New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-06-29
LOFTY FAREWELL TO
OLYMPIC NEAR HOOK
Thomas Sopwith. English AW'
ator. Drops Letters from His
AercpIane While Over Ship.
NO MISHAP MARS SAILING
Big Liner, Warped from One Pier
to Another, Backs Into River
and IL Minutes Later
Heads for England.

to Another, Backs into River
and IL Minutes Later
Heads for England.
The White star linor Oly'apc. which
has the distinction of being tho biggest
merchantmen in tho wor',l. vent QUO of
this port yesterday on schedule time. but
| before arriving of the Hoof had All
homer bestowed upon her such as cores
| to few vessels. She was visited bv an
aviator. who brought her messages cf
Godspeed and then left her as quickly
IS he had come. The monster signaiied
her thanks for the courtesy. and. get
ting beyond the lightship put on full
speed for Southampton.
The olympic, with 73l saloon passen-
gers i95 second and ! .O75 third. backed
ont into the North River few minutes
after . r. m. A heavy ebb tide was run
ring at the time, and the Job Of getting
ont safely 5000 tons Of steel. So feet
long was not an easy one.
half making his big charge fast when
she arrived here a week ago. but getting
her out was an experiment. He had
studied the problem. however. and did
what has seldom been required before
f., this harbor. He warped the big liner
from the north side Of Pier % to The
south side Of Pier 90, and then let her
back out slowly. with her stern heading
TO the northwest fleet of twelve tugs
whose shippers mad had their instruc-
tions knew what to expect and were
ready for her In midstream.
The whole thing was done with pre-
oision. and within twelve minutes affer
her screws had started turning the
OLYMPIC vas ready for her journey to
England.
Aviator Takes Passenger.
Ius. about the time she had straight
ened herself ont Thomas Sopwith, an
English aviator. in powerful Howard
Wright biplane. ascended from the Mas
san aviation field near Garden City and
headed for the Brooklyn side Of the Mar
rows He took along Richard r. SIM
clair as = passenger. and guided. as he
said afterward solely by the sun headed
for the Crescent Athletic Club. where ne
Rad agreed to stop and take aboard
nackage from Wanamaker's.
The department store had arranged
with Sopwith 10 deliver pair OF spec
tackles TO ". Atlee Burpee. Phiianei-
mia seedman. who was A passenger on
tho O,vmpIc. but patch Of haze which
s,o,e in over South Brooklyn AT criticai
bour thwarted the plans of the aviator
,,o ,as nm q thousand feet and time was
pressins The Olympic had l"i' p's
- United states mail on board ana she
r.ae willing 10 wait for nothing. NOT even
tho tide. ,,
,rb. vossel went down the bay AZ much'
ro-o than half speed. and SopWith had
o, Al some living to gauge IT. lie nan I"
Jockey about in the air. get d'reo''S r
her nath and allow for the thouSa"' i'o'
descent 10 no taken by the punnie VI
.o,s bo was To drop on her sun deck
:, noe no child's play and Sop"i'h
.,,,,od HE stars that he had no. taken
-. .ha additional weight o lim''hy ~
woosrur who had planned 10 - hp
with him as passenger When ~ 'i'
| Garden city. .,.,..,,
~, b,zo made tho Crescent Aihlet'c
,,, ,hecure So SopWiJh decided 'o
ohordon getting the Wanai1aker PaoN'
,d stick To tho ship. He went out
s,,. ovor the NarrowS and picked mp
o,,.r,ri, He saw we'll ahead "f her
the notice boat Patrol when had "'ei
,or, - Mr.. Woodruff and party "i
friends by commissioner Wa'd"' Inc
na,ro, ,oi,orod until the OLYMPIC came
H.. aud then ran along with her MI
~ ,ar,~ and his friends kept their eyes
tho aviator until he dropped the
packet 49,, A.
II did not fail on tho Patrol MI
Woodruff explained. nor did II MT Inc
uatcr on the liners port side. ihefe-
fore the ex-Lieutenant Governor as
.r,od that the missiyas fell into the
,o,er on the starboard side NJ. sop
..,,h could not tell from his tvalteL
olace whether the package hit the deck
or dropped into one of the four tunnels
The Olympic passed the Battery at
3.5O n M. and according Ia the avia-
tors time he was over her in the Mar
rows at 4:l5 p. m. the biplane having
left Garden City at 3:21 p. M
The letters Mr. Sopwith took up with
him were mostly his own. which he had
written TO friends i'm London He had
one for Harry W. Harkness, an amateur
aviator of Pasadena. Cal, who was a
Messenger on the olympic.
Lands Near Clubhouse.
! After making an effort to deliver the
goods Sopwith swooped down about five
hundred feet above ground. and at 4:lI
- mn landed on the Crescent Athletic
cmb's grounds lie was disconnected
for a time by the tennis courts and other
sporting paraphernalia about the club.
Int after describing a few circles picked
his landing place and glided safely and
deliberately down. dropping between the
main club building and the nagpole.
which are about one hundred and fifty
feet apart.
Meanwhile Mr. Woodruff and his party
arrived from the Narrows. After rest
Of a half hour they started for Garden
city In an automobile, and Sopwith took
.l..,.