The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-03-26
HAVE NOT GIVEN UP
HOPE OF RESCUING
LOST BALLOONISTS
Naval Officials Are Making Sys-
tematic Search of the
Gulf. /
BOTH WATER AND AIR
CRAFT ARE BEING USED
Believe Balloon May Be Landed
in Some Remote Place on
the Shore.

! Continued search yesterday by
squadrons of seaplanes, flying boats,
dirigibles and Eagle boats failed TO
discover any trace of the missing naval
balloon in command of Chief Quarter
master G. R. Wilkinson. carrying four
students, which left the naval air sta
| ton here Tuesday night and was last
reported over the gulf 20 miles off st.
Andrews bay. Naval officials, how
ever have not given up hope of res
cuing the missing men.
Supplementing the work of the air
craft, the Eagle boats and subchaser
yesterday zig-zagged over S0O-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, the only diff
ference being that this time they were
hunting friends, not foes.
Circling above, and in constant com
munication with the dirigible CT. a
sister ship TO the Inflated C-5 which
flew from ROckaway Beach to. Ire
passy, Newfoundland, and was then
blown out to sea and lost men in the
big F-5L and H-16-A flying boats
scanned every inch of land and sea
in vain search for Chief Wilkinson and
his comrades.
Despite yesterdays dissappointment.
NAVAL officials have no intention of
surrendering hope and the search is
being continued today, the circle ever
widening.
The balloon, in. which the five men
left Pensacola at o'clock on the eve
ming of March p, was a 35 COO cubic
foot capacity craft. Besides the men
ana ballast several pigeons were car
fled. one of these returned to the
station at $50 o'clock Thursday morn
ing with message which had been
started nearly "a hours before. The
second pigeon returned Thursday afr
ernoon and it, too, had been % hours
on the way. The last message gave
the position as 20 miles off ST. An
drews bay with the drag rope in the
water and all supplies exhausted. At
TINS time the wind was onshore and
the balloon was slowly drifting north
ward.
1T is on the wording of this last mes
sage that naval officials base their ba-
lief that the balloon landed somewhere
on the deserted coast of the outer
island. The balloon apparently had
almost sufficient buoyancy to remain
in the air and thus it is certain that
when the basket touched the water
the descent would stop. 1t is believed
by balloon experts here that the crap
would keep the men above water for
several days if the weather remained
calm.
With an on-shore wind, officials be-
lieve the balloon may have been car
ried to the beach in some remote place
from which the flyers have been un-
able to communicate or work their way
to civilization. If they landed on the
outside island their hardships are like
ly to be much greater than if they
reached the mainland because the reef
Is almost barren without any place
where fresh water might gather. The
however, while broken and
barren in many places, has many fresh
water streams from which the fIvers
could quench their thirst Food can
De obtained almost anywhere because
If the wealth of shelIfsh along the
,ntire coast.
These conditions are the basis on
which naval officials believe that the
Canadian. anabasis will be repeated
md the flyers will ultimately be found.