SHENANDOAH DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 5 September 1925, Page 3

SHENANDOAH DISASTER

1 [Australia ,V N.Z. C'nblo Association. NEW WIRE. Sept. :t. I u mb Ii I ion I * I la- I .’i d.-a d. i m-l ml iu> Zachary I a i;-d-ic la-. the Commander two of she Shenandoah's < row were in jure! ami four iiav-.- not ei been nr counted for. The Shenandoah, which was built ii 1H22. i o-t two milli *ll d inn-, and lel'l Lak*-hiirst. New Jersey, yesterday on lid* second all'emp! to invade the Mis-si'-inpi valley. Earlier in tin* summer the vessel had been turned hack by threatened stimus. Early this morning as s| t ,- was proceeding over Ohio the ship encountered a llerce. w mil and a rain storm. The survivors declare a treacherous air current was respoiii-.hle for Dll* wreck. They turned the ship's nose downward, hat the crew's eifo;;to restore her (»> an even keel produced too great a strain under which Ih «- keel snapped.

ECRTHER PARTICULARS. NEW YORK. September After her keel had -napped, the airship Shenandoah floundered, and became iineoni rollahle in (he storm. Without any warning, her giant hag emptied with a rending -mind. and. a- it hurst. the front half of the dirigible. with the keel, dropped down into a farm. The second hall of the ship flouted on for liles. with eight passengers aboard, wl o all landed uninjured. I la* men ware thrown Iron* the drilling Shenandoah like -hots Irnni a gun. win ii the ship began spinning in the storm. The control ear was the lirsl thing io break loose, and iis loss |.-fi the ship, without a pilot, at the nn-ivy ol the wind. The hag drifted i., r miles while oni of control before burst-

ing. Tin- missing im-u are believ'il In have been scattered from the ship, ami a search is lieiiia made ov*-r ihe ground for I heir bodies. Rear Admiral .Moffat t. the Chief of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautic-, said that Ibis disaster would not In- allowed to divert the navy Irom its deli-rinilla-tion In continue Ihe advancement of American aeronaut b-s. Such aeeidentwere bound In happen as they try lo find a permanent place in the sky. The men who died have given their lives for the advam en*r-iit of .science, and for the furtherance of tin* nation's air supremacy. NEW YORK. September -T. Mr Wilbur, the Secretary to the United Slates Navy at Washington, said that the crash was not unexpected. lie declared that the Navy had always feared Ihe effects on airships of Ihe destructive local .'tones somelimes prevalent in the interior States, and, for this reason, explicit orders were never issued lo make such flights which were left io lh<- discretion of the Commanrh-rs. This was tin* case wiyh the Shenandoah.

HOW SHE BROKE IT. NEW YORK. September :t. The Shenandoah's; controller cabin was crushed when it struck the ground and evorv man in the cabin was ilist :i nt ly killed. It was here that thirteen of the bodies were found, eight hundred yards Irom the point where the main section grounded. Most of the men in the latter seetioii were mi hurt.

.Machine gun armament had been placed aboard the Shenandoah only a few weeks ago. The largest, seciionof the ship, some lult feet in length, fell in a Meld a mile distant from where the mishaii occurred. The coiitro! compartment. in which the commander and navigator; were riding, was fitly

feet away. The third section, lot) left long, drifted through the air like a runaway balloon for a distance of three miles, with eight men aboard, and these all escaped injury. An eve witness stales that, early in the morning. the airship with its nose ii|). was .spinning on its tail on two occasions. She then steadied down on her keel. Then the latter gave way. and the huge craft became absolutely unmanageable. The control cabin next shot off. dropping like a plummet. Tin* big bag; then sagged in the middle, and a minute later the airship hurst, though without anv (lame or explosion. The forward hall plunged to earth, while the rear part drifted for miles, sagging all the time down towards earth. During the earlier gyrations the figures ot men am! furniture could bo seen lulling into space. A Pelie Valley m.e-age states the number of tile Shenandoah’s crew dear totals 11. The vessel was no! struck by lightning, hut tlie wind wrecked it. SCRY IVORS” STOP IKS. [Received this day at 8 a.m.) XKW YORK. September 3. I .ii'U tena nt-('omnia nder Ranking, a survivor of the Shenandoah, says: " I

had just gone on watch. I lie ship was making no headway. We luul already been blown ninety miles out id our course when the cyclone hit to and shot us ui> another lour hundrei feet. There were two violent plunge: and amid tin- crash of lightning and thunder the noise of rending steel such as you could never imagine. She broki in the middle forward end and shot into the air like an aeroplane soaring from ’the earth. The struts el the control enhiii snapped and the ealiie dropped like a hunk ot lead.” Colonel Hall, an army observe) aboard the Shenandoah -ays: " lie. disaster was in no way attributable t< any defect in the ship. Met.'orolugim advices would have saved them.” When Z.R. 2 wa~ htirned at 11 ul live vears ago. (‘onimander l.itiel wa killed and bis widow emigrated t 1 America and married l.ewi- Hancock, who was killed aboard the Sin-nan duali. HAWAIIAN FLIGHT. lIONOI.rU'. September I. Hope is diminished of rescue ul tin Number one plane. No trace ot it undiscovered on 1 bur-day.