GREAT AIRSHIP ADRIFT

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12116, 18 April 1925, Page 6

GREAT AIRSHIP ADRIFT

MOORING MAST SNAPS AT HEIGHT OF GALE

SHIP DRIVEN TO COAST OF HOLLAND

CREW’S EXPERIENCE DESCRIBED BY WIRELESS

The great British airship R 33 broke away from her moorings at the height of a gale on Thursday, and with 29 men and two days’ supply of petrol aboard was driven aorqss the North Sea to the coast of Holland. Wireless messages were constantly received from the airship, and when the gale moderated she turned to fight her way baok to England. R 33 was about to undergo special tests with the object of perfecting a type of airship adaptable to a regular air servioe between Britain and the dominions.

Australian . and N.Z. Cable Association. Reuter’s Telegram. - LONDON, April 16. The airship passed over Lowestoft driven by a fierce south-westerly gale, her propellers working, and her mooring ropes hanging down and lashing about. She proceeded north-east right out to *»ea, and was lost sight of in the distance. A motor-lifeboat and gunboat followed immediately The Air Ministry announces that R 33 is communicating by wireless with Pulliam, and has been instructed to attempt to proceed as far as possible on a northerly course in order to be able to return to Fulham or Cardington with the wind, which hy the evening will probably have veered to the northward. The coxswain of the motor-lifeboat which followed the airship and returned to Lowestoft, said that he first noticed the airship when she dropped a white light, which is a signal of distress. Immediately he mustered the crew and proceeded to sea. The air--s]}ip was then 10,000 feet up, broadside to the wind, and driving eastwards. There were frequent rain squalls, and risibility was bad. The wind waa blowing at 60 miles an hour, and the sea was very rough. When they were 17 miles out a gunboat overtook the lifeboat, which, then returned. The airship was then apparently on a level keel, going before the wind. The coxswain tnouriit that the crew were contemplating landing on the Dutch coast. Thv British Government requested permission for the a.iiship to land at the Schoesterberg Aerodrome, in Holland, for which, it was believed, she waa making. She waa sighted over Vandivoort, flying low. The lifeboats were ready, but later she rose over; Leiden. I | BHIP UNDER PERFECT CONTROL j i (Received April 17, 5.5 p.m.) The airship R 33 early this afternoon was sighted off the Dutch coast. An airplane was seen circling round her. The wind veered and eased • and the course of the airship has been altered. The wireless officer reported that the ship was under perfect control, and was doing 35 miles an hour. She was then 75 miles to the north-wost of Amsterdam, or 120 miles from Pulham. There is no oiiance of the airship reaching her base to-night. The mishap is most surprising, because the airship safely rode through the gale mil night. It was fortunate that tho first officer, Lieutenant Booth, was aboard, and also the wireless officer. The early reports wrongly indicated that the airship’s nose had been torn off, as it has since been ascertained that the top of the mooring mast broke off, and must now be dangling from the Airship’s nose. She was driven broadside before the gale at a low altitude, and it was feared that she might foul houses at Harleston. When over Lowestoft the wind tilted her end up, and she almost fell into the sea, after which she disappeared behind a rain blanket. Control was then regained, all the engines running. The Godetiq kept the airship in sight tor a long distance, when she appeared to be facing her difficulties well, and wirelessed “0.K.” The navigating officer was instructed to follow the course of the wind .till able to turn homewards. THRILLING STORY BY WIRELESS Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received April 17, 8.15 p.m.) The whole country has been thrilled by the airship’s adventure, but the utmost confidence was shared by experts for the safe return of FlightLieutenant Booth, who is only 26, and his crew. The severe gale which had been raging over the whole country helped the public to realise the crew’s peril. . Cross-Channel steamers faced a 60-mile-an-hour gale, while Liverpool

recorded gusts of 83 miles an hour. Throughout the day and night messages reached Fulham from the airship, telling the story of the crew’s experiences. It appears that the airship, when she broke away, carried with her four mooring wheels, each weighing half a ton, two forward and tw’o aft, at the end of steel cables 100 feet long. It was necessary that these weights be cut adrift if the airship were going to ride out the storm, so off Lowestoft a member of the crew, hanging over in a most precarious position hundreds of feet above the water, his legs held hy a comrade, worked with a steel-cutting chisel and hammer until the cables were severed; then the wheels dropped like bombs into the sea.

An eye-witness, describing the breakaway, said: “I was working near the mooring mast, when the airship suddenly was carried eff by the wind, taking with her the mooring arm and wheels to which she had been fastened below. The airship, owirig to the storm, had been manned hy an emergency crew throughout the‘night, and they were relieved an hour before the ship broke away. Directly the airship began to rise I saw Booth look over the side of the control car to see what had happened. He must have been amazingly quick in giving orders, for the crew dropped the water ballast and got the port engine going in under a minute. The trailing wheels missed the airship shed hy only a few feet, and also narrowly missed the dwelling of a member of the crew, whose wife was amazed to see the airship sailing away.” Commander P. F. M. Fellowes, Director of Airship Development, spent the morning at Fulhsm, examining the mooring mast. He said a piece of metal at a concealed spot had rotted during five years’ use. He added that the airship had plenty of food and gas for a two days’ voyage, and a parachute for eveiy man.

DUTCHMEN READY TO HELP Reuter’s Telegram. (Received April 17, 8.50 p.m.) AMSTERDAM, April 16. R 33, signalling every quarter of an hour, enabled the Wallhaven, Croydlon, and Pulham aerodromes to locate her position. Wireless bearings show that the airehip is moving against tiie gale, therefore her engines must still be working. A wireless picked up from the Japanese steamer Amazon Maru, stated that R 33 was driving towards Foet Egmond, near Alkmaar, with her note crushed in, and required assistance. The entire staffs of Dekody and Soesterberg aerodromes were mobilised to assist the landing, if necessary, but R 33 changed her direction southwards. Her engines apparently were working well. (Received April 17, 8.50 p.m.) . . LONDON, April 16. The Air Ministry is in regular contact with R 33, which wirelessed: “Quito well. Will make for England when wind moderates.” i At midnight the airship was gallantly battling against the gale, and she expects to reach Pulham at dawn. She is filled with inflammable gas, carries a complete crew of 28 men, and is commanded by her first officer, Flight-Lieutenant Booth. Her crew includes Corporal Potter, a survivor of the R 33 disaster. The Pulham aerodrome is illuminated, and a landing crew of three hundred : s making an all-night vigil in readiness for the aiisl.ip’s arrival. Her commander evidently determined not to descend on the Continent, though precautionary arrangements were made with Holland, France, and Germany. Reuter’s Telegram. (Received April 17, 11.50 p.m.) LONDON, April 17. R 33 reported at 6.30 this morning that she was 50 miles west by south of Amsterdam.

At 10 a.rn. she was forty miles from Lowestoft.