Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-06-12
ITALIA CREW
FACE CRISIS;
RUSHING AID
Three of Group Miss
ing; Others Afloat
On Ice; Norwegian
Fliers Preparing 4
copyrighted. 1928, by The Associat-
cd Press)

&C freSS)
KINGS BAY, Spitzbergen, June u.
-P)-At least some Of the crew Of
the d~irigible Italia stranded on the
ice pack north Of Spitzbergen faced
q crisis today as. Captain Riser
Larsen and Lieutenant Lutzow Holm,
Norwegian aviators, rushed prepara-
ions to bring them aid.
H. With three of the crew definitely
Stissing, and possibly lost, and the
chan st of the explorers divided into two
sure-irties drifting on an ice floe west
n ard toward land, the utmost speed
r., Is used today TO reach the stranded
Dio' cups.
"A Two men arrived at Mossell Bay
son3arly this morning with gasoline for
Etor lieutenant Holm who was stranded
Tt that place after a five-day recon
Rbo aissance during most Of which he
v,Il al been forced to wait idly because
Mons.
sb' As soon as the Norwegian air man
a. received the gasoline he flew to the
sealer Hobby and went into confer
ence with Captain Riiser-Larsen pre-
paratory to making a new series OF
flights in an effort to find the miss
ing men. He reported that he had
sighted none Of the Italia's crew
during his search. 4,
Fine flying weather prevailed and
the two pilots, who have had mucn
experience in northern waters, plan
ned to fly eastward as soon as pos
sible searching the pack ice for the
Italia's parties. IL the men should
be found, the aviators VIII drop
messages and provisions.
A----A- nnnna
Two Italian planes with thirty
hour cruising ability are expected
late this week to assist the Nor
wegians in dashes over the ace
fields. The Italian plane, starting
from Kings Bay, will fly up the
west coast and will then go directly
east to the spot where the ltalla
was wrecked.
II is feared that at least some OF
the Italia's crew may soon race
starvation IL the rescuers do not
reach them quickly. 1t is now the
third week for the tranded explor-
ing party on the treacherous paeA
Zee and their provisions are re-
duced DESPITE careful rationing.
In addition to the problem Of con-
serving their food supply, the ltalias
men must take care of their two
e-ompanions whose legs were broken
when the gondola of the airship was
broken off on May % when the
Italia tried TO land. The injured
men were with the party OF SIX
which is being personally led by
General Umberto Mobile.
Radio Not Clear
The group of three men who be-
came separated from the Italia try
ing to reach land, undoubtedly IS
facing tremendous difficulties. Cross
ing the pack ice, they must go over a
zigzag route at a very slow pace and
the distance gained by hard work
on one day may. be lost on the next
dav BY movement Of the ice. They
also may encounter stretches OF
open water and have TO seek a cir
c~uitous route toward land.
If these men should be close to
land in the vicinity OF Rips Bay or
Dover Bay, they may be able 10 get
ashore. for the terrain is flat at
these points.
Radio messages received by the
base ship Citta di Milano from Luigi
Giopi. General Mobiles operator, in
dicate that one Of the three parties
has a canvas boat but which one was
not made clear. The Italia has not
stated as vet whether all Of the
parties have sufficient food, but II
is known that some supplies were IN
the gondola and others were IN the
body of the airship.
The Russian ice breaker Maligin
IS expected here some time during
the middle of the week. II has two
big planes aboard and ten dogs which
ear be used for searching the ice
mack II necessary. The huge ice
breaker will bunker at Kings Bay
and leave for the north as quickly
as possible. Speed is necessary for
when the pack ice is drifting rapid
ly il can move ms much rs SIX
nautical miles a day.