Evening star., 1928-04-27
GALES
DELAYEL HOP-OFF
Decision to Leave Bremen on
Island Hard on Baron
Won HuenefeId.

, (The delay in taking of from Green
ly Island and the reasons l0hy the Bre-
men 1Ods left behind are explained in
the folloWing dispatch, written on
Wednesday. but held up in transmission
by bad Uedther and mcager 1Dire
facilities. 1t t0Gs received in New York
only after the flyers ,Uere safe at Mur-
rag Bdy)
BY Staff Correspondent OF The Star and the
North American Newspaper Alliance.
GREENLY ISLAND, April 25.-The
elemental furies Of Labrador today
thrust rude hand across the southeast
path of the now consolidated crews of
the Bremen and The Star and the
North American Newspaper Alliances
relief plane at conference last night
IN the lee of the big tri-motored Mono
plane. The decision was formed that
the Bremen would be abandoned for
the moment and its crew of three should
NY to New York with us In the Alli-
ance plane.
We were to leave this morning at
dawn. Then out of the east howled a.
terrific gale, and by midnight it had
reached a velocity of 40 miles an hour.
1t shook the little house in which we
were staying until it trembled, and it
brought doubt to Balchen. the pilot of
the relief plane. Awakening Ernst
Koeppen. the Junkers mechanic, and
Eugene Thibault, mechanic for the Ca
madam Transcontinental Airways he
slipped out of the house and hurled his
strength against the storm.
Worked More Than an Hour.
For more than an hour the three Of
fI,o L. ~,
ness, making fast the tri-motor ship
The bitter cold was ruthless Mittens
gave the hands no protection. Wind
swept ice stung the face and choked
the eyes and throats.
But the job had to be done and the
relief plane was made fast and safe in
the ice of a 10-foot snowbank of the
mainland of Labrador.
With that effort Greenly Island-a
treeless soil impoverished hump of
rocks and mud in the Gul of st. Law
renee, rising suddenly between Labrador
and Newfoundland-fel from the high
place it has held in the news of the
world and took again its old identity of
an island whose sole support is light
house to warn sailors from its knife-like
rocks. Three hours before we had moved
the Bremen from its runway in the
center Of the ice foe to the safety of
Lonf Point A slowly rising wind left
no alternative. Everything that could
be done had been done, but the motor
still baked Too long had 1t been left
to Labrador'S climate. Not even the
splendid motor that had powered the
monoplane for 35 hours across the At
lantic could endure that.
Gale Becomes Storm.
The gale became a storm. The wind
shifted to the northeast and brought
suffocating snow, so thick that 1t stran-
gled the beams of flashlights into glows.
One could not see his hand before his
face. 1t brought punishment to most
of us except Balchen, who seemed to
relish 1t. The broad shouldered pilot,
veteran of four Arctic expeditions. fair
ly gloried In the storm.
AS We struggled to get back to the
two-story green and white house of
John Legresley he said, THAT air is
good TO breathe" The correspondent
shivered. clutched his leather tunic to
his throat and would have swapped the
entire coast for a suit of Winter under
wear.
II is not easy to tell about the deci-
sion to leave the Bremen behind too
closely. It's fate Is wrapped about with
the sentiments of Capt. Koehl. Baron
Won Huenefeld and Mai. FitZmaurice
It was not they who first few across
the Atlantic from East to West. no, no,
they insist, It was the Bremen-the
magnificent Bremen. and what there is
OF glory belongs to the Bremen.
Engine Compression Fails.
But II became clear yesterday that
the Bremen cannot be restored to fly
ing condition for many weeks. The
motor itself was in perfect condition,
yet 1t could not hold compression. If
the propeller was turned once yester-
day 1t was turned 500 times, and back
muscles protested against the task.
But before the spark could do its job
the benzol fumes ooZed through the
cylinders past piston rings and valves
where oil could not penetrate and the
spark flashed into the air.
II seemed incomprehensible. Cant
Koehl shrugged his shoulders. IT can
not understand. monsieur" he repeated
many times The thin lips of Baron
von Huenefeld worked despairingly.
THE Bremen Is a fine ship, she will 60
she must CO." he said
Maj. Fitzmaurice, In whom fatalism
is the designating belief, merely waited
for the inevitable decision II was in
evttable then that the fact should be
recognized. From 2,200 miles away had
come the crew of the North American
Newspaper Alliances relief ship TO
bring aid to the Bremen.
Everything humanity possible had
been done.
Across the red-checkered tablecloth
in the workroom OF Alfred Cormier's
house five men sat down to discuss the
problem The baron. the captain, the