THREE U. S. A. Airmen left Rockaway Station, Long Island, New York, on
Monday, 13th December, in a free balloon, with the intention of flying
across the State of New York.
After ascending, and while crossing New York City, a storm caught them,
and drove them off their course. Being at an altitude of 6000 feet, and
above the clouds, they were unable to see the ground.
The country over which they were flying was high, necessitating the
discharge of ballast to prevent the balloon striking high land.
Having no chart, and, therefore, losing their bearings, they were
unable to tell over which part of the country they were flying.
On Tuesday, December 14th, after being in the air about 24 hours, the
men thought they heard a dog bark, and through a rift in the clouds
they saw a house; they then decided to descend.
The pilot opened the valve, and the balloon commenced to descend at a
rapid speed. The wind had carried the balloon beyond the place where
they had seen the house, and there was nothing but trees on which to
land. All the remaining ballast was thrown overboard to prevent the
basket crashing on the trees; thermos flasks and all the furnishings
were cast over. But their descent had been too rapid to be arrested so
easily, and the basket collided with the trees. Too much gas had been
released to allow the balloon to ascend again. The basket continued to
drag through the bush till at last the balloon came to a halt tangled
on the side of a tree.
The time of landing was about 2 p.m. Taking a southerly course by
their compass, which they had managed to retain, they commenced to
walk through the bush, but made little headway owing to the dense mass
of foliage, spruce trees, willows and marshy land. They built a fire,
cooked one of three carrier pigeons. This was the only food they had
had since leaving New York.
Making themselves as comfortable as possible, they rested for the night
but had little sleep. Keeping the fire going all night was the only
means of being warm.
On Wednesday, the 15th, they commenced their slow progress once more
through the bush. The serious nature of their situation was only
dawning on them at this time, and finding no house, nor any traces of
dogs, they began thinking their minds had been playing them tricks.
No food whatever was available, so they had to make their two
remaining pigeons last indefinitely, not knowing when they would reach
civilization.
As their strength was waning, the oldest man of the party had discarded
nearly all his clothes keeping only his flying suit and underclothes.
He was nearly "all in" and kept falling down, but the older of the
other two kept them all going, knowing that to keep going was their
only means of salvation. To stop would have meant being frozen. Moss
was their only food this day. Again they made a fire and rested for the
night.
On December 16th, Thursday, they set off again, travelling in a
southerly direction. A second pigeon was devoured. At last they struck
a creek and they were thankful to escape from the bush, walking on the
ice being much easier. They travelled all day but discerned no signs of
human life. The usual nightly performance was gone through, and each
thought it all was rather hopeless, but "life is sweet."
Friday, December 17th, they commenced their slow and wearisome journey
once more, walking on the creek; but at last the creek joined the
river and here they perceived sleigh tracks. Noting the direction it
had travelled by the imprint of the dog's feet, they followed the
trail. About noon they sighted the sleigh, and the younger of the three
commenced to hurry in an endeavour to overtake the sleigh. At last
the man, an Indian trapper, observed that someone was endeavouring to
overtake him, but, instead of waiting as would be expected, the Indian
commenced to hurry. It appears that he was very frightened at the
airman's uniform or his sudden appearance. The young officer managed at
last to overtake the Indian, due to the slow progress of the dogs.
The Indian was at last made to understand that the men were starving
and lost, so he took the young airman to his house which happened to
be at hand, and was, in fact, on Moose Island. A team was sent for the
other two airmen, and all were brought to the Company's Post, where
they were thawed out, given a good meal, and put off to bed.
The airmen's footwear consisted of ordinary leather boots, but thanks
to the mild spell and little snow there were no bad effects. "All's
well that ends well." Now they are looking forward to the two hundred
miles of snowshoeing to the main line and let their wives and families
know they are safe and sound.
The names of the airmen are:
Lieutenant Farrell, senior; Lieutenant Hinton, the one who was
responsible for keeping up the courage of the party, and who was pilot
on the N.C. 4 when Commander Read made the famous Trans-Atlantic
flight; Lieutenant Kloor, the only free balloon pilot in the party, and
who overtook the Indian.
The trip was, I believe, a record flight for a free balloon, 820 miles,
as the crow flies, in 25 hours.
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_Issued Every Now and Then in the Interests of Those in the Service of
the Hudson's Bay Company_
[Illustration: PRO PELLE CUTEM]