We thanked the stranger for his news, and passed on to hear further details at the Cochrane Hotel, which was the headquarters of the several transatlantic flight contingents at St. John's. We had rather expected the Sopwith and Martinsyde parties to make an attempt on the eighteenth, although the conditions were definitely unfavorable. The news of the American _N. C. 4's_ arrival at the Azores had spurred them to the great adventure, despite the weather. The United States flying boats were not competing for the _Daily Mail_ prize; but Hawker and Grieve wanted to gain for Great Britain the honor of being the first to cross the Atlantic by air. The outcome of this ambition was the gallant effort that ended in the sea, half-way to Ireland. While exceedingly sorry for Raynham, we were glad that Hawker had started, after his weeks of weary waiting, and we wished him all success; for with one exception there was the best possible feeling among the small colony of British aviators who had congregated at St. John's for the transatlantic competition. In any case, if Hawker succeeded and we no longer had a chance of winning the prize, we meant to demonstrate the high qualities of the Vickers-Vimy machine by flying from Newfoundland to Ireland. We had arrived at St. John's early on the morning of May the thirteenth, being only twelve hours late on a scheduled time of twenty-seven hours for the journey from Port aux Basques. Thirteen, by the way, we regarded as our lucky number. The construction of our transatlantic machine was begun on February thirteenth, it was number thirteen of its class, and it reached Newfoundland on May twenty-sixth (twice thirteen). Our party, with the mechanics, totaled thirteen, and we arrived at St. John's on May thirteenth. Later we were disappointed at having to postpone the getaway until June fourteenth, instead of leaving on June thirteenth. We hired a car, and, driving to Mount Pearl, began what was to be a long and difficult hunt for any kind of a field that could be improvised into an aërodrome. The uneven countryside through which we passed held out no hopes; and the company we met that evening at the Cochrane Hotel (Hawker, Grieve, Raynham, Morgan, and various officials and newspaper correspondents) were unanimous in declaring that the only suitable patches of ground had been appropriated, and that we should find no others near St. John's.