New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1921-01-21
OFFICER TELLS
Of BALLOON TRIP
Naval Officers Lost to the World
for Twenty-N Nine Days.
ARE FOUND By AN INDIAN
Wandered Four Days in the Dense
Woods and Were on Verge Of Death
When Rescued-ThriiIino Story Of
Trip Told by an Officer.


and Kloor, who abandoned their
wrecked balloon neal Moose Factory
on the shore of James bay on Dec.
ii. arrived safely here. The follow
Ing story of the balloon trip of the
airmen was told by Lieut.. Stephen
Farrell:
Lieut.. Farrell's story of the flight
and wanderings of the trio begins with
the morning hours In Rockaway naval
air station on December Is and goes
on through the flight, the landing, and
up to the meeting with the Indian at
Moose Factory who saved their lives.
1T vas just an ordinary balloon
hop" Farrell began. ut was for train.
Ing. Hinton told me after We left
that the gas In the balloon was ten
days old, stale and impure.
Hinton called me up at about TWEEN
~ minutes to l. December 13) and
told me l could come on flight If l
wanted TO. No special orders are
needed. We just got permission from
Commander Cummings Of the post
and Executive Officer Douglas.
II am senior officer of the three,
but klOOr was In command of the
flight. as he Is a balloon officer and
am a gunnery officer. | have been In
aviation for three years and have
flown in every kind Of aircraft. We
left at l p. m.
Left With Four Pigeons.
"We had four pigeons; we let the
first n 60 with a message for the
Brooklyn navy yard.
clinton and Kloor had heavy I'M
derwear and uniforms under their fly
Ing suits. | had only the underwear
and the flying suit. | had Il grip with
my uniform and some other things In
II. We had eight sandwiches and two
thermos bottles Of hot coffee. None
of the underwear was electrically
heated.
I'VE expected To land next norm
Ing in upper New York state. We had
no maps or charts except Il railroad
map of the Canadian Quebec Central
line, which I bought. We had three
chances to land before We did. We did
stop once at Wells, y. Y.
"We made fast to n tree near a
Hight. 1t was in Il window of a farm
house. A man came along and we
asked him where we we're. lie told
US, but he could not say what big town
we were near.
kioor Game to Go On.
ave east loose and went up again.
1t rained and blew during the night.
We could have landed mt Ottawa ut
IL .. m. We saw the lights of a big
city. But Kloor Is just a kid and he
was enthusiastic about a long flight.
We all agreed that We ought TO do a
decent flight. There had been rain
from Wells on.
"The wind was north by west. That
night II blew hard and rained. There
was 40 sign OF civilization. But we
thought It would be all right In the
morning. At daylight we saw only for
ests. The rain had Gained down.
There were low clouds and fog.
"The rain stopped at 8 a. m. (De-
cembcr l4). We ate all our food dur
Ing the night. We had two packages
Of cigarettes and one box Of matches,
but you cannot smoke In a hydrogen
balloon. We realized we were In bad
that morning"
At IL "A. m. the sun came out and
heated up the gas In the balloon;
that makes the gas expand and sends
the balloon up.
I'VE were fighting TO keep In the
air. All we saw was trees. lakes. and
snow. II was about ] 80 p. m. that
We saw a shack in the woods. At
least we thought II was n shack. We
were IN doubt about this until we
heard a dog bark.
II took bearings with the compass
the shack and the place where the
dog barked. We decided TO land. We
in low clouds about 1000 feet
The wind was north by west.
the sun had been heating up our bag
and We began to 90 up. We reached
$500 feet. II takes a long time 10 go
IRON una ielgnt.
Make a Bad Landing.
THE clouds were below us and
above us. We got down about two
II was a bad landing and we
pretty badly shaken up. We
not hurt or thrown out. but the
was smashed against the
ground.
THE balloon caught between the
We had taken the pigeons into
he basket TO protect them from the
anding. Usually they ride In a cage
led outside Of the basket. The wealth
r. was clear and nearly freezing.
"All three Of us stepped put Of The
in our flying clothes. I took
.he grip. We were soaking wet. KioOr
.ook the pigeon cage. We started of
II a terrific pace TO get where the
barked. We did not stop to in
pet the balloon. From the bearings
took in the balloon we figured the
to be south by east from US.
Start on Long Trek.
we started through the forest on