Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-27
HdUker Relates
Story of Flight



We were fairly in fog with the clouds
low and were almost on top of her be-
fore we saw her.
1--WE sent up our very light distress
signals. These were answered promptly
and then we few on about two miles
and landed in the water ahead of the
steamship.
I'VE made very good landing, al
though the sea was high. The ma
chine foated at an even keel well out
of the water.
Machine Begins to Sink
1--WE watched the steamship ap
preaching and put out our own boat and
stood by in case the machine should
break up and sink. which she began to
do rapidly in the heavy sea. The sea
was running up to twelve feet and
breaking right over the machine and u.s.
Our life saving suits kept us dry
and for an hour and half we watched
the crew trying to launch lifeboat.
The Mary was only 200 yards away.
After much difficulty the )ifcboat
succeeded in reaching us. We boarded
the lifeboat and were pulled to the ship
by line.
Owing to the heavy sea it was i'm
possible to save anything. When we got
to the ship we were without our boots
and caps, while Gricve also had lost
his coat. We were very sorry to lose
a lot of valuable instruments and the
mail.
Climbing aboard we found that Cap
tain Duhn spoke very good English.
He had been afraid that we would go
down before his boat reached us.
The aviators were picked up at s 80
~. m. Greenwich time, Monday, May
10.
In Nick Of Time
Describing his reception on the Mary.
Hawker said that Captain Duhn said to
him:
Another hour and you would have
gone down"
Hawker said that the captain thought
the aviators were Americans. The res
cued men were struck with the casual
manner in which the captain took the
whole business. as if it were an every
day affair to take airmen out of the
Atlantic. The aviators asked the cap
tain his bearings and what likelihood
there was of meeting ship and get
ting into the main route of steamers. AT
that time the captain thought there was
very good chance of sighting n ship
with wireless at any moment
Monday night the storm got worse and
the Mary had to heavc to, making about
one knot an hodr in northerly direc
ton. This took the steamer off the ship
ping route and lesscned the chance OF
meeting another ship.
Hawkcr said that he and Grieve slept
or tried to sleep most of the time. They
drank tea and read the captains Eng
lish books. They saw the lighthouse al
st. Kilda but were unable to communi
cate with land until the ship reached
the Butt Of Lewis.
Declare Motor Reliable
II want to emphasize. Hawker told
the correspondent. that the fault was
not due to the motor which was reliabl,
in every way. rGnning satisfactorily
from start to finish. Even after all tn,
water had boiled away, the motor wa.
still running merrily. although it wa;
red hot when we alighted on the water.
The correspondent adds that ther,
were amazing scenes on the trip through
the Scottish Highlands to Inverness. A
every station women threw flowers ant
kisses to the rescued aviators and mer
cung to the train and sought to ente
it while it was moving. Hawker ant
Grieve shook hands with hundreds in
cheering crowd which had invaded tn,
Inverness station.
On their arrival at Inverness tn,