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
He rather regretted that the accident to Z64 had not occurred nearer the
African coast; but realising that he was lucky to be able to carry on,
he ran the risk of a prolonged flight over the sea with comparative
equanimity.
Within an hour of leaving the wrecked Zeppelin he sighted two vessels,
but with callous indifference to his promise to his crew he made not the
slightest attempt to communicate with either of them. He was "all out"
to win the much-needed Chauvasse Prize. Even his indictment by the
various Allied Governments hardly worried him. Time to consider what he
should do in the matter when he was safe on Spanish soil, he decided.
The Albatross, one of the best types of German machines, was practically
an automatic flier. Von Sinzig could keep her on her course by an
occasional pressure with his feet upon the rudder-bar, thus leaving both
hands free. He was able to eat and drink, to study maps and make
observations without risk of the monoplane getting out of control, while
if needs be he could leave the pilot’s seat, knowing that the Albatross
would hold on automatically for several minutes with only a slight
deviation in direction and hardly any difference in altitude.
Although only ten degrees north of the Tropics, it was bitterly cold at
ten thousand feet; but the count had taken due precautions to combat the
low temperature. He was warmly clad in orthodox flying kit, including
sheepskin boots, fleece-lined leather jacket and trousers, all
electrically heated. He had four thermos flasks filled with hot coffee
and a pocket flask of brandy. For provisions he carried concentrated
food, beef lozenges, and Strasburg sausages.
Hour after hour passed. The Albatross was flying magnificently, her
pilot holding on to a compass course, after making due allowances for
the "drift" of the air current. He had based this allowance upon the
direction of the wind when he left Z64; but unknown to him the light
breeze had shifted eight points and was now blowing slightly ahead of
his port beam. Then, having backed, it presently veered six points and
blew with increasing force right against the Albatross; but von Sinzig
was for the present in ignorance of the fact. Had he known that instead
of a following breeze of about twenty miles an hour there was a head
wind approaching the neighbourhood of thirty-five miles, he would not
have been so chock-a-block with confidence.
When, at the end of the time limit he had set, he was not in sight of
land he began to feel anxious. Half an hour later, as he was still
without a glimpse of the coast, his misgivings increased, but ten
minutes later he picked up land on his right. This was a puzzle. He had
expected to make a landfall right ahead, and its appearance in an
unexpected quarter mystified him. In point of fact he was in the
neighbourhood of Cape Blanco, or nearly 250 miles south of Cape St.
Vincent, where he hoped to pass over on his way to Estremadura.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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