The New York herald., 1921-08-26
All Tests Except That OF
Control Successful; Quick
Turn Too Much for
Frame.
VICTIMS KILLED BY BLAST
Little Hope for Their Recov-
cry From Shifting Sands, as
Part Of Dirigible Has Been
Washed Away.

Copyright. 1921, bU The NEW YORK HERALD
HULL, England, Aug. 25.-The
worlds largest dirigible, the ZR-2,
was radically wrong. 1t was not
mere accident that she plunged, fam
ing, to her doom, carrying with her
forty-four officers and men, but it
was rather the result of cold, mathe-
matical miscalculation. 1t was not
human, but scientific, factor that
failed. If the crash had not come
when it did it would have come be-
fore long, or the first time little
extra strain was applied.
This is the verdict Of airship men,
from experts down to mechanics, as
to-day they looked at the tugs in the
River Humber searching for the bod
les of the men who perished aboard
the giant craft.
only Three Bodies Recovered.
When the crushed frame of the
dirigible showed its lines above the
surface with the ebbing tide this eve
ming tugs with British Admiralty
and American naval officers aboard
fastened to the wreck to try to re
cover the bodies.
For four hours the sandy bed was
dragged; divers waded through the
muddy water, and volunteer hands
tore out the wreckage of the ZR-2.
Put it was all in vain. There is
nothing but the gaunt skeleton to
round out the narrative Of another
failure by man to conquer the air.
Only five were saved from the air
ship. and so far only three bodies
have been found.
Tonight half moon is playing
urcanny tricks on the wreck and
casting a scintillating sheen from
that section of the steel gray canvas
OF the dirigible rising above the
water, curiously like gray tomb
stone.
The people Of Hull to-day refused
TO do any serious work. They passed
the time on the long piers. Pictur-
esque Victoria Pier contained several
thousand persons, and they did not
return to their homes until long
after dark. All day they stood quiet
ly, sadly, watching the efforts of the
rescue parties, but no boat returned
with any new information that would
throw any light on the cause of the
disaster, or with the bodies of the
oead. Now another twenty-four hours
must pass, and by that time. old
mariners say, the shifting sands Of
the river bed may cover every hope
Of recovering the bodies.
For this is a strange harbor. The
tide rises forty feet and flows five
miles an hour. It brings sand bars
with il and takes them away when 1t
recedes. The result is that the chan
mel is never certain. 1t changes daily.
The flimsy frame and the soaked
canvas of the ZR-2 cannot survive
these rushes of water.
Tonight there is practically no
hope of recovering more bodies.
what Navy Men Say.
And when the Navy men can take
their thoughts from tho dead to the
airship they talk of her as a wash
out" That is, she looked pretty, but
she never proved herself. When she
was called on to prove herself she
crumbled. That is the way they ex-
plain It.
These men, saddened as few aerial
units were saddened by reverses on
The battle front in France, freely ad-
mitted to-day that they had been ap-
prehensive OF the zR-2. However
heir courage and their sporting spirit
the kind that does not admit OF
failure-kept them quiet and inspired
them to carry on, but now the game
is up.
The Americans lost their chiefs and
their pals; the British lost the brains
of tho business. and their depression
causes them TO vent their feelings
against the airship, which is now
treated as a fallen idol.
At least dozen men of all ranks
told THE NEW YORK HERALD corre-
spondent here to-day:
"shc was never any good, only we
weren't sure"
Accounts of the disaster, carefully
sfted. made IL plain that the airshlp
had not the strength to endure. She
was put through all the tests and
\ CnnkintlclI m Third PINE