The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-08-25
PROGRESS OF TRAFFIC
ON ATLANTIC OCEAN
Wrecklna OF the ZR2 Recalls History
OF Mans Efforts to Bridge

New York, Aug 25.-The wrecklng
OF the ZR-2 on the trial fight recalls
the various attempts made to cross
the Atlantic beginning with the voyage
OF Columbus in 1892 and eliminating
in the successful flight Of the R.34 in
July two years ago. The latter has
been called the apex OF mans four
centuries Of struggle to master tho
elements and mysteries Of ocean and
| ali.
Eleven years ago, in Septembe;
1910, the ocean greyhound, Maure.
tania, steamed from Southampton,
England, TO New York in four days,
ten hours and II minutes, sea record
that has never been broken On
June IA. 1919, Captain John Alcock
and Whitten Brown. British avators,
started from st. Johns, n. T., in a
! Niekers-Vimy biplane and few across
the Atlantic, 1900 miles on that route,
( landing at Clifden, Ireland the next
day alter l6 hours and II minutes in
the air. Alcock was killed in an air
mishap the following December in
France. The R.34s time was 10S
hours and l2 minutes. Columbus was
10 days in reaching San Salvador
from Palos, Spain,
For more than 800 years, dating
from the time OF Columbus, ocean
navigation made little progress. The
same method Of propulsion that drove
| the Pinta. Nina and Santa Maria
across "the great and unknown deep y
sail power, was in universal use until
1919 when the American steamship
Savannah, propelled by steam, demon
strated new mode of travel between
Europe and America.
Ii was just 100 years after the sail
ing OF the Savannah, that the two sue
cessful air fights over the wide ex.
panse OF the Atlantic we're achieved,
one in a hydroairplane, and the other
In a bipIane, known as the NC'4. one
of four United States naval machines,
In charge OF Lieutenant Commander
Albert C. Read, left Thepassey, n. f.,
on May 16, 1919 and reached Horta,
In tie Azores, in Is hours and lS min
Iutes. having trayersed the 10000
miles at an average speed of 1874
knots. Later It few to Portugal.
Prior to the two successful fights
alluded 10, previous attempts had
been made to negotiate "the big pond
through the air. The earliest of these
was made by Walter Wel'man. Ameri'
can Journalist and explorer and Mel
win Vaniman, on October To- 1910, in
a diririhle balloon called the "Ameri
ca" They started out from Atlantic
CITY, n. j.. with a crew of four men
including an Englishman, an Austral
ian. and two Americans. Their oblee
tive was any point on the coast ol
England Ireland or France to viii >
the wind might carry them. After be
ing three days and nights in the air
sailing 1910 miles and tossed about
hv adverse winds, the party was pick
cd up by the steamship Trent, 37S
miles east of Cape Elatteras ha'i
way between New York and Bermuda
The dirlgibe was abandoned at sea.
Harry G. Hawker, British aviator
and Lieutenant Commander Maeken
zie Grieye OF the British navy, in
heavier.than.air machine started from
St. johns. y. f.. on May IS, 1919 OF
nonstop fight to Ireland, The at
tempt was generally regarded as the
most daring of them all up to tha
time. Hawker and Grieye, aftel
many hours of peril in the air ant
struggling against stormy conditions
we're rescued in mid-ocean by thu
Danish steamship Mary on May 10
Hawker was killed on July IL, l92
when the gasoline tank on his ma
chine exploded while he was makinl
landing at Hendon, Eng flying field
All these modern efforts to conquer
! the Atlantic aloft, as we'll as below
! stand out in striking contrast to th'
slow progress made in ocean naviga
. tion during the preceding 427 years
The era OF sails had continued with
. out particular improvement from th'
. days OF Columbus until 1919, whel
the Savannah, vessel of $50 tons
with length OF 100 feet crossed
: from Savannah, Ga, to Liverpool in 2
days. Her engines, however, werI
purely auxiliary; she was equipped