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Show V mm DiniGiDLE ' IS LOST AT 5EI Ensign W, B. Griffin and Crew Have Miraculous Escape From Death. WASHINGTON, July An unusual stovy of hArvIi-hlps, itaiitiK anil ntlnvculoiw escape from iteath ituriUK the war was brought to U s lit for the first time today, to-day, wluu tiaal oflh'ers made publle att aiV'ovutt of the adventures of the erow of the navy dirigible H-u whieh was plven tip for lost by the department In .Inly. Il'l-i. after drill im; aitind at se.i for more titan two dajs. ilurini; whleh the erew l-.ad praetiealiy notbini; to eat and ran short of drink iiti; water. The ihriciMe finally w as foreed to deseend on the surtace of the sea and the erow was reseued by the Swedish ship Ska-pern. Ska-pern. The H-U with ntstsn W. 1 Griffin as comma ltd tit'-; officer and pilot, was ordered or-dered to leave Chatham, Mass., early July l: ort a ptrolhn; expedition. Oerman eubmarlnort were then operation off the Atlantic coast and the dirtsiMe was well loaded with bombs. Scanty food supplies were earned, as Knslsn Griffin expected to return to Chatham that nUlu. Tho radio equipment 5fhd cmly been partially S Installed and could not be used to, send " or receive ntetssase?. Rudder Gives Way. The patrolled to the north along the coast and sighted a transport about 3:30 p. in. Knsisn Griffin headed toward the vessel. Intending to escort it toward port, when the heel brace on the rudder was carried away, making it intiossible to steer the craft. Hiplt winds were prevailing pre-vailing at the tlnnp- arid the V-1 was forced to cruise around in a (treat circle while the crew attempted to attract the attention of several ships ail two sea-. sea-. planes then in siht. No attention was paid to repeated sipnals, and finally En-sUn En-sUn Griffin ordered the motors cut off in order to .save the gasoline for ballast. bal-last. The B-r: was Rt that time about C"0 feet in t;ie air and was virtually a tree balloon. Darkness was com ins on &hd the bif pas hag was drifting northward at a speed of about twenty-five miles an hour. A sea anchor was rinsed up and an effort ef-fort made to retard the dirigible's progress prog-ress by drapinir it in the sea. Aftei a few moments, however, the towins; cable parted and the northward passage was resumed at an in'creasei speed. Travels All Night. About S:30 o'clock that night a ship was sighted and nine rockets were fired from a pistol. The vessel apparently saw the signals and directed its course toward v the B-12. only to turn away. About that time the pipe line leading to the emergency emer-gency oil tank broke and before the leak was discovered all of the oil was lost, causing a considerable decrease of baliapt. The B-12 began to rise and ascended steadily until an altitude of 3000 feet was reached. All nicht the dirigible continued Us wild dash northward, the crew meantime con-sumtng con-sumtng the small amount of food aboard. Early on the morning of the second day the gas bag buckled and the horizontal - Vn9 dropped to a vertical position. T:iro'..g.out that day the big bag alternately alter-nately dropped until perilously near the sea and ascended to altitudes of more than 2 500 feet. Every available Article was thrown overboard to keep the ship from plunging into the ocean. Not a vessel was sighted. The crew, mean-tire, mean-tire, was commencing to suffer from hunger. Vessel Is Sighted. On the morning of the third day the sun shone brightly and as the gas In the ra expamipd rapidly the B-12 started to rise. Ensign Griffin decided to bring the bag to the surface and take a chance on being picked up. Shortly after descending a ship was sighted and it directed its course toward the dirigible, the crew of which meanwhile were having great difficulty dif-ficulty in keeping clear of the water. The vessel proved to be the Swedish steamer Skagern. bound for Halifax. A small boat was nut over the side and the crew cf the B-I2 taken off. Then, as the Increasing In-creasing heat from the sun caused the pas further to expand, the dlripible rose a few feet above the surface, was pulled over to the Skasern. the rip cord pulled and the B-12 salvaged without much damage, dam-age, more than 3r,0 miles from Tts home station. |