New Britain herald., 1924-08-06
MAJ. M'LAREN GIVES
 ACCOUNT OF CRASH
British Flitr Tells Ol Disastrous
 Trip

AbesTa ., s Coast Guard Cutter Algonquin, AnE s.-tbY wireless iq The Associated PFess-aia s', Paul Islandl-slaier A, sluan Maeiarras own account Of ths accident lasl sal' urdaY which terminated hls attempted NaFll flight near Aikoiskl, Roman sorski Islands, siberia, has hten given by the British aviator, enTaAie xith his companions aboard the Thispkal for Dutch ltsTbeE lnalasha Island, n the AleuiiaRs,
 A dense fog and visibility SO poor that enly Rst nf the Tight Ning Of the plane could be seen, was ehs eauntsred by the fiieFs after ieaNlnE PetFapaglo,sk, West kamehataha, sir hsris, Forced 10 descend to within iAa feet of the ocean and makiug iea miles an hour q disaster was naF= rowly sVerted hy Flying nflieer w, x, PlehdeFleith, piloting the plane. when he avoided hy two feet an is. land shieh appeared suddenly In The path.
 Fearing that the plane might dash against the cliffs ef Iaering Island, 4 forced landing was made, Both wing tips were shattered and wrenehed of and the fabric torn off the lower port wing. Major MaeLaren said. He eon- tinusd,
 "My first order was for lifobels, which were packed in Lieutenant Rroome's seat in the forward cockpit, l then examined the hull. but there was no sign of II taking water. The fog was SO dense that we couldn't see land. My watch stopped al io:b6 c m. the time we hit the water satur- day.
 Gets Hint of Land
 We saw hundreds Of birds flying in two steady streams. We thought they were leaving their nests for open sea fishing and would return to feed their young This tailed with my cal- culation that land should be east southeast and fairly close.
 The engine was then started and we attempted to taxi. but it was al- most impossible to steer the plane as the wing tips buried themselves in the water, alternately swerving the plane around. Lieutenant Brooke and I spent two hours running back and forth on the lower wings as the plane eea-sawed and the weight of the en- zine threatened to capsize the ship.
 We had to stop the engine re- peatedly as the water boiled and sprayed over the plane. The machine Threatened to dive under the waves when the tail plunged The wings then started to break. During our last desperate minute aboard the plane Lieutenant Broome pointed to the east. where a patch of fog lifted. We could dimly see land We started the engine with difficulty as everyone was getting exhausted. We were all cold and wet. Plenderleith left the pilots seat to help start the motor. We then saw a sandy beach ahead about two miles off
 Engine Goes Dead
 The engine was started and we ran close to the breakers. The engine then failed us and was useless. A sprocket on the starting magneto was
 
 a high wind blowing straight on drag ged the plane northwestward Everyone jumped into the cold wa ters and held the plane heading tow ard the sea. The wind and the heavy eea finally slackened and we beached the plane. Plenderleith and myself unloaded the equipment. The fog be- gan to lift and we rested in the after noon. It was bright, warm and clear l The island we saw for few min utes in the fog and which we narrowly | escaped proved to be 'Sealime Rock, | 150 feet high, and v miles northwest | of Nikolski Our course from West | kamchatka to aBering Island inter | cepted 1t. I had allowed three de- grees to five for drift along the route | which shows that both navigation and | steering were faultless. Lieutenant | Broome then recognized our position