The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-27
Harry Hawker's Message.

Al1WACE . NhcosbkCs
The striking thing about the mes
sage which HARRY HAwKER sent TO
England as soon as he reached a ship
equipped with wireless apparatus was
the mans utter disregard of things
human and his devotion to his god,
the machine. The first sentence of
the message gave in technical detail
the reason why the plane could go no
further. The second sentence was
employed in defence of the motor
proper, as distinguished from the
guilty radiator. The third sentence
Informed the world not Of the condi-
ton Of the fiiers but Of a good point
about the machine: I'VE had no
trouble in landing on the sea-"
The only clause in the message
beyond its telling. that HAwKER and
GRrEvE still lived-that went to sat
isfy the intense curiosity of an over
joyed world was the statement that
the rescued men had been in the
water ninety minutes. HAwKER's
mind was all on the machine. Even
the signal flags flown from the provi-
Dental tramp ship Mary. telling the
great news to a naval station In the
Hebrides, spelled a message about n
machine rather than about men {:
"Saved hands Of Sopwith airplane."
Now nobody In the world except
HAwKER would have sent such q
message. To say to the world that
HAwKER and GRIEvE were safe with
out mentioning their names and TO
describe them only as "hands of Sop
with airplane" is almost comic. The
captain of the ship ordered the flags
flown, but HAwKER was author of the
peculiarly worded message. There
was the modest man. unaware that
HAWKES. name was better known
tc all English speaking people than
SoPwTTH's is or ever will be.
1t is quite possible TO lima CINE
HAwKER saying to GRIEvE while they
waited in the water for the Mary TO
come up: well, we've made mess
Of 1t: lost our plane and the prize and
our reputation. There's nothing to
save except the motors reputation"
And 50 obsessed was the Australian
with this lone bit of salvage that it
overshadowed all else. Even the fact
that his wife had been waiting for
him to come sailing down TO their
home town-waiting almost n week
and still believing him alive when the
rest of the world had given him up
did not cause the sky sailor to cut
down the details about the radiator
pipe and make room for a message to
Mrs. HAwKER.
All this. however. is not beyond I'M
Outstanding. At the instant when
HAwKER sailed away n week ago Sun
day the world was not talking much
about him. 1t was discussing the
feat of READ and his NC-4 in sailing
1900 miles. HAwKER never saw the
spread heads in Mondays newspapers
about his HOP Off" never knew that
two or three continents sat up that
night waiting for news from him.
never heard how everybody with
blood in his veins mourned when II
became almost Il certainty that the
two brave men had met AzRAEL at
sea. HAvKER had simply dropped his
landing wheels and sailed eastward
leaving the sympathetic and speculat-
Ing world behind; and when he and
GRIEyE were taken aboard the Mary
they learned nothing about the worlds
perturbation, for the little steamer
had been out of touch with terra
firma since she cleared Norfolk on
the 9Th OF May.
The world has seen lot of drama
IN the last five years, but nothing
more thrilling than this seven day
play Of THE Lost Aviators." And
most Of the war drama was black
tragedy, while here we have the melo,
dramatic first act, the affecting and
despairing second act and-presto =
the turning of apparent tragedy into
delightful cOmedy-dr in the final
HAwKER, the chief actor, has added
TO the artistic merit OF the production
by refusing himself to be at all melo
dramatic. Denouncing the refus,
f, which blocked his machines feed pipe
he Is Man. refusing TO accept ruin IL,
the work of Destiny, and pointing I,
the piece OF vagrant solder as the rea
villain Of the play.
We say ruin, hut evidently it 4
only the destruction of the plane il
self and not of HAwKER's faith in 1,
Between the lines of the cold. pmC
tical message it is easy to read DC,
feet confidence. HAwKER does nc
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