TRAGIC SCENE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22936, 14 January 1938, Page 11

TRAGIC SCENE

WRECKAGE FOUND ALL THE CREW DEAD OIL THAI! ON WATER DUMPING OF PETROL FATAL ELECTRIC SPAEK By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received January 13, 7.5 p.m.) ' - NEW YORK. Jan. 12 The British United Press representative at Pago Pago says the United States Navy reports that *the wreckage of tlie Samoan Clipper was found 14 miles ndrth-west of Pago Pago. - There was no trace of the crew, all of whom, it was announced later, had perished. The crew of the mine-sweeper Avocet's launch discovered the wreckage. The Clipper had been missing for 22 hours 7 minutes when the Navy announced "A motor-launch has recovered parts of wreckage which were identified as those of the % Clipper. Naval officials said that the searchers found an oil "slick" on the long blue •wells, the trail of which led to the '" wreckage, which was found at latitude 14 degrees 8 minutes 20 seconds soutn, longitude 170 degrees 51 minutes west. Last Message The last radio message from the Clipper reported: "The propeller brakes are set on one motor," indicating that the machine was flying with only three of its four motors functioning. A message from Washington says the Pan American Airways Company stated in the basis of a radio message Irom Samoa:, "It has been definitely established that Captain Edwin C. Musick »rid the six other, members of his crew met their deaths on Tuesday at approximately 8.30 a.m.. Samoan tune, when the Samoan Clipper was destroyed by fire, the origin of which is unknown." , , £ The company added that the f a °t® available showed that the fire developed incidental to the discharge of iuei necessary to trim the ship to a prope landing weight, which, said the announcement, "is in line with the conservative -normal practice of tlie com0, pany." Danger o! Dumping Fuel The danger of dumping petrol from aircraft became known after the sci.trching investigation into the Hindenbu g disaster, when the Chief Inspector or the Bureau of Commerce issued an cyder for the sealing of all, * ue V "V valves on aeroplanes used in scheduled, sir transport. The order came as tne . result of tests made with fuel and an analysis of the marks this tuei left on vulnerable .parts of aircraf after its release. , . The Samoan Clipper, however, because of the nature of her exploratory flight, had received a restricted hcence and was not subject to the order, on carried in her hull fuel tanks to g v her a cruising range of nearly ooiu ji miles. , ' , The only way to empty that extra fuel was by pumping it into the wing tanks and * then releasing it by tne dump-valves. Such a process required time and repeated operations. A sparK from static electricity, the control © •$ which, when it is collected by moving ▼essels. has long been a mystery, apparently ignited the Clipper in the pro- . cess of dumping the fuel. Static electricity exists wherever there are stationary electric charges, either positive or negative, attached t S to the surfaces of solid, liquid or gaseous particles. All such surfaces contain both positive and negativo of electricity, but these are Usually so closely united that the opposjfli 8 electrical forces neutralise each . other. But frictional agency may rethe negative charges and so leave If surface positively charged. I"® friction set up in the petrol tank ot aer °p'nne or in the dumping valve . through .the agitation produced in 1 off large quantities of fuel by damping may possibly set up the conditions necessary for a discharge.