward propeller; _SS_, stern propeller.] Toward the close of 1910, 52 dirigibles were in commission or in process of construction. In the United States there were 7; in Belgium, 2; in England, 6; in France, 12; in Germany, 14; in Italy, 5; in Russia, 1; in Spain, 1.