Graf Business

To 18 men and four women it was adventure worth $20 per hour; to 42 men. officers and crew, it was a 23-day routine; to Dr. Hugo Eckener and a group of officials in Berlin it was a momentous bid for future supremacy in Europe-South America commerce when the Graf Zeppelin poked its nose through murky skies over Friedrichshafen last week and started its 18,000-mile flight to Seville, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro; thence to Havana, Lakehurst, N. J., and home. Every attempt was made to emphasize the casual business-like aspect of the flight. Little excitement attended the takeoff, save that created by the passengers. Elaborate fare schedules were issued covering each leg of the journey (round trip $6,500).* Passengers and mail were to be transferred at each port of call. No exclusive news privileges, such as the Hearst agencies formerly enjoyed, were given. Three "repeating" passengers, had made previous Graf flights, appeared on the roster: Hearst correspondents Karl H. von Wiegand and Lady Grace Drummond Hay, George Grouse of Syracuse, N. Y./- Noteworthy in the present cruise is the equator-crossing, the first to be made by a dirigible since the German RL-59 flew to East and Central Africa during the World War. In anticipation of the buoyant effect of tropical heat, Commander Eckener added heavily to the ship's two-ton load of water-ballast in Seville.

* Taken aboard at Friedrichshafen: one ton of victuals, including 6,000 eggs, 200 Ibs. bread, 1 20 bottles wine, 1,500 Ibs. ice. /- Waiting to embark at Seville was Mrs. Mary Pierce of Manhattan, who was on the Graf last year when motor trouble prevented the crossing.

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