The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1908-10-15
Av|ATORs SAVED
/. FROM NORTH SEA
BALLOON ST. LOUIS DEscENDS IN
WATER AT NIGHT.
LIFE BOAT TO THE RESCUE
Capt. Mccoy with America u. Lands
In Tree Top Close to the
Steep Cliffs of the
Baltic.

beTlH, OcC. l4.-l he second OF tne
three American balloons that started
in the race for the international
trophy on Sunday from Schmargen-
dorf has met with disaster in the
North sea. The Saint Louis, manned
by N. H. Arnold of North Adams
Mass, and Harry J. Hewitt, was car
ried overland by treacherous air cur
rents and later in the haze the aero
nauts lost their bearings until sudden
ly Monday night they saw the guard
lights of an unknown coast.
This meant they must descend or
risk the danger of being driven far
out of the track of vessels. They
chose the former course and for an
hour they were buffeted by the waves
almost giving up in despair
n Eventually they were rescued by a
lifeboat and the first intimation that
the accident had occurred to the Saint
Louis was conveyed in wireless mes
sage from Arnold, saying Lost every
thing in the North sea last night"
Arnold Tells Experience.
The Associated Press was able to
communicate with Mr.. Arnold at Will
helmshaven, to which place he had
been transported by one of the tor
pedo boats which was sent out to rem
der assistantce to any of the bal
loonists who might drift out over the
water. Mr.. Arnold told a graphic
story of their descent and rescue by a
lifeboat. He said:
"All day Monday, with the eXcep-
ton of the early afternoon, we were
unable to see the earth, and we low
cred the balloon repeatedly to COM
municate with the people to ascertain
our whereabouts, Apparently we
could not make them understand, but
this probably was due to our poor
German. Finally We decided to risk
proceeding, still having 20 sacks of
ballast.
Moving In northwesterly direc-
tion in the evening, we passed a city,
the lights of which were visible five
miles to the west, and we learned
later that it was Bremerhaven Soon
afterwards We noticed lighthouses and
buoys which convinced us that we
were moving above big water, but we
had no idea where we were.
Rescued from the Water.
''In order to avoid drifting out of
the line of ship traffic, we concluded
to go down to the water, but before
doing so we put on life preservers.
This was perilous task, for it was
dark and there was great danger of
being swamped In the basket
After pitching about in the water
for almost one hour and giving up
all hope of rescue, Hewitt, who had
climbed into the rigging, discovered
f1ashlight and soon after saw a life
boat approaching us. The boat, how
ever, could not reach us as we were
being dragged through the waves at
the rate of Is or 20 miles an hour
The boatmen shouted to us to jump
overheard, which we did.
81 tried to save the balloon by rip
ping 1t up, but the rope was jerked
out of my hands. About ten minutes
later l was picked up by the boat,
which meantime had saved my COM
panion, Hewitt"
America u. Has Close Call.
Capt. j. c. Mccoy, the commander
of the American balloon America H.,
which landed Tuesday, reached Berlin
. at night. 1--WE flew $50 miles he
said and then we were becalmed for
four hours. The wind shifted and we
returned in the direction of Berlin.
We then travelled northward in a thick
fog and were unable to read the maps.
Suddenly we discovered that we were
over water and decided to descend.
This was accomplished with some diff
ficulty, and we landed in a tree top
near Wismar, on the shores of the
Baltic. We were within ten yards of
the steep cliffs, but we climbed out
of our dangerous position with the as
sistance Of fishermen. We were
Obliged to cut down the trees in order
to ssge the balloon.
"The duration Of our flight was 80
hours and seven minutes, during
which we did not sleep at any time.
Although we we're obliged to descend,
we had sufficient ballast to stay up
for another day"