Death In Mid-Ocean

Northern Advocate, 1 August 1938, Page 4

Death In Mid-Ocean

UNLESS present fears prove groundless, another Pan-Ameri-can clipper has been lost with all her company. The deathroll accompanying the disappearance of the Hawaiian

Clipper, will, it seems, be particularly heavy, as there were 16 people on board, including several men distinguished in science and letters. Yet there has been no immediate adverse effect on the popularity of the service, for the next two clippers are reported to have left on schedule without any cancellations of bookings. Pan-American Airways have within six months suffered two heavy blows—the loss of the Samoan Clipper, off Pago Pago, and now this latest mystery. The loss of personnel must be very serious; and so must the financial aspect of these misadventures, for the machines are very costly indeed. In spite of all this, however, the flying services go on and development proceeds unchecked.

Nevertheless, such disasters call attention to certain disadvantages of the air over other forms of transport. The fallacy of air travel, as an American writer remarked not long ago, is the complete dependence of the aeroplane on forward speed. Once it loses that, all is over unless it can make an emergency landing safely.

The aeroplane has the great advantage of speed. It is fascinating to think of being delivered in San Francisco within a few days, but something of the glamour of travel is lost, for the leisured life on board a modern ship has many attractions. It seems probable that as air services develop, each will have its patrons, according to their needs and tastes. The accidents in the Pacific will not deter Pan-American Airways from the establishing of its far-reaching services, nor the more air-minded traveller from patronising them. But others, appalled by the suddenness of death in mid-ocean, will conclude that steamer travel still has a strong appeal.