The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-14
The St Louis Staggers Into
 the North Sea
NARROWING EXPERIENCE
Three of the Balloons In the Interna- tional Race That Left Berlin Sun day Are Still Unac-
 counted For.

Berlin, October 1S-The second of the three American balloons that started ill the race for the international trophy on Sunday from Schmargendorf has met dis aster in the North sea. The Saint Louis,'' manned by N. H. Arnold of North Adams, Mass, and Henry J. Hewitt was carried overland by treacherous air cur rents and later in the haze the aeronauts lost their bearings until suddenly last night they saw the guard light of an un- known coast.
 This meant that they must descend or risk the danger of being driven far out of the track of vessels. They chose tie former course and for an hour they were buffetted by the waves, almost giving up in despair.
 Eventually they were rescued by a life boat and the first intimation that an ac- cident had occurred to the St. Louis was conveyed in a wireless message from Arnold, saying: Lost everything in the North sea last night
 Fate of the conqueror.
 Following so closely on the dramatic ex- perience of A. Holland Forbes and Au- gustus Post, the navigators of the Con querer," which burst at an altitude of 4000 feet soon after che start of the race, both men having a thrilling escape from death, the disaster to the St. Louis was the sub ject of excited interest in Berlin through out the day and evening.
 The Associated Press tonight communi- cated with MT. Arnold at Wilhelmshaven, fo xyh pi he one of the torpedo boats which last even ing was sent out to render assistance to any of the balloonists who might drift out over the water MT. Arnold told d graphic story of the mshap. He said;
 All day Monday, with the exception of the early afternoon, We were unable to see the earth and we lowered the bal loon repeatedly to communicate with the people to ascertain our whereabouts Ap- parently we could not make them under stand, but this probably was due to our poor German. Finally we decided to risk proceeding still having 20 sacks of bal last.
 Passes City.
 Moving in a northwesterly direction 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
 
 us that we were moving along big water, but we had no idea where we were.
 "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 a 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 an hour and giving up all hopes of rescue, Hewitt, who had climbed into the rigging, discovered a flashlight, and soon afterward saw a lifeboat approach ing us. The boat however could not reach us as we were being dragged through the waves at the rate of about 15 or 20 miles an hour The boatmen shouted to us to jump overheard, which we did. q tried to save the St. Louis clubs bal loon by ripping it up, but the rope was jerked out of my hand. About 10 minutes later l was picked up by the boat, which in the meantime had saved my com- panion, Hewitt. We were landed here" Mccoy Reaches Berlin. Capt J. c. Mccoy. the commander of the American balloon America IT., which landed today, reached Berlin tonight. We flew 150 miles," he said and then we were becalmed for four hours. The wind shifted and we returned in the di- rection of Berlin. We then travelled northward in a thick fog. Suddenly we discovered that we were over water and decided to descend. This was accomp- llsh ed with some difficulty and we landed in a tree top near Wismarion, on the shores of the Baltic.
 Three of the balloons in the interna- tional race are still unaccounted for. They are the German balloon "Burley," the Spanish "Castilla," and the Swiss 'Hel- yetia,'
 Two of the competitors in the endur ance races have not been reported, and it is hoped that these escaped the change able lower currents which affected the other competitors and succeeded at higher attitudes in reaching Russia.
 A report received here from Wanger- loog island, in the North sea, says that a balloon passed over there, but that there were no further tidlngs of it. The fiotilla of torpedo boat destroyers is searching the North sea, where thick fog prevails. The English balloon Banshee. as far as present estimates go has covered the