Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-10-19
begun to jerk on tho ship as 1t jumped
over the waves.
Wind Suddenly ohifts.

over the waves.
Wind Suddenly Shifts.
I'VE journeyed before the westerly
breeze all the afternoon. AT O'Clock
Sunday night our approximate position
was latitude 42 degrees north and
longitude AZ west. Here came the
serious change In the wind. 1t shifted
into the northwest and freshened tc
about thirty miles an hour, and before
1t the America difted at the rate OF
about twenty Ave miles an hour.
It was impossible for us In these
conditions to continue on our nortn-
easterly course. which would nave KEEP
us in the lane Of the European liners
Furthermore. the equilibrator was
pulling hard. AS the lower end OF i
rode the heavy seas which had peen
kicked up by the stiff breeze 1t Jerkeo
shockingly on the lines which neid II
to the America. Under this stress the
ship set up rolling motion wnicn ado-
ed to the strain and threatened the en-
fire destruction of the craft If long
continued.
Spend Night Of Dread.
TT was a dreadful night for the men
aboard thes hip. There was much to
be done to ease the strain and all did
everything possible. At times some
would become exhausted, and one by
one the men would sleep for a time
They went to their hammocks expect
ing that they would awake to find
themselves in the ocean, but all they
wanted was to sleep. and they did so.
At the worst moments they were calm
and even cheerful.
"As the seas grew in power and
pulled harder on the equilibrator the
America was drawn down almost to
the level, Of the line Of whitecaps. Some
Of the waves even struck the lifeboat,
in which lay our only hope Of saving
ourselves, and threatened at times to
carry It away.
"At this point q consultation was held
TO decide whether we should abandon
the ship and take to the. 1ifeboat All
hands agreed that we should stick to
the ship and try to take her to land,
and if possible to the other side Of the
ocean. We threw over gasoline to
tighten her, and she rose above the
dangerous waves.
Still Hopeful Monday.
"At 3 o'clock Monday morning orders
were given to start the engines in the
hope of reaching the Azores or Europe,
which was possible even yet If the
winds should hold favorable Then
came another disastrous shift of the
wind. It hauled entirely out of the
west and came to US from the north
east, blowing strong. 1t would have
been impossible to make the Azores in
the face Of this wind in view of our
sacrifice Of a large part of our gaso-
line supply.
1T was then decided that we should
try to make Bermuda. The motors
were shut off again, and we drifted
southwest at about fifteen miles an
hour. Our purpose IN drifting was to
save the motor and gasoline for the
final effort to reach a landing place.
Refuse to Desert Ship.
'All Monday we kept afloat with diff
ficulty. There was grave danger and a
great strain on all, but. none thought
Of giving up. We were resolved to hold
to the ship as long, as possible, and to
give up only when we saw that the
task was hopeless.
fresh trouble came on Monday
night. The weather turned cold. and
the change OF temperature so affected
the lifting power Of the gas in the
great bag that we found it necessary
to throw overheard more Of the gaso-
line and part of the machinery which
had been damaged in order to keep
above the waves.
Eve saw that it would be impossible
to keep af1oat another night under such
conditions, but resolved to stay aboard
the ship during Tuesday unless we
should meet vessel. There were
doubts whether this was wise. as there
was great danDr that the equilibrator
with its constant Jerking would pull
US apart and we would founder.
lifeboat 10 Launched.
'The lifeboat was finally launched
with great difficulty In a high wind
early Tuesday morning We had sight
ed the Trent coming toward us two
hours away. and we realized that the
only course to take under the circum-
stances was to launch the boat then in
stead Of waiting for the night, when
we would have to take to it and no
help would be near.
1.-The maneuver- was executed clever
ly. Vaniman brought the America
down close to the sea. and Simon di-
rected the release OF the boat. AS he
was doing this work the equilibrator
threatened to smash the little craft. 1t
was threshing wildly about under the
pressure Of the seas, and as the boat
came to the water 1t hit the craft a
glancing blow and half capsized it.
"Simon. however, was cool and re-
sourceful, and kept the boat in con-
troll Soon the crew took to it. Simon
was the last to leave the Ship He saw
all the others safe in the boat before he
himself came down and parted the lines
holding the two crafts together.
America Scars Away.
Relieved Of the weight of the life
boat and the crew the damaged Amer
lea rose high into the air. dragging the
equilfbrator after her. Driven by the
wind she soon disappeared into the dis
tance.
''The loss of the airship was wit
messed with little regret by those who
had journeyed, in her. It was realized
that she never could have been used
again. Probably larger and stronger
aircraft can be built to carry out our
task
."The heavy equilibrator, which re-
tarded and dragged down the ship and
interfered with the streeting, was the
fatal mistake Of this campaign. The
-. AZ