Page:My Airships.djvu/238

 held by the weight of the guide rope down to a fixed level over the waves without danger of bei ng drawn into contact with them. For the moment that the air-ship descends the slightest distance nearer to them that very moment it becomes rel ieved of just so much weight, and must naturally rise again by that amount of momentary unballasting. In this way an incessant little tugging toward and away from the waves is produced, infinitely gentle, an automatic ballasting and unballasting of the air-ship without loss of ballast. My first flight over the Mediterranean, which was made on the morning of 29th January 1902,