The New York herald., 1921-08-25
ATLANTIC RECORD
GOAL OF MANY MEN
Columbus Crossed Ocean in 20
Days, Mametania in A
and 10 Hours.

The effort to cut down the time nee
cssary 10 bridge the Atlantic either by
steamship or by flight. though fraught
ever with hazard. has enlisted the skill
and daring of many of the worlds
hardest adventurers
Eleven years ago. in September, 1910,
the ocean greyhound Mauretania
steamed from Southampton to New York
in four days. ten hours and forty-one
minutes, q sea record that has never
been broken. On June IA, 1919. Capt
John Alcock and Whitten Brown, Brit
ish aviators started from St Johns N.
F.. in a vickers-y -yimy biplane and flew
across the Atlantic, 1900 miles on that
route. landing at Clifden. Ireland. the
next day. after Is hours and IL minutes
in the air Alcock was killed in an air
nlishap the following December In
France.
The R-34s time from England to Long
Island was 10S hours and IL minutes.
Columbus was seventy 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 sail power was In uni
versal use until1S19, when the Amer
lean steamship Savannah, propelled by
steam, demonstrated O new mode OF
travel between Europe and America.
1t was just 100 years after the sailing
of the Savannah that the three success
full air flights over the wide expanse OF
the Atlantic were achieved, one in q
hydroairplane, another in biplane, and
finally the third In dirigible balloon
The hydroairplane, known as the NC-4
one of four United States naval ma
chimes. in charge of Lieut.. Commander
Albert c. Read. left Trepassey. N. F..
on May 16, 1919. and reached Horta, in
| the Azores, In Is hours and Is minutes
having traversed the 1900 miles at an
| average speed OF 1874 knots. Later II
| flew to Portugal and thence to England
Prior to the three successful flights
| alluded to previous attempts had beer
made to cross the sea through the air
| The earliest of these was made by Wal.
ter Wellman, American journalist anc
explorer, and Melvin vaniman, on Octo.
ber Is, 1910, In a dirigible balloon called
the America" They started out from
Atlantic City with crew of four, in.
Guiding an Englishman. an Australian
and two Americans. Their objective was
any point on the coast OF England, Ire
land or France to which the wind nigh;
carry them.
After being three days and nights II
the air, sailing 1,010 miles and tossed
| about by adverse winds. the party was
picked up by the steamship Trent 37S
miles cast OF Cape Hatteras, half way
| between New York and Bermuda. TIL,
dirigible was abandoned at sea.
Harry G. Hawker. British aviator and
Lieut.. Commander Mackenzie Grieve oi
the British navy. In heavier than all
machine. started from st. Johns, N. +.
| on May is. 1919, on a nonstop flight
| to Ireland. The attempt was generally
regarcd as the most daring OF them al
up to that time. Hawker and Grieve
after many hours OF peril in the air and
struggling against stormy conditions
were rscuod in md-ocean by the Danisl
steamship Mary on May 10. Hawkel
was killed on July IL. 1921, when tn,
gasolene tanl; of his machine plodet
while he was making landing at Hen.
don (England) flying field.