SEARCHERS COME TO GRIEF.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14977, 26 May 1914, Page 7

SEARCHERS COME TO GRIEF.

(Received midnight.) LONDON, May 25, Qaiuol wore an inflated pneumatic tyro io act .'is a lifebuoy.

Two naval watcrplano*.. while searching for Hamel, fell into tho sea at Dover and were wrecked. Pilots rescued tboso on board.

(SrECIAL TO "THE TRESS.") WELLINGTON., May 25. "Hamcl —ono still bopos thit ho may not havo been lost in the Channel—is a man with troops of friends. I mot him at Hcndoii, and could not but bo amazed at tho manner in which ho handled his machine." Hamel was almost boyish in appearance, and had good looks and a charm of manner that rnndo him an idol among vomonkind. Rich and titled ladies were always anxious to get a chunco of flying with him, and ho often obtained big fees for Kiieh flights. Ho !-eemcd to mako his mnnoy easily, and ho did not seem to mind spending it generously in tho entertainment of his friends. Ho was always a "draw" at llcndon, a-nd thousands of onlookers would cheer his graceful flights as ho came gliding down out of the clouds, tho wings of his machino tilting gracefully liko those of a seagull or an albatross. Or it might, bo that ho was coining homo a winner from some speed flight, in which all tho other competitors had received a generous handicap allowance- from him, and tho cheers from tho thousands who gathered in tho aerodromo and on the slopes beyond, would ndd a thrill to au already thrilling scene. At Hcndon ho gave an exhibition with tho ''Britannia,' , the machine presented to tho Now Zealand Government by the men of the city. Lord Desborough. who was ono of tho committee, mado a flight with him, and amongst others who went up on that occasion was Sir Joseph Ward, Lady Ward looking on somewhat anxiously as well she might do. The Hon. Thomas Mackenzie, Mies Mackenzie, and Miss Eileen Ward were ready and anxious to mako flights with Hamel on that occasion, but he was not quito sure about some part of the machinery, and further flights -were, after a few minutes' waiting, abandoned. Hamel had German blood in his veins. His father was a doctor, and ho himself had commenced to etudy medicine, but had given it up for aeroplaning. If it be true that ho has mot with an Untimely fate in tho Channol, his loss will bo deeply mourned in London, and, indeed, throughout England.