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 arial navigation. This I continued after returning
to London, where, at the Ministry of Munitions, I was employed in the production of
the larger aro-engines.
When, soon after the armistice, the ban on attempts to fly the Atlantic was lifted, I
hoped that my studies of arial 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 [Pg 11]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
arial 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 aro-engines.
Alcock and I sailed from Southampton on the [Pg 12]Mauretania, on board of which
its commanderCaptain Rostronmade 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.
That four of them did not forestall us was due in part to very bad luck, and in part to
their whole-hearted patriotism. They wanted for their country the honor of the first
transatlantic flight, whether non-stop or otherwise; and, being unable to continue the
wearisome wait for good weather in face of the news that the American flying boat N.
C. 4 had reached the Azores, they made their attempt under conditions that were
definitely unfavorable. Fate tripped up Raynham and Morgan at the start, when they
tried to take their heavily-laden machine into the air while running over a too short
space of uneven ground, with the wind crossways to it. [Pg 13]Fate allowed Hawker
and Grieve a rather longer run, but brought about their fall when they were half-way
to success, owing to a mishap which, though trifling, had the same effect as a vital
breakage.
It is superfluous, at this time of day, to offer public sympathy to such gallant
competitors; but I seize the opportunity of expressing admiration for their splendid
effort, and for the spirit that prompted it. To Hawker and Grieve we owed particular
thanks in that we profited to a certain extent by what we learned from the cabled
reports of their experiences. For Grieve, as an expert on arial navigation, I have the
deepest respect, and I am in full accord with his views and theories on this, my own
subject.
The same sort of odds against accident that sent them into the sea might well have
befallen Alcock and me. But it did not; and our freedom from it was an important
factor in our good fortune. Others were the excellence of the Vickers-Vimy machine
and the Rolls-Royce engine. Whatever credit is ours should be shared with them, and
with Mr. R. E. Pierson, E.Sc., M.I.C.E., the designer of the Vickers-Vimy.