The Daily Alaska empire., 1937-07-06
Navy Vessels, Commercial Ships, Engaged in
 Extensive Hunt
REPORTED FLARES
 ARE ONLY FIZZLE
Communication with Down. ed Aircraft Has Appar-
 ently Ceased

BULLETIN Washington,
 July GA radio direct to the
 Coast Guard Headquarters from
 the Coast Guard cutter Itasca said that at 9:59 o'clock this
 forenoon no word of the Ear hart plane had been received
 and no signs seen.
 American, Japanese and Brit
 ish commercial steamers are joining in the search as well as
 102 United st ates Naval planes. one battleship, four destroyers, mine sweeper and coast guard
 CT vessel. Four thousand men aboard the planes and naval craft are scanning the South
 Pacific for some sign of the
 missing Earhart plane.
 HONOLULU, H. l., July 6.--Hopes for rescue of Amelia Earhart and 1 her co-pilot, Bert Noonan skyrock eted, then fizzled out when the Coast Guard cutter Itasca reported l it had apparently mistaken meteor for flashes from the plane down on the South Pacific.
 Despite the severe disappointment the search continues with the cen- ter of the hunt probably shifting southward 800 miles from a point POS miles north of Rowland Island | to the Phoenix Island group.
 Early this morning the Itasca reported to the Coast Guard station here that it believed it had sighted flares from the Earhart plane, but the flares might have been made by heat lightning or meteors. Any way the Itasca reported 1t was pro- ceeding in the direction of where the flares were seen.
 Three Day Hunt
 Since last Saturday when the Ear hart plane, making the 2.750-mile hop from Lao, New Guineau, on projected world flight, overshot tiny Rowland Island and went down on the broad South Pacific Ocean. navy vessels, coast guard and planes have made an intensive search.
 Call letters from the plane indi- cated 1t was down Somewhere" but no definite location could be discerned.
 Yesterday morning the coast guard cutter Itasca said the How land Island station heard radio signals with Amelia's call letters.
 A station in Honolulu picked up signals md from t h m it was thought possibly the plane was in the vicinity of Gardner or Mclean Islands in the Phoenix group, about 150 miles south of Rowland Island.
 Search is Speeded
 Immediately the aircraft carrier Lexington. with full quota of planes aboard, and the first line battleship Colorado, with three planes aboard, four destroyers, and the mine. sweeper Swan. together with the coast guard cutter Itasca, changed courses and speeded to- ward the possible location of the plane
 During this time navy officials at Honolulu received garbled messag- es indicating that the Earhart plane was sinking.
 Fleeing together these messages, the navy officials then believed the plane was about 218 miles north of Rowland. Again the searching craft changed courses.
 Sinking Slowly
 In the midst of these reports, an- other message was picked up signed with the call letters KHAQQ saying: Cant hold out much longer above water. Shut off"
 This was taken to mean the plane was sinking lower in the water, fore ing Amelia and her co-pilot Bert Noonan to be unable to use the radio equipment.
 Various short wave stations on the Pacific Coast and also at Homo : lulu later picked up signals from the plane but there would be fade | (COntinued on Page Five)