Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-05-18
CAST INTO SEA;
DRIFT 80 HOURS
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CONTINUED from First Page.1
a Tuesday night before reaching
safety, His account follows:
Il left our station in a British sea-
plane as pilot. with Sub-Lieutenant
Eric Moore, of the Royal Naval Air
Service, as observer. at 8 q. m. Our
duty was to convoy patrols. When
two hours out, having met our ships
coming from the westward, we
thought We sighted a periscope ahead
and turned off in pursuit. We lost
our course. Our engine dropped dead
and at 11.30 o'clock forced us to land
on the surface of a rough sea.
Release Carrier Pigeons
We had no kite nor radio to call
for assistance, so we released our
Two carrier pigeons. We tied a mes
sage with our positions and the work
SINKING on each. The first, the
blue barred one, flew straight Off and
reached home. But the other. which
was white checked. lit on our ma
chine. and would not bulge until
Moore threw our navigation clock at
him, which probably upset him, so
that he failed US.
Heavy seas smashed our tail
planes, which kept settling. L saw
that they were pulling the machine
down by the rear turning her over.
We tore the tail fabric to lessen the
impact of the waves. 1t wasn't any
use to stop. The tail fiat was
smashed and it's box filled with wa
ter This increased the downward
leverage and rose her perpendicular
ly in the air. At 2.30 p. m. we cap
sized, climbing up the nose and
over the top to the under side of
the pontoons.
Soaked and Lashed by Sea
Our emergency ration had been
in the observers seat at the back,
but We had been so busy trying to
repair the motor and save ourselves
from turning over that we didn't re-
member this until too late. When
l crawled aft for food Moore saw
that / was only helping the machine
to capsize. He yelled to me to come
back and 1 did just in time to save
myself from being carried down with
the tail and drowned. From then on
for nearly four days, until picked
ually soaked and lashed by seas and
with nothing to eat or drink. We
had nothing to cling to and so to
keep from being washed overheard
we got upon the same pontoon and
hugged our arms about one another's s
bodies for the whole time. We suf-
fered from thirst. l had a craving
for canned peaches. Twice a drizzle
came on, wetting the pontoon. We
turned on our stomachs and Tapped
up the moisture, but the paint came
off with salt and nauseated us.
Our limbs grew numb. From time
to time the wreckage from torpedoed
ships would pass. Once two full bis
cult tins came close enough to swim
for but by then in our weakened
state we knew that we would drown
If we tried to get them. We did haul
in third tin and broke it open. 1t
was filled with tobacco.
VainIy waved For Help
Every day we saw conveys in the
distance and vainly waved our hand
kerchiefs. We had no signal lights
to use at night. Our watches
stopped and we lost all track of
time. We realized how easy it was
escape
being spotted. On Sunday night we
spied a masthead light and shouted.
The ship heard and began to circle
us. We saw her port light. She
headed straight towards us until
within 100 yards. Then, when the
crew were visible on the deck of the
vessel, she suddenly put out her
lights and turned away. She thinks
We are Huns said Moore. L hope
she does said /. Then they'll send
patrol boats out to get us. We
couldn't be worse off if we were Ger
manA' But no rescue came. On
Monda yafternoon a seaplane came
from the seas. 1t was flying only
500 feet overhead, aiming down the
channel 1t seemed impossible that
she could not sight US, for the air
was perfectly clear. But she passed
straight above without making any
signal, flew two miles beyond and
came back on her course. Her OBJ
server must be sending wireless
about u.s. I said. Yes. that is why
we get no recognition said Moore,
And now she's decided to go back
and report But that plane hadn't
even seen us.
Our spirits fell. We had been
afraid of two things. being picked up
by neutral ships and interned, or
captured by an enemy submarine.
Now we even hoped that the enemy
that anything-would get us to end
it all.
"a ship would have to run us
down before seeing u.s. 1 said.
Sights TrawIer After U-BOat
I'VE sighted a trawler about D.
m. on Tuesday. She had just been
chasing a submarine and so did not
seem to take us yer yseriously at
first. We waved at her for half an
hour before she changed her course.
We were both too weak to stand up
and signal. We could only rise on
our knees. Moore's hands were too
swollen to hold a handkerchief, but
1 had kept my gloves on and was
able to do so. The trawler moved
warily around us. but finally threw
life preservers at the end of a line.
I yelled that we were too weak to
grasp it, She finally hove to, low
cred a boat and lifted us aboard.
Then we collapsed.
Every machine from the seaplane
base and those from a station on the
French coast had searched continual
ly for the, aviators after the blue
pigeon had homed, as did the pa
trolls and destroyers in tho area