URUGUAYAN AIRMEN’S ADVENTURES

Evening Star, Issue 19552, 10 May 1927, Page 10

URUGUAYAN AIRMEN’S ADVENTURES

A WEEK’S CAPTIVITY IN THE DESERT

The • full story of the adventures which befelltho Uruguayan airmen, under the leadership of Commandant Larre-Borges, after their departure from Casablanca on an attempt to cross the Atlantic, has only now become available: (saj’s the London ‘Times’ of recent date). Special correspondents were sent by aeroplane by the Paris newspapers to the desolate part of the Spanish Saharan coast where they were wrecked, captured by nomads, ransomed by the Spanish authorities, and finally restored to civilisation with tho help of (french civilian pilots. ' Tho accounts now published show that the pilots of tho_ Latecoere Company freely risked their machines and oven their lives in the endeavor, first to find and then to rescue the Uruguayan airmen. It was in tho early morning 'of March 2 that tho seaplane Uruguay left Casablanca and follower the African coastline in a south-westerly direction preparatory to striking out across the Atlantic. After about four hours of flight a trickle of oil appeared on'the cowling of one of tho engines. The mechanic, Rigoli, made his way forward and found that the oil supply pipe was broken, and Commandant Larre-Borges decided that there was nothing for it but to come down, A heavy sea was running, but be managed to alight between two waves, each about 20tt high. For a few moments the seaplane rode the water, and then three successive waves struck it with great force and smashed in the hull. The engine units became displaced, and the machine began to drift further from the shore, which was about half a mile distant. The airmen .struggled for some time to keep the seaplane afloat and to get way On in the direction of land, but at last a larger wave than usual complied the destruction of Ihe machine, and threw its occupants''into tho water. A desperate swim • folio vtd, and afL-;i half an hour ' tho airmen, hampered by their clothing and the heavy sea, were on the- point of exhaustion when they found themselves thrown up on tho beach and the remains of the Uruguay after .them. THE CAPTURE. They had scarcely time to congratulate themselves and to turn their attention to tho wreck, when they were surrounded by a band of some 150 Moors, who appeared, as if by magic from the surrounding dunes and made them captive. The prisoners were stripped of their clothing and effects by their captors, who cut open tho linings of their coats and tore the soles from their shoes in order to make sure that they missed nothing. Tho division of the booty then place. The chief of, tho tribesmen was greatly pleased with a suit of silk pyjamas, which he immediately put on, and presided in this costume at tho distribution of the spoil. He showed great generosity in giving to his men cheques for largo nominal amounts, hut of doubtful negotiable value, which were found in the airmen’s clothing, and merely kept for himself tho bank notes and coins. The wreck of the Uruguay was rifled and everything of any value removed, and the tribesmen, with their captives in the centre, then moved oft inland. After a long march, which the captives found to ho equally uncomfortable whether they were afoot or were allowed tho doubtful privilege of mounting a camel, they reached the native village of Puerto Cansado, and tho first step in the negotiation of tlio ransom _ was taken by the despatch of an emissary to the commandant of tho Spanish post of Cape Juby, some seventy miles to the south. THE SEARCH. .Meanwhile two Latecoerc aeroplanes, piloted by MM. Mermoz and Yille, which were making their usual journey with the mail from Dakar to Casablanca, had learned by wireless of the disappearance of the Uruguay. Flying low along tho coast they saw tho debris of tho seaplane and reported what they had seen at their next landing place. Tho local aerodrome superintendent there, on his own responsibility. immediately sent a wireless mes-sage-to Cape Juby for two of the aeroplanes stationed there to carry on the search, and MM. Riguel and Guillaumet set out. They circled over the wreck of tho Uruguay to make sure that no Moors lurked in the dunes and then landed, leaving their engine running while they examined the wreck. They formed the impression that tho missing airmen might have been taken into the interior and, restarting their machine, made a reconnaissance of the surrounding country. They soon saw a caravan moving across the desert, and flew low over it to see if tho missing men were with it. They wero greeted with a sharp fusillade from tho Moors and were unable to gain any sure in■formation. Actually this was the caravan they sought, but tho Moors camouflaged their captives with sacks and brushwood on the approach of the inquisitive aeroplanes so that they should not be easily distinguished from above. A week passed, and on March 9 tho pilots of the Latecoero Company were given another hazardous task. They were told off to take an emissary from the Spanish Commandant at Cape Juby and to land him at Puerto Cansado, where he was charged to treat with tho Moors for the release of the prisoners. MM. Reine and Antoine landed with the emissary at Puerto Cansado, near the tribesmen’s tents, and were received with a livelv fusillade. After the emissary had alighted they took off and per- j formed a scries of “ stunts ” over the heads of the Moors. RANSOMED. On tho next day they were again sent to Puerto Cansado to learn the result of the negotiations. Good news awaited them. Making a low circuit they saw a white sheet on the ground upon which was stretched the figure of a Moor with his arms outspread in tho shape of a cross. This signified that the negotiations had been successful and that the ransom offered by tho Spanish Commandant at Capo Juby—which the French Press places at 50,000 pesetas—had been accepted. The French pilots immediately landed and found the , missing .airmen safe, but in a sad condition after their week’s captivity. The Moors crowded round the machines, and were evidently tom between ' their desire to, observe their promise and the temptation to improve upon a good bargain by repeating their exploit with the two French aeroplanes. MM. j Reine and Antoine wasted no time in j compliments, therefore, but quickly re- , turned to Cape Juby, where the Uruguayan airmen were supplied with j clean, if quaintly-fitting, Spanish uniforms. ' Another Latecoere aeroplane, I with the correspondent of a Paris newspaper on board, passed over Puerto Cansado an hour or two later ,on its ways to Cape, Juby, and came down low, in ignorance of the fact that the prisoners had* already been removed, t It, too, was fired upon by the Moors.