Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-11
AHRENBERG TELLS
OF WEATHER FIGHT
Battle Against Strong Wind
Forced Plane to Land on
Iceland Coast.

BY Radio to The Star and New York Times.
REYKJAVIK. June 11.-Capt. Ahren-
berg gave a short account of his voyage
here by air in an interview. with
its many dramatic episodes, yesterday
saying, AT the start from Bergen we
had good weather reports from the At
lantic And in the beginning they
seemed to be right. We had obtained
bearings from the Faroes by way of the
steamer Iceland, lying in the port Of
Revk iavik
Midway between Bergen and the
Faroes we met quite a strong wind. We
continued, and in few hours the wind
became rather strong against us
stronger than we cared for.
I'VE then took the course toward East
Iceland in order to avoid, if possible
this was in vain we took the course di-
rect to Reykjavik.
I'VE had calculated 1t would take us
two hours flying from the Faroes before
we could see Iceland, but three hours
had elapsed since we left the Faroes.
The gasoline supply shrank more and
more. 1t was an exciting hour. Four
hours went by and still no land sighted.
Thought Glacier Was Cloud.
eve had long observed cloud which
we did not think had any connection
with land, but suddenly we discovered
at the edge of the cloud, something
black, which was mountain rock. 1t
was the glacier Oeraefajoekull.
1T took us five hours from the
FaroeS to reach Iceland. ReykiaVik we
could not reach. What mattered now
was to find a landing place. At first
we thought of the lagoon at Ingol-
fshoefdi, but preferred to land on the
lake near SkaftaroS.
I'VE made a accommodating trip above
it and saw that the water was so shall
low landing would be certain to wreck
us.
"Out in the seas the swell was rather
high and at the sight of 1t we could not
help thinking of the sad, long row of
wrecks along the whole southeast coast
of Iceland. We did not feel inclined to
increase their number, but our gasoline
supply by now had shrunk to almost
nothing
There was no way out Of it but to
land on the sea. To our luck, the Nor
Wegian steamer Magnhild was discharg-
ing there We landed successfully in
spite of the rather high sea and were
aided by the Magnhilds crew, who later
on treated us to food, coffee and other
good things.
Patrol Boat TOws Plane.
an the beginning we could catch no
answer to our radio quest for assist
ance, but at or in the morning the
Iceland patrol boat Odtnn arrived and
took our machine in tow and ourselves
on board. We we're served with meals
following each other at short inter
walls
when we saw that our machine
had not been damaged after having
been towed at a speed Of 10 knots
from Skaftaros to Westman Isles, we
considered 1t a splendid demonstration
of its stability. When We boarded her
in Westman Isles harbor the whole
machine was coated with salt.
Says Unworthy of Welcome.
1--WE had a mishap three hours be-
fore we reached South Iceland, when
waste pipe dropped, causing the en-
gines to make a horrible noise"
After this short report Of the voyage
Capt. Ahrenberg mentioned the well
come he had received in Reykjavik.
we have not made ourselves worthy
of such a hearty welcome. We have
finished only the first part of our
voyage. It would have been a differ
ent thing If we had been on the way
back"
Replying to a question as to when
ne expected to be back here, Capt.
Ahrenberg said he expected to return
in the first or second week of July.
(Copyright, 1929. by the New York Times)