New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-10-08
FLIES IN A|RBOAT
HERE FROM ALBANY
pockwithHavens Pilots Machine
Carving Passenger Down
Over the Hudson.
GETS LOST IN DENSE FOG
Youthful Aviator Lands on
Reach Three Miles from
Destination on Staten
Island.

Yeckwith Ravens. youthful airman
=, this city, had the most hazardous and
..-ys.try!ng experience in his three
Laws rs an aviator when he plotted yes
,.rday a Curtiss flying boat from Albany
% this city 1t was misty when he left
,,s cspi,al al 1:2O o'clock in the after
,oo, but there was little or no wind.
usvens and his passenger, J. Bayard r.
vsplanck, who owns the machine sailed
- chelsea. near Fishkill, without Incl
a.r, but for three-quarters Of an hour
sner they sighted New York they were
in peril
1us, before the airboat left Yonkers
the wind began TO blow and the fog
haran 10 thicken. Darkness was coming
=, and the aviators were lost several
times in the murky atmosphere over the
lower bay Only his intimate knowledge
~ his surroundings enabled Ravens 70
make landing.
.There was nothing 70 do but keep 60
ing" said Ravens last night. After we
got opposite the skyscrapers they only
Iooked like ghosts. and the tugs and ferry
hosts below us were bewildering. They
ssan,ed 10 shoot back and forth like shut
,,ss The boats caused treacherous. air
currents that made the air rock harder
than an ordinary boat in heavy sea
We had TO keep plunging ahead with
avery nerve and muscle strained. Going
% the surface would have been ATTENDED
with the greatest danger, and going high
~ IN the air only meant getting deeper
into the fog
After being buffetad over the river and
battling with air pits over the harbor, the
s,rn,en entirely lost their bearings They
kspt going. hoping to land somewhere
near Captain Baldwin's aviation field at
lakewood Beach. the appointed destina-
ton.
But the voyage was getting more and
more rough" said Ravens. and 1t was
almost dark. so, seeing we were close 10
beach. we landed. about three miles
from Captain Baldwin's place.
The crowd awaiting the aviators' ar
rivdl al captain bdANN III , hAoSN AAN'@-
the whir of their motor in the distance.
Havens and Verplanck left Albany at
is o'clock. They arrived al Nerplancks
hangar in Chelsea at 3 o'clock. Here
new supply Of gasolene was taken on and
al 4O5 o'clock the airboat left the water.
Al SIS o'clock the landing was made at
South Beach. the journey being made In
too nd threz-uuartArs hours.
The boat followed the course of the
Yusson most of the trip, now and then
sailing over points of land. An average
Of sixty-fve miles an hour was made
and an average height of $50 feet above
the water maintained. over the Pough-
keepsie Bridge the boat scared 70 an
altitude Of 10 feet. the maximum height
reached.
The airship met its first difficulties in
the Tappan Zee. opposite HaverstraW.
There" said Ravens, we had bad
wind and received some terrible wallops.
Opposite West Point the boat sailed
near the shore, parallel with the parade
grounds.
Haven's fight was the first 10 be made
In the hydroplane type Of flying machine
and the second successful attempt to ny
from the capital Of New York state TO
the metropolis. Curtiss accomplished the
feat in an aeroplane three years ago.
Yesterdays fight was the last leg OF
cruise" tina. began On July in chi
cago. when Ravens and Nerplancy ne"
to Detroit, winning prize in the chi
cago-Detroit flying boat race. Ravens
and yerplanck proceeded along the Great
Lakes and other water courses 10 But
,alo, where the machine was shipped 10
Albany.
Havens and Verplanck said last nlgh'
at the Aero Club they would spend TO-DAY
resting and would in all probability san
W the Hudson again tomorrow as lar do
Eshkill, where Verplanck lives