Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 123, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 May 1919 — LOST AVIATORS FOUND ALIVE [ARTICLE]

LOST AVIATORS FOUND ALIVE

TRAMP SHIP PICKS UP HAWKER AND GRIEVE FAR FROM LAND. London, May 25.—Missing for six days and virtually given up for lost, Harry G. Hawker and his navigator, Lieut. Commander Mackzie Grieve, British airmen who essayed a flight across the Atlantic ocean without protection against disaster save what their frail airplane afforded, are safe tonight aboard a British warship off the Orkneys. Tomorrow they will reach the mainland and proceed to London, where they -will be acclaimed as men returned to life. Some 1,100 miles out from Newfoundland and 800 from the Irish coast on Monday, May 19, the aviators, making the best of an engine which was failing to function properly, were forced to alight on the water. The little Danish steaaner Mary, bound from New Orleans and Norfolk for Aarhuus, Denmark, picked the wayfarers up and continued on her northward voyage. Lacking a wireless outfit, the captain of the steamer was obliged to withhold the good tidings of the rescue until he was opposite the Butt of Lewis, where the information was signalled by means of flags that Hawker and Grieve were aboard the ship. word was flashed to the British admiralty, which sent out destroyers to overtake the Danish vessel and obtain confirmation. This was done, and one of the destroyers took the airmen off and later transferred them to the flagship Revenge. From, this safe haven, Hawker sent a message tonight that his machine had stopped owing to the blocking of the wateF~ circulation system. When the airplane sped away from her starting point Pilot Hawker let loose his wheels and undergearing, thereby lightening the weight of the machine by a considerable amount, but making a possible landing on the soil of Ireland a more hazardous venture. This, however, probably proved of much advantage when it became necessary to alight on the surface of the water. The airplane remained afloat without difficulty during the hour and a half it took the Danish steamer to come up and effect a rescue. All England is stirred by the news of the safety of the two stout hearted aviators, but, owing to the difficulties of communication, some time must pass before the full details of one of the most remarkable voyages ever undertaken are known. The one person in England who had always held hope was Mrs. Hawker. She always maintained that Providence would protect her husband, and although she received condolences from all classes of people, including the king, she said today that she had never ceased to believe that some time and in some way her husband would come back.