Evening star., 1924-11-02

had no chance but to glide down.
trusting to fate to give US place to
land on. AS far as we could see
there was none.
1t was extremely interesting to OBJ
serve the different members of this
expedition. We had just started our
luncheon when the accident happened
and it was clear to us all that
catastrophe was unavoidable. You
would think that people under those
conditions would leave their luncheon
untouched and give all their interest
to the rapid descension but nothing
of that kind happened. We had
started to eat the Long Island duck
we had brought with us ana as long
as we were in the air nothing would
stop us. But the duck was big and
fat one and the stay in the air made
the impression of being a very limit
ed one, so it might be that we had
to leave the duck unfinished on ac-
count of lack of time.
Escape in Landing.
We were rapidly approaching the
ground. descending in big circles.
The pilot showed himself complete
master of the situation. He was as
calm as ever and never lost ms
presence Of mind. AS / mentioned
before there did not exist place NJ
for landing. The only useful space
was a little bit of a newly broken
ground. To reach this we mao 10
pass over a road. lined WIN
phone and telegraph cables. or all
the de.cents this pilot had made l
hardly think he had ever made. one
more difficult.
The big. heavy monopiane ap-
proached the ground with the most
terrific speed. One more circle ano
we would have to hnlsh our
luncheon, Bang The aeroplane mao
Just sid over the cables. oareis
avoiding being caught in them' anu
was now put nose downward right
into the ground. 1t was thunder
ing shock The machine took grouno
and jumped high up in the air again.
Something broke. but 1T is a Wonoer
to me up to this day that every
thing was not smashed.
The Junker machine certainiy
serves the highest credit Tor its mag
nifcent construction. l should tnink
we landed with speed OF ~ "a nli'es ,'
The shock might have taken Zo lniies
off SO we certainly proceeded with
speed no less than so miles. fros~
poets ahead were not very encouras
ing Stumps could be seen in all oi-
rections. but fate had been klho 10
us so far that the direction we hau
to run out. as far AS we couio see,
was comparatively free from these
hindrances. But we could not see
very far Just ahead OF us was
little hill. What was beyond tnat
would still be kept a secret Tor Ie"
seconds. The plane continued 10 run
and the secret was soon cteareu up
Do YOU know what met us on the
top of that hill? Nothing ou.
.tumps. ! hardly think an insur ahce
company would have run the rlsh ..
insuring our lives. Ine speeu IN
by this time have run down TO ~
n;1es an hour. but certainly no less.
Buys New Plane.
Having reached the top OF the nlli
we passed just between two stu.ips'
but the third one, right aheao oi us'
was unavoidable. With an awiu Crash
the marhine turned against the root,
was thrown high up in the ar anu
made a complete somersault 20 iio'
need to explain that everything IN
side turned somersault at the same
time Thanks to the wonderful con-
struction nobody was killeo. l."
hroken ribs was all. This was near
clarion. Penn. Things looked pretty
had. but might have been worse. l
had been wise enough to insure the
aeroplane. but where should get
another one from? Fate come to my
assistance in the form OF the bureau
of Aeronautics The Navy had one OF
the same type in their hangar In
Philadelphia and was good enuogn 10
meet my wishes to sell me the same,
This was flown up to the lying nelo
on Long Island. tested out. packed
and sent by express to. Seattle.
frk ne
left Seattle for the Arctic. The first
days of July we passed through the
Rerinr Strait and entered the Polar
Sea. The ice conditions were bad
and we were fighting our way along
the coast of Alaska very slowly. When
we uassed the Kotzebue Sound, I got
the information that the American
schooner C. S. Holmes Of Seattle.
Capt Backland. was lying, there
cargo for his trading station
and that he would proceed to Point
Barrow when the ice conditions per-
mitted Fearing that The Maud
might be detained another year by
working her way along the coast
of Alaska up to Point Barrow, de-
cided to run UP to Capt. Backland
and ask him If he was willing to
take the aeroplane, the pilot and
myself on board his ship, and on
to FOlnC bhITO~. Sdpl DdShldHu
was willing right away and the aero
plane was transferred Immediately
to the Holmes. We decided then
to meet at Point Hope on July "a.
I soon understood that the step l
had taken was the right one as the
ice conditions proved to be worse
and worse
On the cath we met Capt. Back
land at Point Hope. Lieut.. Omdal
and I went on board the Holmes
and The Maud left on July 27
in order TO penetrate into the ice and
start her drift across the Polar
Basin. We left Point Hope a few
days later but did not succeed in
reaching Point Barrow on account Of
the bad condition Of the ice. We
were landed at wainwright, small
native settlement, 80 miles from
Point Barrow. Due to the late sea-
son I took the precaution of landing
materials enough to build a house in
case we should be forced to Winter.
II was well I did Storms rain and