Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-05-18
FOUGHT DEATH 50
HOURS ON PLANE
P0NT00N;; WINS
Four Days in Constant Peru
Lashed by Seas and Without
Food or Water.
u. S. ENSIGN'S PERIL
Nv Associated Press TO Every Evening

BY Associated Press 20 Every Evening
Washington, May Is Ensign T.. a
Stone. United States naval reserves W
Norfolk, Va, given up for drowned IN tn'
English Channel last month, haS Sa'ey
arrived IN London according to iniorma-
ton received here today from the London
representative Of the COMMITTEE on
Public Information 80
With companion, stone ciung io' ="
hours without food or drink to the uh'iet-
side of a seapnne pontoon before ne was
saved
Ensign Stone tells thrilling story ni
how he and a companion, Sub-IIcutenant
Eric Moore of the Royal Naval AR Ser
vice drifted OH the seas from SATURDAY
morning until Tuesday night. before
reaching safety, Ills account follows
pRorrEp ISTo sft
II loft our station in a british seap'anr
a. p,Iot with Sub-Iicutenaut Erie Moore
of the Roval Naval Air Service rs Oh
server. at Q a. IN. O,lr duty was to CONVOY
patrnls When two hours out. having met
our ships coming from the westward. we
thought we sighted pcriscupC ahead ana
turned of IN pursuit We lost our course
Our engine dropped dead and at u 10
o o'clock forced us 10 land on the surface IN
rough sea.
We had no kItC nor radio 10 '@tit t"t
assistance, So We released our two carrier
pigeons We trIcd a mcsssagc with our
nos,fions and the word sinking on each
The first pigeon the tluc barred on,
flew straight oil and reached home i'ut
the other. which was white checked.
lit on our machine and would not hudge
until Moor, threw ,ur paylgstiomn lpek
at him. which probably ursrt tn So that
he failed US
ON UNDER SlDL or pnNFmN
'Hesvv 4eas smashed or tail planes
which kept settling saw that th'y were
milling the machine down hv the rear. tn
turning her over We torc the tail falri"
10 lessen the impact II he waves "
wasn't auv ttAn to stop Ih" tal' ilat vas
smashed and It's box filled with water
This increased the downward leverage
and rose hcr pcTpcndcuIarlN ~ the aT
Al > 20 n m We ca0sl1ai rhmhnE ~
the nosc aud over the top to the under
side Of the poutoous
Our emergency ration bad been ~ tho
observer : scat at the back. but We had
lern - busy trying % repair the motor ana
save ourselves from turning over Thar
wc did not remember this until t"o late
When ! called aft lor food. Nonrc r."
that il vas only helping the machine to
lust n time to saw myself from being
carried down with tho tail and drowned
FOUR p.Ya Or PERu
From then on for nearly four days,
until picked M bv q trawler, VIC were
continually soaked and lashed by seas
and with nothing to cat nor drink
eve had nothing 10 cling a. and 50 70
keep from being washed overheard We got
-, al
arms about one anofhcrs bodies for the
whole time. We suffered from thirst
had craving for canned peaches. Twice
drizzle came on. wettng the pontoon
We turned on our stOnachs and lapTCd
un the moisture but the pant came of
with salt and nausaatcd rs
TOBACCO RI WATER ROUTE
Our limbs grow numb From tlmr
70 time the wrrckage from tDrpcdocd
ships would pass Oncr two full biscuit
tins came close enough Ia SWIM Tor. but
nv then IN our weakened state VIC know
that We would drown # We trled 10 get
them. We did haul ~ thlrd tin and
broke il OXEN II was filled with tobacco
"Fverv day we saw convovs IN the
distance and vainly waved our hand
kerchicfs NC had no signal lights p
llse al night O,lr Watches stopped and
we lost all track oi tmc Nc realized
how easv II was for ? submarine ont there
to escape being spotted
On Sunday night we splei a masthead
light and shouted Ihc ship heard and
l,cgan 10 cirolc NJ We saw her rort
light She headed straight towards
us until within 100 wards Then, when
the erew were visible on the deck OF
the vessel she suddenly pu; ouf her lights
and turned away She thinks We arr
Huns. said Moore j hope she does
said Then ,hcy Il send patrol boat,
out to er: US We couldn bc worse OF
IT VIC were Germans But no rescue came
AiRrLANE CONES NEAR.
On MONDAY afternoon seaplane came
from the east II was fiyinR only 500
fect overhead aiming down the channel
II seenped impossible that She could not
sight us, for the air was perfectly clear
But she passed straight above without
making any signal few tvo miles beyond
and came back on her course Her oh
server must he sending wireless about US,
saId Yes, that Is why VIC get no recog-
nitIon SAID Moore And now shes de
cided to go back and report But that
plane hadn't even seen US
''Our spirits fell We had been afralC
Of two things beng picked up by neutra
ships and nterned, or captured by al
enemy submarine. Now We even hopeC
that the enemv-tha: anything -woulC
g't Us to end 1t all.
A ship would have 10 run Us dow
before seeing US / said
PICKED UP ~ TRAWLEK
We sighted trawler about p m
on Tuesday She had just been chasin
submarine and 50 did not seem to TAX
us very seriously al first W waved a
her for hall an hour before she change
her course
we were both too weak TO stand up an
sigma Nc could only rise on our knees
Moorcs hands were too swollen TO hol
handkerchief but had kept my glove
on and was able to do SO The trawle
moved warily around us, but mail
threw lie preservers al the end OF q line
! yelled that We were too weak to gras
1t She 'nally hove to- lowered boa
and lifted US aboard Then we collapsed