The sun., 1919-05-21
BRITISH FLIERS
STILL MISSING
Not q Trace of Hawker and
Grieve Found and They
Are Believed Dead.
BARE CHANCE REMAINS
May Have Been Picked Up
or Possibly Are
Afloat.
BARE CHANCE REMAINS

LONDON. May 2o.--The death of
Harry G. Hawker and Lieutenant
Commander Mackenzie Grieve some-
where in the 1000 miles Of barren
ocean they hoped to span became al
most certainty to-day with the pass
ing Of another twenty-four hours
without a word of the missing avia-
tors.
Not one Of the rumors of the sight
ing Of the machine approaching Ire
land in the air or in the water only
thirty or forty miles from the coast
which flew about the British Isles
yesterday contained an iota Of truth,
as far as the rigid investigation by
the authorities can determine. The
fact is that from the time Hawker dis
appeared from the view OF those who
wished him good fortune from the
sides Of Signal Hill. st. Johns, he van
ished from the sight and hearing of
man Some clue to his fate-a scrap
o. wood from his splintered plane or
message hastily scrawled when death
seemed imminent-may yet be brought
TO land, but even that seems imprcb-
able now.
May still BE Ahoat.
There remain OF course two bare
chances-and even the most hopeful con-
cede that they are slender chances-one
that some wandering tramp steamship
without a wireless picked them up and
the other that they succeeded In launch
ing theE fragile boat. nesting in the
fuselage OF the plane, and are still afioat
In II. The first is viewed as unlikely
| because it Is recalled that Commander
Grieve declared just before coolly taking
his seat in the Sopwith plane that the
course would be direct to Ireland instead
OF southeasterly for a time and then
into the steamship lane to the south of
ireland. The direct course would put
tho machine in unfreQuented waters
where the chance Of sighting ship at
the moment of distress is slight.
The launching OF the boat is thought
almost impossible in view of the fact
that the plane when the engine stopped
would glide to the water at forty or
fifty miles an hour. the minimum land
Ing speed. and sink almost Immediately
II the gasolene remained partly unused
One peculiar phase OF the situation is
that not message was flashed by Com
mt nder Grieve, VINO was radio man as
well as navigator. 1t Is possible that
the wireless, which had a radius OF 25O
miles, was put out of order by the vi
bration OF the plane under tho throb
OF its powerful Rolls Royce motor The
opinion held In Admiralty circles In
view OF this circumstance, however, Is
that Hawker came TO grief soon after
his start He could be seen for posi-
bly, ten miles out to sea, but at any
distance beyond that he might have
fallen before his engine was fully
warmed up 10 tho carrying OF the heavy
| load OF gasolene with which he started.
Navy Craft Search In Vain.
Navy craft were sweeping back and
/ forth along the Irish coast and some dis
lance from It to-day In the faint hope
that one OF the rumors OF the plane being
sighted would prove true. Their opera
! tons were made difficult, and those OF
| aircraft were made impossible, by the
weather which is now prevailing there.
| The airplanes were ordered to aid In the
! search by the Air Ministry. but strong
southeast winds. rain and fog during thu
night and generally bad conditions pre-
| vented any aerial activity.
| The fate OF Hawker has stirred Eng
| land as only tho greater incidents of the
war-the death OF Kitchener at sea, the
battle OF Jutland, the blocking OF Zee
brugge and few land operations stirred
| IL. The pathos OF his death in ar effort
to win for England in the face of I'M
| favorable weather the glory or the FIRST
| transatlantic flight is felt universally
As a result the newspapers are itmand-
| ing why the Admiralty fSNed q give
Hawker the slight protection OF patrol,
ling naval craft during his fight instead
of after his probable death. They point
! Continued on" Second pa0''