The sun., 1919-06-16

They had selected the town because
1t was about the centre of the west
ern coast line Of ireland. and they
feared to miss the island entirely,
ireland Is q fairly large mark, but 1t
Is difficult one to hit from almost
1900 miles away.
Never Had Navigated = Vessel.
Many skilled naval and merchant
marine officers here, who have had
their own difficulties on the stable
bridge of big ships in making a land
fall where they expected 10 do so,
shook their heads dismally after the
start Of the flight when they learned
that Lieut.. Brown never had actually
navigated a ship In his life and had
merely studied navigation as a
hobby, q study to take his mind of
the engineering problems with which
he was accustomed to wrestle before
the war.
No man, they said. no matter how
brilliant. could understand navigation
unless he had stood upon the deck Of
a ship with the responsibility OF bring
ing It and its people safe into harbor.
But Lieut., Brown brought his craft
safe into port as surely as II he hao
commanded a liner for years.
Capt. Alcock iokingiy had remarked
In Newfoundland, II Is said, that he
| 4,
the Clifden aerial That prophecy
might have been fulfilled in all seri-
BUSINESS had the transatlantic voyagers
wished. so true was their course to-
ward Ireland. And not one Of the
wireless men, bursting with the en-
thusiasm they were endeavoring TO
restrain in accordance with Anglo
Saxon traditions, would have frowHed
upon the dissertation of their great
plant by the fear despistng visitors.
That nowhere In the great Atlantic did
the Vickers plane wander far from the
course determined upon by Lieut.. Brown
is shown by the short time in which the
flight was accomplished. From twenty
| TO twenty-five hours was the time set by
the f1iers themselves before the aerial
voyage. They beat their own estimate
by four to six hours, so their path must
have been straight and sure, indeed.
Alcock and Brown had determined to
disregard steamship lanes with the pos
sibllities of rescue II the motors faitered.
and steer straight, or Rhomb line,
course for Ciifden. They were stalking
everything on the ability of their plane
to make the trip, and they did not wish
to add unnecessary mileage to the jour-
ney even TO give themselves what could
only be called a sporting chance Of res
cue II they failed.
Even when. somewhere over the banks
o: Newfoundland. the tiny wooden pro-
peller operating the generator Of the
VIII eless was blown away, leaving them
cut of from all communication with
the rest of the world. preventing them
from calling for rescue to all ships
within a radius OF 250 miles, and leav-
ing Lieut.. Brown unable to check up
his reckoning of position with any yes.
sci they passed, even then they perse-
veied In trusting entirely to their mo-
tors and plane
Even the dauntless Hawker kept
nearer to the steamship lanes than the
Vickers fiiers, and to this he and Com
mander Cirieve probably owe their lives.
But the Vickers iiers aimed straight as
an arrow at their mark at Clifden. The
fact that no ship during day or night
reported hearing them shows how far
from steamship lanes they set their
course. Apparently the men came to
an agreement Somewhere on ths COURSE
asilent agreement or an agreement
shouted lip TO ear above the thunderous
roar OF the motors and the shrek Of the
wind-to do away with every possible
provision for safety on the already
super-hazardous journey which might
interfere with success. They would win
or die. They won.
Carried Black Cat for Luck.
Like many other airmen, seamen and
men of every trade whose lives depend
In large part upon their own skill and
daring. and upon that something yari-
ously known as luck, chance or Proyi-
dence, Capt Aicock ana lieut. Brown
were supsrstitious, possibly jokingly SO,
but superstitlous nevertheless. They car
| rled with them In the crowded cockpit OF
their plane two black cats for luck-real
cats of the Halloween type-to speed
their plane. Certainly II the cats had
anything to say about It the hiers would
succeed for cats lover water In bulk as
little as fiers love fog. The black eats
apparently earned their passage and,
no doubt. very hearty breakfast OF
Irish bacon
In the rejoicing Of the crowds who
read the extra editions OF the London
papers there was at FIRST an element OF
doubt. They remembered the FIRST re-
port OF Harry HawkeFs fate; that hi
had fallen but forty miles on the Irish
coast, and that his biplaDe was stu
floating. and so asked, even as they
scanned the headlines. 'Is II truer' Ths
JOY Of the plain people OF the capital
4 the men who fought the war In thu
ranks and now are keeping shops. work
ing in the industries, was equally di
vided between thankfulness that tbs
men themselves we're safe and pride II
the glory their achievement gives t.
England
| The feeling here Is that the exploit OF
Capt. Alcoek and Lieut.. Brown In q
| British made plane brings Great Britain
| on level once more with the United
States. which won first transatlan,
tic night hoRors when Lieut. -comma ndel
Reads American naval sesplans biased
the way from Newfoundland to ths
Azores. to Portugal and to England
| In this fiiEht, however, there is much
glory for the United States as well a
for tho empire. II the plane was hsit.
. G