New-York tribune., 1921-03-26
Planes Widen
Hunt for Lost
Airrnen at Sea
No Trace Found by Flying
Boats and Sub Chasers
After a Zigzag Search
Over 800 Mile Radius
May Be ON Desert Shore
Last Report From Balloon
in Gulf Indicated Men
We're Drifting to Land

PENSACOLA, Fla, March 25.-Cou-
tlnued search to-day by squadrons OF
airplanes, flying boats, dirigibles and
eagle boats failed to discover any trace
Of the missing naval balloon in com
mand of Chief Quartermaster G. K.
Wilkinson, carrying four students,
which left the naval air station here
Tuesday night and last reported over
the Gulf twenty miles off st. Andrews
Bay. Naval officials, however, have not
given up hope Of rescuing the missing
men.
Supplementing the work Of the air
craft, the eagle boats and 1. sub-chaser
to-day zigzagged over q 3o0-mile
radius of the Gulf with st. Andrews
Bay as a starting point. The naval
vessels followed out exactly the same
tactics as were employed in war times
for hunting submarines.
Circling above and in constant COM
munication with the dirigible CT, a
sister ship of the ill-fated CO, which
flew from Rockaway, L. L., to Trepassy.
Newfoundland, and was then blown out
to sea and lost, men in the big F-5-L
and H-l6-A flying boats scanned every
inch OF land and sea in their search.
New York Man in Balloon
In the balloon with Wilkinson, whose
home is in Houston, Tex, were Russell
Y. Eland, Of Bellevile, ILL.,; Edward L.
kershaw, of Rayne, La; John O. Elder
Of Lebanon, N. Y, and William H. Tref-
rey, of Salem, Mass
Despite to-day's disappointment,
naval officials have no intention of sur
rendering hope and the search is being
continued tonight and will be carried
on again tomorrow, the circle ever
widening.
The balloon in which the five men left
here at 5 O'Clock Tuesday afternoon
was 5000 cubic foot craft Besides
the men and ballast two pigeons were
carried One of these returned to the
air station at 9:39 o'clock yesterday
morning with q message which had
teen started nearly twenty-four hours
before. The second pigeon returned
that afternoon after it,, too, had been
twenty-four hours on the way. The
last message gave the position as twen-
ty miles off st. Andrews Bay with the
drag rope in the water and all supplies
OIL shore and the balloon was slowly
crifting northward.
1t is on the wording Of the last mes
sage that naval officials base their be-
lief that the balloon landed somewhere
on the deserted coast Of the outer ISL
and.
Could Keep Above Water
The~balloon apparently had almost
sufficient buoyancy to remain in the air.
and thus it is believed by balloon ex-
perts here that the craft would keep
the men above water for several days
if the weather remained calm. even if
the basket finally touched water.
With an on-shorc wind, officials be-
lieve the balloon may have been car
ried to the beach IN some remote place
from which the flyers have been unable
to communicate or work their way to
civilization. If they landed on the out
side island their hardships are likely
to be much greater than if they reached
the mainland, because the former is al
most barren, without any place where
fresh water might gather. The main
land, however, while broken and barren
in many places, has many fresh water
streams from which the flyers could
quench their thirst Food can be on
tanned almost anywhere because Of the
wealth Of shellfish along the entire
coast