New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-08-26
Hope of More Survivors
Given Up; Crane to Lift
Wreck To-day; Ships
Log, Doll Mascot Found
Cirders Buckled
First, Says Wann
16 Americans, p British
Unable to Reach Para
chutes Because of Fire
Special Gable to The Tribune


Copyright 1921. New York Tribune Inc
HULL. England, Aug. 25.-The muddy.
yellow waters Of the Humber River
this morning closed over the wreckaee
of the American dirigible ZR-2. Only q
buoy is left to mark the spot where the
giant craft went down after it's fam
ing plunge yesterday afternoon from
midair above the city of Hull.
With all possibility of further sur
vivors gone, the death roll tonight
stands at forty-four, of whom sixteen
are Americans and twenty-eight Brit
lsh. All day long salyaging operations
were under way, but the workers were
handicapped by lack of proper ma
chinery. few bodies were recovered
whether three or four could not be
ascertained defnitely-and half
dozen articles belonging to members
Of the crew were washed up by the
tide. These included an officers coat,
the log book, doll mascot and some
bundles of ships papers.
The cause Of the disaster, although
it cannot be definitely established until
after the official investigation is held
at Howden on Saturday, is believed to
have been the collapse of several grid
ers in the middle of the long frame
work After a trial fight few weeks
ago 1T was found that certain girders
amidships had bent under the strain
of turning +ho hollOo~ Ithaca ,,,o tn
placed by heavier pieces, but it is be-
leved that the strain was still too
great and that it was these new girders
which gave way. The subsequent ex-
plosion and fire are understood to have
resulted from petrol leakages.
The American and British sailors and
representatives Of British air official
dom who worked side by side in the
salvaging operations to-day will have
available large crane tomorrow with
which it is hoped the frame can be
sitting over it. and that more bodies
then can be recovered. The tide runs
fast in the Humber. and the great
width of the estuary miles
makes salvaging work exceedingly diff
cult. Some hope is held out that the
cabins Of the dirigible can be reached
tomorrow before the sand gets too
heavy and all possibility of getting out
more bodies disappears.
Notwithstanding the fact that thou
sands in Hull saw the disaster, all
five men who escaped with their ives
from the wreckage, two--Flight Lieu
tenant A. II. Wann, who was in sole
command Of the airship, and Z. W.
Davies, British enlisted man-are in
an intirmary here Two othars, Chief
Petty Officcr Norman 0. Walker, an
American, who was once erroneously
reported dead, and w. F. Potter a Brit
sh member of the crew, have been
spirited to Howden, and only II. Bate
man, of the National Physics Labora-
tory in London, is on the scene Of the
wreck.
Crack First Warning of Peril
Lieutenant Wann is seriously i'll
with a slight fracture Of the skull and
is in danger Of pneumonia as the result
Of his lungs having been filled with
water when ne fell in the river. He
told the Tribune correspondent that
his first intimation that anything was
wrong came when he heard a violent
crack, not unlike the explosion of
machine gun, followed Immediately by
a sudden elevation Of the bow.
quicker tIdn tnOuRnC, ne Salu,
there came a violent explosion, which
fear killed most of the crew. Several
large girders must have snapped wher
we turned. ! went down with the ship,
which sank gradually, and when about
100 feet from the water | jlxnpcd
remember nothing after that.
Contrary to some reports, fire did
not break out until after the girders
had snapped"
That is the clearest cut description
of the disaster which has been given.
Whether the girders broke as the re-
suit of imperfect Workmanship or
material or whether they had been sub
Jected to abnormal strain, or whether
the moisture which had settled OH the
balloon in its long flight was factor
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