The Airship "Golden Hind"Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)
General
The Airship "Golden Hind"
Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)
Adventure stories; Flight -- Juvenile fiction; Voyages around the world -- Juvenile fiction
As the "Golden Hind" passed immediately over the life-buoy a grapnel,
lowered from the after-part of the fuselage, engaged the rope, and in a
remarkably short space of time a stout hawser connected the British
airship with the still buoyant bows of the German.
Fosterdyke waited until the "Golden Hind" had swung round and was
pointing "down wind," then he ordered easy ahead with the two for’ard
motors. This gave sufficient tension to the hawser, which was now
inclined at an angle of about thirty degrees.
A "snatch-block" with an endless line was then allowed to run down to
the hawser.
"Now the rest is easy," declared Fosterdyke, but for once at least he
was greatly mistaken.
The first of the Huns arrived in a bowline on board the "Golden Hind."
"How many are there?" asked Fosterdyke.
"Ve vos dwanty," replied the German, holding up the fingers of both
hands twice in order to make his meaning clearer.
More Huns emerging from the for’ard gondola of Z64 confirmed the man’s
statement. One was evidently an officer, but his features did not in
the least resemble those of Count von Sinzig, whose photograph had
appeared some time back in the illustrated papers.
Seventeen Huns were transhipped in about as many minutes. The
eighteenth was half-way along the tautened hawser when Fosterdyke
shouted, "Let go!"
Leading-Hand Jackson obeyed the order instantly. The ring of the
Senhouse slip was knocked clear, and the hawser fell with a splash into
the sea. The "Golden Hind," released from the drag of the partly
water-logged Zeppelin, shot ahead.
She was only just in time. The baronet had noticed a tongue of flame
issuing from the centre gondola of Z64. How the fire was caused was a
mystery, since had the Huns wished to destroy the wreckage they would
have waited until the last man was clear of the Zeppelin. Possibly the
wiring of the electric stove had short-circuited when in contact with
the salt water.
In less than fifteen seconds from the time the hawser had been slipped
the hydrogen escaping from the leaky ballonets was ignited. The
aluminium gasbag was surrounded by flames. The heat caused the gas in
the still intact ballonets to expand, affording sufficient lifting power
to heave the wreckage almost clear of the water. The remaining Huns,
keenly alive to the terrible danger, promptly jumped into the sea.
Then with a terrific glare the remaining ballonets burst, and the
shattered wreckage, sizzling as it came into contact with the cold
water, disappeared beneath the surface, leaving a steadily widening
circle of oil surmounted by a dense pall of black smoke to mark the
scene of the end of Z64.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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