Imperial Valley press., 1935-02-13
NONE ABLE To
RELATE CAUSE
Of DISASTER
Officers Declare Reports Of
Explosion On Craft Not Sub
stantiated
MANY TALES OF HEROISM
Crew Cool And Courageous In
Face OF Tragedy Which Took
Lives Of Two

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 13. UP)-
Surviving officers and men of the
wrecked navy dirigible Macon
reached San Francisco today and
came ashore bearing stories of he
roism displayed in the disaster off
Point Sur.
Newspapermen crowded to con-
tact the naval men. One of the first
ko speak was Lieut.. Commander
Scott Peck
There was no hectic storm and
TO explosion" he said.
ut was a gust of wind from the
Carmel mountains, guess. We had
difficulty manipulating the ship.
The upper fin was carried away. The
helium gas bags were ripped away,
too. I guess it was unavoidable.
Otherwise the weather was calm.
"I imagine what happened to our
ship mechanically was much the
same as that of the Akron disaster.
The only way can account for the
fin being carried away is that it
must have been pretty weak"
Radio Man Hero
The hero of the wreck, officers
agreed, was E. E. Daley. the radio
man who died in spectacular 1875
foot leap from the Macon into the
Pacific.
Daley stood by his post cracking
out those messages" Lieut.. Com
mander Peck said. ST gave Daley
the last message that we were aban-
doning ship. We could hear water
swishing around us, but Daley just
sat there, chewing away at hunk
of gum and sending out our loca-
ton. The location probably saved
our lives, but the sending of it cost
Dailey's own life.
IT left him and the boys told me
later that they saw him jump from
a huge height, about 125 feet. He
probably had no idea how far the
water was below MN. He jusc ,bai/ed
out"
There were no hysterics-no un-
comfortable squirmings-only per-
feet discipline-the men shrugged
their shoulders and smiled-were
phrases picked at random from the
conversations of officers.
Officers seemed to blame a sharp
gust of wind from the high Carmel
> mountains as the motivating cause
of the air tragedy
Lieut.. Commander Herbert v.
Wylie, in charge of the Macon,
said he felt a sudden jar"
upon inquiry of the elevator
man. 1 was informed that the
wheel had slipped out of his
hands," said Wylie. "The ship
began to take a bow-up inclina-
ton. Immediately I received a
call from aft that No. cell was
gone. All ballast and emergency
fuel dump tanks in the after part
of the ship were dropped and gas
was Waived from the forward gas
cells in an effort to regain trim"
1.-The inclination of the ship
reached 25 degrees and she gained
altitude rapidly E. surmised that
the structure was damaged over No.
gas cell in the locality of the fin
and endeavored to relieve the strain
On that part of the ships structure.
Reports were soon received that
the ships outer covering over No.
and No. 2 gas cells was gone"
Lieut.. Com. Wiley said he expected
to get the Macon under control as
it started to descend from 4,600 feet
even 5000 feet. 1t descended at q
rate of 300 feet per minute despite
the fact all ballast was put over
board and airplanes were dropped
from the bowels of the ship.
The angle of inclination had got
ten as low as 10 degrees. At 1000,
feet. Lieut.. Commander Wiley gave
the order to stand by to abandon
ship" The emergency signal to the
crew had been given Immediately
after the Casualty" Three minutes
after the Casualty" Wiley had the
radio man send an SOS.
All Left GondOla
1.-THE stern hit the water with a
r (ront;uued On Pare 5l