purposes. It is true that the vessel can be taken
to pieces, but not quickly. The NON-RIGID type, on the other hand, can
be quickly deflated, and the parts of the car and engine can be readily
transported to the nearest balloon station when occasion requires.

In the SEMI-RIGID type of air-ship the vessel is dependent for its form
partly on its framework and partly on the form of the gas envelope. The
under side of the balloon consists of a flat rigid framework, to
which the planes are attached, and from which the car, the engine, and
propeller are suspended.

As the rigid type of dirigible is chiefly advocated in Germany, so the
semi-rigid craft is most popular in France. The famous Lebaudy air-ships
are good types of semi-rigid vessels. These were designed for the firm
of Lebaudy Freres by the well-known French engineer M. Henri Julliot.

In November, 1902, M. Julliot and M. Surcouf completed an air-ship for
M. Lebaudy which attained a speed of nearly 25 miles an hour. The craft,
which was named Lebaudy I, made many successful voyages, and in 1905 M.
Lebaudy offered a second vessel, Lebaudy II, to the French Minister of
War, who accepted it for the French nation, and afterwards decided to
order another dirigible, La Patrie, of the same type. Disaster, however,
followed these air-ships. Lebaudy I was torn from its anchorage during
a heavy gale in 1906, and was completely wrecked. La Patrie, after
travelling in 1907 from Paris to Verdun, in seven hours, was, a few days
later, caught in a gale, and the pilot was forced to descend. The wind,
however, was so strong that 200 soldiers were unable to hold down the
unwieldy craft, and it was torn from their hands. It sailed away in a
north-westerly direction over the Channel into England, and ultimately
disappeared into the North Sea, where it was subsequently discovered
some days after the accident.

Notwithstanding these disasters the French military authorities
ordered another craft of the same type, which was afterwards named the
Republique. This vessel made a magnificent flight of six and a half
hours in 1908, and it was considered to have quite exceptional features,
which eclipsed the previous efforts of Messrs. Julliot and Lebaudy.

Unfortunately, however, this vessel was wrecked in a very terrible
manner. While out cruising with a crew of four officers one of the
propeller blades was suddenly fractured, and, flying off with immense
force, it entered the balloon, wh