Fear Mrs. Hart, MacLaren Perished in Storm.
HORTA, Azores—A strong “northeaster”, bringing stormy weather and vicious winds, whipped over these islands today while an apparently hopeless watch was kept for a man and woman who had challenged the Atlantic on a flight of 2,000 miles from Bermuda to the Azores.
Anxiety that had mounted during the hours in which Mrs. Beryl Hart and Lieut. William S. MacLaren were not heard from in their white seaplane Tradewind turned to a faint hope that they might have missed their mark, a small group of islands in the ocean, and continued to the safety of the European coast. But no word of their progress reached Paris, their ultimate destination, and ships east of the Azores had not reported sighting their plane.
More Than Day Overdue.
The Tradewind left Hamilton, Bermuda, at 11:15 a. m. Saturday. The fliers were 24 hours overdue here at 7a. m. today. Unless they landed at sea and were picked up by a ship without wireless, it was feared that Mrs. Hart and her co-pilot and navigator might have be come victims of the storm that lashed the Azores and sent giant breakers crashing through Horta bay.
Weather conditions here were distinctly against the fliers from the moment word was received that they had started on their perilous journey. Ugly weather early Saturday developed into a dangerous storm with heavy seas. The outlook was no better Sunday and a real northeaster continued over the islands today.
Ships Have No Word.
Conditions were so bad that Lieut. MacLaren would have had difficulty in “spotting” the islands even if the Tradewind had carried the fliers this far. A dangerous landing would have been added to the fliers’ difficulties.
Flares were lighted during the day when visibility was poor. The local radio station kept in constant touch with ships along the Tradewind‘s route, but none of them sighted the seaplane.
The Milwaukee Leader, Milwaukee, WI, January 12, 1931