Flying Boat Rescue After 10 Hours in Stormy Atlantic

Northern Advocate, 23 January 1939, Page 7

Flying Boat Rescue After 10 Hours in Stormy Atlantic

(Received 10 a.m.) NEW YORK, January 22. P<ROM A BLACK, STORM-TOSSED SEA, STREAKED BY FLARES FROM SEARCHING STEAMSHIPS AND AIRCRAFT, SIX OF THE EIGHT PASSENGERS, AND FOUR OF THE CREW OF FIVE OF THE EMPIRE FLYING BOAT, CAVALIER, WERE RESCUED BY THE OIL TANKER ESSO BAYTOWN LAST NIGHT. AFTER TERRIBLE SUFFERING. t The Cavalier, bound for Bermud a from New York was forced down in the Atlantic by bad weather and engine failure due to the accumulation of ice when half way to her destination, at 1.13 p.m. yesterday. One minute after reporting that the flying boat had alighted safely on the sea, her radio operator ended a starkly dramatic, account, of. the fight to keep the machine in the air with one ominous final word: “Sinking.” . TEN PEOPLE SAVED Rescue craft of all kinds, including aeroplanes hurried to the. scene, the first arriving at 6 p.m., but nolb ing was found. The search was intensified as rn ore vessels reached the area last night, and early this morning wireless mesages from the Esso Baytown and other vessels described a thrillin g rescue of' 10 survivors. The Esso Baytown is returning with these survivors, who are in ,a serious condition owing to the cold and exposure. Other steamers are standing by with searchlights seeking the three other passengers. 1 LONG CLING TO LIFEBELTS Raking the turbulent seas by searchlights, the Esso Baytown, shortly before midnight, picked up 10 suf-vivors of the 13 aboard the Cavalier. They had clung to rubber lifebelts tor 10 hours. The other three weakened and are believed to have been drowned. The survivors indicate that the aeroplane sank 10 minutes after alighting. The master of the Essp Baytown sent a radio message that when the tanker reached the position indicated in the Cavalier’s distress signal, voices were heard calling from the darkness to the eastward. A boat was launched and got the survivors aboard. They were suffering severely fro m. exposure and shock. The tanker made an urgent call for medical aid. The American gunboat, Erie, arrived at 1 a.m., and vain ly tried for three hours to get a doctor aboard. The coastguard cutter, Champlain, finally succeeded in transferring a pharmacist’s mate.