The San Francisco call., 1909-07-28
Within Two Miles of the
Shore Falls Into Channel
Hubert Latham Fails in Endeavor to Fly
From France to the English Coast

said Latham in discussing his failure.
When ! started everything was rosy.
The wind was just right and the rain
was not serious impediment. l rose
500 feet and Immediately felt confident
of reaching Dover. The splendid SEN
sation of coming triumph gripped me.
l felt that victory was within my grasp.
The engine was working with rhyth-
mlcal accuracy, a delightful sound to
me. / seemed TO stand still over NOV
ing plateau Of blue, but in reality ] was
travelling at great speed. Almost in a
few moments l could discern the dim
gray line of the Dover cliffs. In 10 min
utes L must have gone at least eight
miles. The coast seemed to rise, to
grow, with every pulsation of the
motor.
WAS SURE OF SUCCESS
When half way across l felt, There
is Dover; I am going splendidly.'
looked at the motor; all was right.
Twenty minutes, / thought, and | shall
be on those cliffs. l glanced around
ncmentarily. Calais and its great tow
er were mere hazy lines; Dover was
growing. 1 even thought l could see
tile people. Then. within three miles of
the coast, / heard the sirens and hoot-
ers.
My heart beat rapidly at the inexpres-
sible feeling of coming victory. I
looked for the moment of descent.
Then came the tragedy l was only a
mile and half from the harbor mouth.
A dead silence; the pulsations OF the
motor appeared TO hesitate; they
stopped. Ny speed slackened, the en-
gine gave spasmodic throbs and then
ceased. During these moments ! have
been gradually descending. At 80 feet
aIn y, ~ in
jured bird fearing to alight. realizing
that 1 had failed again.
STRUCK SEA LIGHTLY
My thoughts turned to my. own safe
ty. and l lay down in order to tighten
the force of the blow was much as pos
sibie. Away in the distance I could
see the torpedo boats and wondered If
all would turn out right. AS luck
would have il / struck the sea with
comparative lightness; not with the
splash that accompanied my previous
fall, although the descent was very
rapid. My goggles struck a piece of
the plane and cut my forehead.
4 was not anxious as l knew that
the machine would float for some time.
Yet it appeared a long wait before
was rescued. The accident was due to
the motor failing much as it did on the
former occasion. I do not think that
the rain had anything to do with the
failure. 1t was very unfortunate. be-
cause another couple of minutes would
have taken me over Shakespeare cliff.
However. ! will have another try as
soon as 1 am fit. I do not think the
machine was much DANA aged; it will
be repaired probably before ! am
NATURE OF INJURIES
The physician in attendance reported
that Latham had three stitches in his
! forehead and two in his nose. but he
.did not believe that the aeronaut was
greatly hurt. Latham returned to Ca
lais by the midnight boat.
CAREER OF AVIATOR
Hubert Latham is comparatively
recent participant for flying honors. bu
1 several daring exploits already have
! gained him much attention. He wa:
the first to attempt a flight of tn,
/ English channel. but his effort failed
After waiting many days for favorable
weather conditions he set out from
! Calais on July 10 last headed for Dover
! He cleared the cliffs beautifully and hi.
flight appeared propitious until mid
/ way in the channel. when his motor
( failed and his monoplane settled gently
on the water. He was picked up by {
/ torpedo boat
Before his attempt TO cross the chan
mel Latham had made several success
! full flights at Mourmelon- -Legrand
France. where. on June 6, he made ;
new monoplane record by remaining II
the air l hour minutes az seconds