The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-07-14

sight Of New York, when ~
circled the Tines tower shortly
after midnight. at a height Of L
1000 feet Below us lay a fairy
land of lights. and we even de-
tected thousands OF white dots
representing upturnefp faces be-
tween the lanes of ligl1.
1t was the weirdes. sight any
of us had ever seen. The en- y
gines of our airship were too
noisy for US to detect any sound
from Broadway. but we believed
the people down there were CIV
ing US hearty farewell cheers.
We had a strong wind behind Us
when we passed $50 miles south OF
New Foundiand, but as we drew east
ward the wind veered around and got
ahead Of us. though there was no great
velocity
There We had light winds from
various directions the whole way
across. and lot of low clouds and fog
which prevented our getting sight OF
any sort for twenty-four hours in the
middle part of the journey.
Most of the trip across was done
above the lower cloud strata; the sea
was not NlSdDle, which maze IL nara 10
estimate drift or speed.
Just before Ireland was reached wa
travelled six hours at Ave thousand
feet. All of us were very cold. par
ticularly after the terrific heat that
prevailed at New York.
We struck Ireland at exactly the
lsame spot where Alcock and Brown
landed-Clifden
The breakdown of one of our en-
gines in the after-car was not as seri-
Gus as IL might appear. Though this
meant a loss Of one fifth OF our driv-
ing power when we were 1900 miles
from East Fortune. 1t made practi-
ically no difference because in
dirigible only tour engines are used
normally except when bucking head
winds. Occasionally, only three en-
gines are necessary.
Really, compared with the dangers
and the anxiety on our outward voy-
age. this return was a pleasure jaunt.
and we'll have 10 rack our brains to
provide the correspondents with SEN
station.
AS far as 7 can remember. the
m ost sensational feature was when we
discovered the cook asleep under the
dining room table. Mo- don't make
a mistake. 1t wasn't TOO much of
aboard on Hazlehurst fieid, but he was
sleeping for a perfectly excuable
cause--that is. excusable in an airship.
( Youll have TO get the cooks own
story on that point
We have a thousand gallons OF
petrol left in our tanks. which Is a
happy contract with the terrifying
shortage while approaching Long
Island II We had only known what
a small consumption of petrol was
ahead of u.s. We wouldn't have left any
might even have brought back our
stowaway
To sum up the results OF the round
trip: 1t was not as difficult as We had
anticipated. though we had anxious
moments during a thunderstorm over
Nova Scotia and when tho petrol was
running low.
was consumed with anxiety ali
the time the R-34 was At Haziehurst,
because one OF New York's famous
Thunderstorm would have wrenched
her seward In a tiffy.
am convinced beyond doubt tina.
the diriGibIe LIS the only type OF
trans-Ocean vcyagers, and the RIA is
only pioneer, Larger and faster
craft will follow
Safely and dependable schedule in
crossing depend wholly upon petrol
carrying capacity and consistent speed
OF seventy or eighty knots. We all be-
lleve that the good old RIA has
blazed the trail for ships OF quadrupie
her size which Will make trans-At-
lantic air travel as common az sea
travel is today,
What are my imm edfate plans?
Sleep, twice around the clock"