My two years of captivity constituted, strange to say, the third step towards the transatlantic flight; for it was as a prisoner of war that I first found time to begin a careful study of the possibilities of aërial navigation. This I continued after returning to London, where, at the Ministry of Munitions, I was employed in the production of the larger aëro-engines. When, soon after the armistice, the ban on attempts to fly the Atlantic was lifted, I hoped that my studies of aërial navigation might be useful to one of the firms who were preparing for such a flight. Each one I approached, however, refused my proposals, and for the moment I gave up the idea. It was entirely by chance that I became involved in the transatlantic competition. One day I visited the works at Weybridge of Messrs. Vickers. While I was talking with the superintendent, Captain Alcock walked into the office. We were introduced, and in the course of conversation the competition was mentioned. I then learned, for the first time, that Messrs. Vickers were considering an entry, although not courting publicity until they should have attempted it. I sat up and began to take notice, and ventured to put forward my views on the navigation of aircraft for long flights over the sea. These were received favorably, and the outcome of the fortunate meeting was that Messrs. Vickers retained me to act as aërial navigator. I soon learned to have every confidence in the man who was to be my pilot. He flew for years before the war, and he had a magnificent record for long-distance flying when engaged in bombing Constantinople and other parts of Turkey, with the detachments of the Royal Naval Air Service in the Eastern Mediterranean. His recent death in a flying accident took from aviation one of its most able, experienced and courageous pilots, and robbed his many friends of a splendid man. We set to work, and, with every assistance from the Air Ministry, and the Admiralty, we soon had our apparatus and instruments ready for shipment to Newfoundland. Besides our two selves the Vickers transatlantic party consisted of ten other men from the works, and a specialist on Rolls-Royce aëro-engines. Alcock and I sailed from Southampton on the _Mauretania_, on board of which its commander--Captain Rostron--made me free of his bridge, and, as a widely experienced navigator, gave me much good advice. The Vickers-Vimy machine, with all stores, left later by a freight boat. From Halifax, Nova Scotia, we proceeded to Port aux Basques, and thence by way of the Reid Newfoundland Railway to St. John's. There, we joined the merry and hopeful company of British aviators who, long before we arrived, had been preparing for an attempt to win Lord Northcliffe's prize.