The Omaha morning bee., 1925-01-26

but Erik happened to turn OUT TO the
sea, making a huge circle of 80 miles
or so. From then on oe saw nothing
of each other and neither knew bur
the other might have crashed into
that wall of ice.
Separated From the New Orleans
For another hour we lodged ice.
bergs and huge black shadows loom.
ing out of the fog which we knew 10
be rocky islands. We We're flying a
compass caurse and keeping as near
land as possible. Finally we reached
Cape Farewell, southernmost point OF
Greenland. and after heading north
up the west coast for a few miles
We ran out of the fog into a short
stretch of clear weather, Just enough
to lcatch a glimpse of the forebid
ding ice caps and towering peaks of
that glacial land
Ahead of us we could zee that the
fog was flat on the water but only ex-
tended up TO about 800 feet. II was
impossible to get under it, although
we would have perferred doing so in
order TO keep on the lookout for Fred
ericksdal. From then on we flew
ab~ve 1t, racing from cloud to cloud
and with a row of icy mountains jut.
ting up through the fog on our right.
1t was only by means of these peaks
that we could be absolutely sure
where we were going All the rest of
Greenland, as well as the sea. was
totally obscured. We checked the
peaks as We went by and depended
up on the accuracy of our maps.
Finally we arrived over where we
thought Frederieksdal ought to be,
and watched anxiously for an open
ing in the clouds. We circled Ground
several times and the Ruler of the
Universe was certainly with us, be-
cause a last we saw the clouds part
and far below through small shaft
we saw a boat emitting clouds of
black smoke We knew she must be
The Danish coast guard cutter Island
Falk. and ina gined that she was
sending up the smoke as signal TO
us.
Through Hole in Clouds.
Shutting of the motor we dove
down through the hole and landed
right alongside her Then we found
that that we We're away out at the
mouth of a ford and that the water
was very rough. But we cared not a
rap for rough seas now, so delighted
were we to have found Fredericksdal
at all Taxieing several miles us the
ford between the snowy mountains,
We moored our plane. A Danish of
ficer came over in a launch and
asked where the New Orleans and
Locatellis plane were. We replied
that we didn't know and had had
lost them in the fog.
But 40 minutes later we heard the
welcome hum of Liberty and knew
that it was Erik and Jack arriving. Al
though Les and l had not spoken n
word about the possibility of disaster
having befallen Nelson and Harding
since we had both narrowly escaped
colliding with the iceberg, we had
been thinking but little else. So we
were overjoyed when we knew that
they, too, had come through safely.
We could hear the New Orleans cir
cling around above the fog, hunting
for Fredericksdal just as We had
hunted. Suddenly they spotted the
same rift in the clouds that had
guided us and down they came at a
hundred miles an hour In landing
they happened TO catch the top of
big wave and slightly damaged one
pontoon. But such a mishap after
that long S35 mile flight from Iceland
seemed like the most inconsequen
tial thing in the world.
Bothe Planes Safe and Sound.
The last so miles of that flight
up the coast of Greeland above that
heaving sea OF clouds was one of the
most awe inspiring sights imaginable.
The short stretch where We were en-
tirely out of fog was even more so.
Below lie We're icebergs of all sizes.
bobbing up and down from the wind
and waves. And the sun shone on
them some were a cold light blue and
others flashed like diamonds, while
TO our right were 'Greenland's icy
mountains. That old song we used to
sing in church when we were chill
dren, telling about from Greenlands $
icy mountains to 1ndias coral strand,
now really meant TO US.
There were ice bergs all around
where we moored the planes in the
ford at Fredericksdal. and the
weather was far colder than anything
we had experienced in either Iceland
or Alaska despite the fact that this
was supposed to be their warm sea
son. OF course the first thing we did
was to organize patrol around the
planes TO keep the cakes of ice from
damaging the pontoons. For this
work we hired Fskmos in their skin
kyaks, and a launch from the Island
Falk brushed away the larger bergs
Then, hurrying ashore. | sent a
wireless to Admiral Magruder inform
ing him that Locatelll had not passed