Evening star., 1925-09-02
OUTLOOK DEPRESSING.
Rain Adds to Gloom of Searchers for
Airmen.

HONOLULU, September LP).-
Five men in a disabled seaplane,
drenched with tropical rain, hemmed
in by tropical night in Pacific
such was the picture painted here to-
day of the unfortunate end of the at
tempted nonstop Navy seaplane flight
from San Francisco to Honolulu.
This gloomy view of the predica-
ment of Comdr John Rodgers, L. S.
n, and his four co-aviatOrs. was
based on official reports received last
night from ships in the path of the
big seaplane PN-9. No. /. The reports
all yielded the same definite fact; that
the aviators were lost, untraceable in
the darkness.
Throughout the hours of darkness,
however, plans for rescue of the avia-
tors, should they be found and alive,
were brought to completion. The Is
land of Maui, nearest of the Hawaiian
group to the point the Pm plane was
believed to have dropped into the
Pacific, was designated as the rescue
base. Airplanes, submarines and sur
face ships were ordered ready to
start at daybreak on q systematic
search of that territory between the
21st and 23d parallels of latitude and
che 153d and 155th meridians Of
longitude.
The PN-9 No. /. with her sister
seaplane, the PN-9 No. 3, left San
Francisco Monday afternoon on a
scheduled nonstop flight to Pearl Har-
Dor, Oahu. The No. 3 plane gave up
300 miles outside of the Golden Gate
because Of mechanical difficulties.
The No. / machine, flag plane of the
fight, scurried on.
Objective Near at Hand.
Ten ships of the United States
Navy had been assigned definite posi-
tions on the line of the flight. Ship
after ship was passed. even the U.
S. S. Langley, the halfway point in
the fight, and attainment of the Pearl
Harbor objective seemed only a mat
ter of hours.
Rising winds, however. retarded the
speed of the ship and forced extrava-
CANT use OF the carefully rationed
Store of gasoline, the food of the
engines Tuesday, shortly after noon
in Honolulu, Comdr. Rogers radioed
that his fuel was running low. Two
hours more, and after A number of
messages saying it would lie forced to
alight, the seapiane's radio was
silenced.
BY that time rain was falling
steadily in the vicinity of the seaplane.
Visibility was bad. The ships which
started out to rescue the stranded
aviators found themselves hampered
by the encroaching night and by lack
of definite bearings showing the loca-
ton of the lost plane.
Navy officers expressed confidence
that Comdr. Rodgers would do every
thing possible to save his ship and
his men, although admitting anxiety
over weather conditions.
Rescue Work Started.
At first indication of dawn air
planes and surface craft nosed out
into the Pacific ready TO search for
the missing seaplane.
With cloudy weather in prospect
today and moderate seas running In
the vicinity where it was believed the
plane had been forced down, the
searching planes took on capacity
fuel loads at Lahaina.
A message received from the de-
stroyer Aroostook at 10: 15 last night
said:
mo trace of plane No. 1, which
must have been forced down over 2O
miles south of the Aroostook station
where the estimated maximum drift is
S miles an hour to the westward
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