The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1919-05-30
GALLANT HAWKER
LONG OVERDUE
British Admiralty Denies Having
Received News of Locating
of Machine.
SEARCH BY DESTRoYERS.
All Britain Shares Concern Over Fate
of Daring Extraordinarily Calls
Report That Airplane Descend
ed in ireland Unreliable.

London.-Harry G. Hawker, the Aus
tralian aviator, who gamely flew from
st. Johns, Newfoundland, in a single
motored Sopwith airplane aiming at
the coast of Ireland in a desperate at
tempt to be the first man to fly across
the Atlantic, has failed.
That much is certain, for the reason
that his plane cannot stih be in the
air, and it has not arrived in Ireland
or England 1t must be down in the
Atlantic.
But where it fell and whether the
aviator and his navigator, Lieut.. Com
mander Mackenzie Grieve of the Brit
ish navy, were killed or have been
rescued is a matter of doubt after A
period of strain and anxiety.
There We're rumors aplenty.
The bulk of them, if there is any
truth in them at all, indicate that
Hawker fell almost in sight of his goal
after a most wonderful fight of 1000
miles.
A dispatch to the Exchange Tele-
graph from Londonderry, Ireland, re-
pulling iidNhNi says TIA
destroyers have been ordered to sea to
search for him.
Lieut. Col. Leslie Orme Wilson stated
in the House of Commons on behalf OF
the government that the British gov
eminent had no information whatever
concerning the fate of Hawker.
According to the Daily Mail admiral
utIa rtarc in nnaanStnyr,, yubpp amos.
tion denied having received wireless
dispatch from the Castleton station
saying Hawkers machine had landed
40 miles west of the mouth of the
Shannon, or any other wireless.
Moreover, it was asserted, the espe-
cially sensitive wireless plant at Bally-
bunnion, on the northwest coast of
County Kerry, Ireland, did not receive
the message.
Hawker's fate may have been in
slant death, as the plane struck the
water spent, or the dubious safety of
a fragile collapsible boat, or the al
most incredible good fortune of rescue
by ship without wireless.
Sifted down, the dozens of reports
which reached London during the day
of tense waiting reveal not one from a
ship at sea which has seen the fiiers or
heard the urgent call of their wireless.
Belief here inclines to a failure of
the engine or an exhaustion of supplies
rather than to an accident to the plane
itself. such as the collapse of the wing.
1t is pointed out that accidents to the
plane in flying are rare, except in stunt
flying, when the sudden change of
pressure on the wings sometimes break
them or shred the fabric from them.
Aviators regard it as peculiar. even
taking into consideration that Hawker
may have flown north or south of the
steamship lane, that no radio from
Commander Grieve, as far as can be
learned reached a ship on the way
across. Whether this was because the
navigator was too busy with his sex
tant and compass to attend to the wire
less, or whether the radio itself was
out of order are subjects for specula-
ton. 1t was understood, however,
that one of the main reiances of
Grieve in navigating was the wireless,
for with this he intended to get his
position as the plane passed over or
near ships.
That Hawker, himself had been
overcome by the long strain or by ILL
ness was not looked upon as a prob
able theory here, for he is test pilot
of many years experience, and would
not be likely to be overcome by the
strain of plotting n plane even for 20
or a hours In the event of illness or
even of WEAKNESS Commander Grieve
was qualified to take his place, as
Hawker had instructed him in flying,
and he had had some previous expert
ence.