Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1919-07-04
Z DAYS Ar SEA
IN RUDDERLESS
NAVY BALLOON
Story of Airmen's Thrilling Ad-
venture Has Just Come to
Light.


story of hardships, daring and mira
culous escape from death during the
war was brought to light for the first
time today when naval officers made
public an account of the adventures
of the crew of the navy dirigible
BIZ, which was given up for lost by
the department in July, 1918, after
drifting around at sea for more than
two days during which the crew had
practically nothing to eat and ran
short of drinking water. The diri-
glble finally was forced to descend
on the surface of the sea and was
rescued by the Swedish ship Skagern.
The BIZ, with Ensign w. B. Crit
fin, as commanding officer, and pilot
Ensign w. C. Briscoe as assistant
pilot, the machinist's Mate E. A. Up
ton as mechanic, was ordered to leave
Chatham, Mass, early July 2, on a
patrolling expedition. German sub
marines were then operating off the
Atlantic coast and the dirigible was
we'll loaded with bombs when it left
the air station. Scanty food sup
plies were carried as Ensign Griffin
expected to return to Chatham that
night.
The radio equipment had only been
partially installed and could not be
used to send or receive messages.
The BIZ patrolled to the north
along the coast and sighted trans
port about $3.50 p. m. Ensign Crit
fin headed toward the vessel, intend
ing to escort it toward port when the
heel brace on the 1udder was carried
away, making it impossible to steer
the craft.
Ships Ignore Signals.
High winds were prevailing at the
time and the BIZ was forced to
cruise around in a great circle while
the crew attempted to attract the
attention of several ships and two
seaplanes then in sight.
No attention was paid to repeated
signals and finally Ensign Griffin
ordered the motors cut off in order
to save the gasoline for ballast.
The BIZ was at that time about
200 feet in the air and was virtually
a free balloon. Darkness was com
ing on and the big gas bag was
drifting northward at speed of
about rs miles an hour with an in
creasing wind behind it. A sea an
Choir was rugged up and an effort
made to retard the dirigible's prog
res by dragging it in the sea. After
a few moments, however, the towing
cable parted and the northward
progress was resumed at an increas-
ed speed About $3.50 o'clock that
night, ship was sighted and nine
rockets were fired from a pistol The
vessel apparently saw the signals and
directed its course to0ard the BIZ
only to turn away in few mom-
ents. About that time, the pipe line
leading to the emergency oil tank
broke and before the leak was dis
covered, al 1.-The oil was lost, causing
considerable decrease of ballast.
The BIZ began to rise and assembled
steadily until an altitude of 5000
feet was reached.
All night, the dirigible continued
it's wild dash northward. Early on
the morning of the second day, the
gas bag buckled and the horizontal
fins dropped to a vertical position.
Throughout the day, the big bag al
ternately dropped until perilously
near the sea and assembled to alti-
tudes of more than $500 feet. Every
available article was thrown over
board during these variations in al
titude to keep the ship from plunging
into the ocean. Not a vessel was
sighted during the day or that night.
The crew, meantime, was commencing
to suffer from hunger.
On the morning of the third day
the sun shone brightly, and as the
gas in the bag expanded rapidly, the
BIZ started to rise. Ensign Griffin
after conference with the other
members Of the crew, decided to
bring the BIZ to the surface and
take chance of being picked up.
Shortly after descending shiI
was sighted and it directed its course
toward the dirigible, the crew Of
which meanwhile were having great
difficulty in keeping clear of the
water. The vessel proved to be the
Swedish steamer Skagern, bound fol
Halifax, A small boat was put over
the side and the crew Of the BIZ tax.
en- off.
The dirigible was salvaged without