Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-17

stan CORRESPONDENT of The star and the
North American Newspaper Alliance on
Return Trip Of the R-1o0.
CARDINGToN AIRDRoME. Bed
fordshire, England August 16.-Here we
are, dashed to the mooring mast. 1t was
81 hours ago that we sailed away from
Montreal aboard the R-100.
Great people, the English. Going TO
work, a Bristol mechanic paused In
lighting his pipe to look up and spy
the R-l00 bowling toward him through
the western blue from Canada. He gave
us a casual look and then returned to
the business Of lighting up as the epic
empire binder passed smoothly over his
head.
The first sign of Europe was q light
in Southern Ireland, which we sighted
at 1870 this morning. The fog shut it
out before 1t was quite identified, but
supposedly 1t was the Gull Lighthouse.
BY 2 o'clock the Fastnet light with its
flashes was definitely in view. Mon
treal was then 48 hours behind.
Towns Roar Welcome.
Dawn came through over Lundy Isle.
At we were up with Ilfrancombe in
the, Bristol Channel, boring straight for
Cardington. Not every one was as
complacent as the Bristol mechanic.
Every steamer and every town roared
us a welcome with a whistle as we
droned along over brown water and
then over the dear green land which Is
England.
The mooring took long while, for
the sun had heated our hydrogen and
the RICO did not want to come down.
1t was precisely IL o'clock when a roar
of cheering from spectators told us that
we were over the mooring mast.
At last a reply came. At 1898 the
red and white landing pennant was
broken out and the landing wire was
dropped.
The R-100 came across from Canada
so smoothly that particularly luscious
Niagara peach which had place to
itself on the sideboard never rolled, and
so swiftly that gorgeous bouquets OF
sweet peas cut in Montreal Wednesday
evening were fragrant and fresh on
the dining saloon table when the ship
was moored at Cardington.
Floats Upward Gently.
On Wednesday night a man pulled a
lever somewhere in the mooring tower
at Montreal. This released pin con-
Meeting the last mooring cable, and the
R-100 floated upward so gently that the
passengers knew nothing of what had
happened until they heard the roar of
automobile horns, sirens and voices
from below. and saw that the myriad
| lights of st. Hubert Aviation Field
seemed to be moving in the late twi-
light.
It was the R-100 that was moving.
BY the time Quebec was astern, at mid
night, passengers and crew had settled
to ship routine. All was unbelievably
simple The ship was steady as a wall,
aI1y fIo eli ocf I'll nh
no sound by the subdued purr of the
engines.
For the passengers 1t was much like
being aboard an Atlantic steamship.
only there were fewer stairs and much
more steadiness. Thursday ended with
the nearest approach to a wild night
at sea. Up to the end Of the 24-hour
period after leaving Montreal we had
been optimistic of coming through in
so hours, but the favoring winds failed
and headwind brought our rate OF
progress down from so knots to IS.
This had been forecast, and so had
the fog and rain into which We plunged.
But they all came at the wrong time
and lasted longer than We wanted. The
rain swilled down the cutters and soon
filled the ballast tank, so we were
saved from having to throw petrol over
board when we came to moor.
Salon Plunged in Darkness.
But the downpour went much farther
than that. Curtains of following water
SloShed down the narrow catwalk, pene-
trating the fabric and leaked into some
of the cabins. No one paid much atten-
ton to the storm until suddenly the
brilliantly lighted salon was plunged
into darkness.
Conversation went bravely on without
interruption, but each man, by his own
thoughts, knew what every other man
was thinking. Down below in the con-
troll cabin radium dialS suddenly shot
the darkness with green spots. With
these and electric torches and fash
lights the navigation of the ship was
continued uninterruptedly.
After an interval of 16 seconds, which
seemed like an eternity all lights were
on again. The first hiatus was at
tributed to changing engines, but the
lights continued to go on and OF again
Hot Water for Shaving Missed.
The electric heating went out of COM
mission. And horror of horrors
there was no hot water for shaving
next morning. Otherwise we Jared on
ward exceedingly well. We had cold
meals of excellent quality. I bitterly
missed my tea, but the others had been
missing their smoking ever since leaV-
ing Montreal, so I received as little
sympathy as I deserved.
Through all the storms the ship was
as steady as a total abstainer. with no
n