Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-02-13
81 SAFE AS MACON
PLUNGES |NTQ.SEA
Two Missing in Disaster
ITO Miles South of San
Francisco.
Continued From First Page.)

ship finally sink. Discipline excellent
and all hands had alarm in time to
don life Jackets
Watched by Light Keeper.
The lighthouse keeper at Point Sur
told of seeing the airship suddenly
sink and then rise rapidly and dis
appear from sight so that he could not
see it through the fog even with pow
erful glasses.
simultaneously Wiley sent out his
only S o S reporting the ship was
falling"
Naval craft in the immediate vicin-
ttv headed at once for the Macon's
position, and Admiral j. NJ. Reeves,
commanding the feet maneuvers, took
charge of all air lines to direct the
search.
Thirty boats in the AGRA, mostly
fighting craft Steaming for San Fran
cisco Bay. where the Macon was a
familiar sight. turned to her aid.
Six Coast Guard cutters were Or
dered to put out from various Cali
fornia portS-the Calypso, Tahoe,
Shawnee, Ariadne, Perseus and
HermeS.
All hands in the Mare Island Navy
Yard, in San Francisco Bay. were
ordered to stand by. The Red Cross
directed nearby agencies to be ready
to lend aid. The Naval Hospital ship
Relief was ordered to speed to the
scene from Southern California.
MaSsing Aid Impressive.
The ability Of the Navy to amass
so much aid Immediately was i'm
preSsive, but such ample help was
unneeded.
Three ships breaking from the
column of cruisers, with the aid of
their powerful searchlights and cal
Cium flares let off by the Macon,
quickly picked up the 81 survivors.
The Richmond took aboard "a, the
Concord, II, and the Cincinnati, 6.
After a futile search of the dark
waters for the two missing men, they
continued to San Francisco.
President Roosevelt, as soon as he
heard of the disaster, phoned the
naval communications headquarters
to obtain first-hand information Of
the Macon's casualty.
AS messages relating to the crash
flashed into the Capital these were
quickly relayed to the Presidents
desk. The Chief Executive was known
to be relieved that the casualty list,
if any, would be small.
Hoover Receives News.
Former President Herbert Hoover
received the startling news while he
was attending Lincoln day dinner
in New York.
This is very sad news indeed"
said the former President. The
Macon was launched during my ad-
ministration and I hope that all of
those aboard are alive and safe"
1t was indicated by the Navy De-
partment in Washington that Naval
Board of Inquiry to attempt deter
mination of the case of the Macon's
crash would be appointed as soon as
direct information was received from
Admiral Reeves and Comdr. Wiley.
Hardly had reports of the disaster
reached the Capital than congress
sional leaders intimated the tragedy
might provide the ansWer-"No!"-to
the question of the practicability of
lighter than-air craft for naval scout
ing purposes.
The Macon crash probably has
sounded the death knell" of air.
ships for the Navy, unless investiga-
ton should uncover something not at
first apparent, asserted Representative
Vinson, Democrat, of Georgia, chair
man of the House Naval Affairs Com
mittee.
SirOvich Plans Probe.
The impending investigation also
may take another turn. Representa-
tive Sirovich, chairman of the House
Patents Committee, announced the
present inquiry into purported indus
trial control of patents would be
broadened in scope to include an in
vestigation of the Macon crash.
1t was assumed by observers in
Washington that this phase would be
in the nature of an inquiry into the
structural factors of the stricken di-
rigible and their relation to patents.
A quick and insistent congressional
demand for thorough investigation
of the latest dirigible tragedy was con-
sidered certainty
Rear Admiral Ernest ]. King, chief
of the Bureau of Aeronautics, de-
scribed the disaster as shocking and
regrettable" but, pending more COM
plete information, declined further
comment.
At Akron, Ohio, P. w. Litchfield,
president of the Goodyear Zeppelin
Corp, which constructed the Macon,
offered every resource" of the COM
pany to aid the Government in it's
endeavor to determine what caused
the airShip to fall
At Washington, Mrs. w. A. Moffett,
widow of Admiral Moffett, who was
lost in the Akron disaster, was shocked
when she heard the Macon had fallen,
and asked to be kept informed of
news of the dirigible.
Christened Dirigible.
Mrs. Moffett christened the dirigible
Macon at Akron, Ohio, March IL, 1898.
Fear expressed by Comdr. Charles
E. Rosendahl, in charge of the Naval
Air Base at Lakehurst N. j., that the
Macon would be lost forever, was cor
rotated by word from Comdr. Wiley
that the dirigible had sunk
RoSendahl, veteran blimp skipper
and survivor Of the crash of the NAVY
dirigible Shenandoah, observed one of
SPECIAL NOTICES.