Evening star., 1925-09-12

Continued from First Page)
Rodgers father, who was passing
through Honolulu on his way to the
Orient with his wife, was the first to
sight the rescued commander on the
approaching vessel.
There he is on that deck" he
pointed out, indicating a figure in a
mussed Navy flyers uniform, calmly
smoking a cigar on the upper deck.
Shouts of John, o john went up
from the crowd from the women and
from many officers who forgot in their
enthusiasm that Rodgers outranked
them by many files and rated the re-
spectful title of commander.
Cheers for Rodgers.
The military cap above a face that
was notably tired and drawn was
tipped to the jostling crowd below. As
the gangplank was made secure Rod
gers stepped forward to descend. A
naval officer jumped onto a box,
waved his arms and suggested Three
cheers for John Rodgers" They were
given with enthusiastic howls 10
times, 800 persons joining in the
shouts.
Admiral Mcdonald was the first to
greet Rodgers. He pumped the flight
commanders hand, repeating, well,
well, welI.'
Good evening, governor, I have
some mail here for you people" Rod
gers said to Gov. Harrington, reading
aloud the inscription on letter to the
governor and handing. it and others
to the chief executive.
Lieut.. Connell, also dressed in faded
khaki, followed Rodgers down the
gangplank, with two chief petty of
ficers, dressed in rumpled blue suits.
Radio Operator Stantz, in blue dun
garees, was close on their heels. On
the dock were Mrs. Harrington and
her daughter-in-law, who decorated the
flyers with flowers.
In the midst of the crowding, JOS
Ting surge of humanity, the surgeons
took charge as soon as the mail was
distributed, and hustled America s
latest heroes off to a hospital,
In a signed statement sent by radio
from the MacDonough Comdr. Rodg-
ers previously had related in modest
language the history of the flight, the
descent to the sea, when both motors
failed from an exhausted gasoline
supply, the fight against the elements,
efforts to sail the craft to an island
of the Hawaiian group, and finally Of
the rescue after 2181h hours by the
submarine R-4.
Lays Failure to Calm.
He revealed that failure of the flight
was caused by not encountering ia
vorable winds that had been expected
and that the only miscarriage of plans
vas failure to alight near the tender
Aroostook.
The plane at all times behaved
very we'll" said the commander.
speaking Of the seaworthiness of the
craft.
"Our only concern was a question of
water supply"
That was contrived for in pure
pioneer fashion.
q I'VE knew we could get along with
out food, of which we had small
emergency rations," he said. I'VE
were depending upon a small still for
water"
1t was carried at the behest Of the
commanders mother. The small sup
ply that it provided by being heated
with wood from the seaplane's wings
was augmented by two gallons caught
in the fabric stripped from the lower
wings during rainstorm.
This enabled US to survive and con-
sequently we -yere in very good con-
dition when We arrived off Nawili-
will"
1t was Is miles from that port that
the PN-9. No. l, was sighted by the
R-4 and the flyers, for whom all hope
Virtually had been abandoned, were
rescued.
An eXtemporized radio sending set
would have solved their problem
quickly, said Comdr. Rodgers, but
they could not arrange their set to
send more than a few miles. It re-
ceived perfectly, however, and the lost
flyers We're acquainted with the steps
in the search for them.
THE outstanding feature of the
trip was that there was no failure Of