Episode Transcript
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Greetings This is a reading of the book The Airship Golden Hind
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Some of the language in this book has not aged well and is indeed no longer politicly correct Take caution when listening to this visual audio-book
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The Airship Golden Hind By
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Percy F Westerman
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CHAPTER 22 THE. END OF Z64
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'By Jove
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Kenyon, what’s that over on our starboard bow ' exclaimed Bramsdean
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Kenneth raised his binoculars and focussed them on a dark object in the direction indicated
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'That,' he replied after a brief survey, 'is a Zepp
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There’s not much mistake about that She is also in difficulties apparently, since Zepps don’t generally assume an angle of forty-five degrees
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It is also reasonable to assume that it is Z64, since we know that von Sinzig was keeping a course slightly divergent to ours The southerly wind has evidently driven her northward
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' Fosterdyke was asleep in his cabin, but upon hearing the news he hurried to the navigation-room
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'Are we Pharisees or Good Samaritans, sir
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' enquired Kenyon 'Do we pass by on the other side, or do we stop to render assistance
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' 'It strikes me that something more than assistance is required,' replied the baronet
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'Obviously our friend von Sinzig is out of the running His airship is down and out
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If there are any of the crew on board, we’ll be just in time to prevent them losing the number of their mess '
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Z64 was in a very bad way The after part of the envelope was half submerged
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The rearmost gondola was entirely so The foremost car was rising and falling owing to the slight buoyancy of the for’ard ballonets
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At one moment it was thirty or forty feet above the water, at another it was smacking the surface and sending the spray far and wide
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'Keep to windward,' ordered Fosterdyke
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'There are men still on board,' replied Peter 'A dozen more or less are hanging on to the catwalk
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' 'It’ll be rather a proposition to get them off,' said the baronet
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'We haven’t a boat neither apparently have they, and I don’t like the idea of running alongside a half-submerged gas-bag
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With this heavy swell there’s no knowing what might happen '
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'We might run out a hawser and take her in tow,' suggested Kenyon 'I mean, tow her until we get the crew off by means of an endless line
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' 'Might do,' half agreed Fosterdyke
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'It would be decidedly awkward if our head fell away and we drifted in broadside on to the wreckage We’ll try it
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Tell Jackson to get a hawser ready, and see there is a slip fitted in case we have to cast off in a hurry '
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Already several of the ballonets that at first sight seemed beyond repair had been patched up, while the fortunate discovery of two flasks of compressed brodium gave the 'Golden Hind' considerable buoyancy, so that she was no longer dependent upon the lift of her six planes Yet the prospect of having to take on board the weighty Hun crew would seriously threaten the buoyancy of the airship
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'Luckily we are within sight of our goal,' said Fosterdyke
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'We can sacrifice a quantity of our stores The reserve fresh water tank can be started, too
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Two hundred and fifty gallons less of water ought to make a considerable difference '
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Leading Hand Jackson, with the help of four or five of the crew, soon made the necessary preparations By this time the 'Golden Hind' had approached to within a hundred yards of the disabled Zeppelin, the crew of which, half in doubt as to what was going to happen, were signalling and shouting frantically for help
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'Rescuing the crew of the _Hilda P
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Murchison_ was child’s play to this,' commented Kenyon 'Goodness only knows how we are going to establish communication
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Her blessed envelope is in the way '
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Thrice the 'Golden Hind' sailed over her crippled rival The trailing hawser glided over the rounded surface of the gasbag, but none of the men made any attempt to leave the gondolas and secure the rope
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It afterwards transpired that the aluminium envelope was sagging and whipping to such an extent that the vertical shaft through it by which access could be made to the upper surface of the gas-bag was impracticable Anyone attempting to ascend by that way would almost certainly be crushed to death
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'Can’t the lubbers see the hawser
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' asked Fosterdyke, impatiently 'Or have they all got the wind up so frightfully that they can’t lift a hand to help themselves
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Get in that hawser, Jackson We’ll try approaching to leeward this time and see if they’ve got the sense to veer a rope
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' The manoeuvre required very careful execution
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The 'Golden Hind,' descending until her fuselage was but a few feet above the sea, approached carefully She had to be kept under control up to a certain point, when way had to be taken off her
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If she stopped too soon, she would drift away before communication could be established if she carried on even a few yards too much, there was a danger of her overlapping envelope colliding nose on with the wrecked Zeppelin
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This time the Huns showed decided activity
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They bent a line to an inflated indiarubber lifebelt and threw the latter into the sea Unfortunately, they did not take into account the fact that the Zeppelin was drifting to leeward as fast as the lifebelt
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When they realised what was happening one of the crew jumped overboard and towed the line a hundred yards or so away
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'Now there’s a chance of doing something,' commented Fosterdyke, telegraphing for a touch ahead with Nos 1 and 2 motors
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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
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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
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This gave sufficient tension to the hawser, which was now inclined at an angle of about thirty degrees
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A 'snatch-block' with an endless line was then allowed to run down to the hawser
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'Now the rest is easy,' declared Fosterdyke, but for once at least he was greatly mistaken
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The first of the Huns arrived in a bowline on board the 'Golden Hind '
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'How many are there ' asked Fosterdyke
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'Ve vos dwanty,' replied the German, holding up the fingers of both hands twice in order to make his meaning clearer
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More Huns emerging from the for’ard gondola of Z64 confirmed the man’s statement
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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
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Seventeen Huns were transhipped in about as many minutes The eighteenth was half-way along the tautened hawser when Fosterdyke shouted, 'Let go
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' Leading-Hand Jackson obeyed the order instantly
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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
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She was only just in time
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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
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Possibly the wiring of the electric stove had short-circuited when in contact with the salt water
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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
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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
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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
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Before the evil-smelling vapour had dispersed the 'Golden Hind,' turning head to wind, was over the spot searching for possible survivors
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For half an hour she cruised round, but her efforts to rescue the three Huns were unavailing The men had either been stunned by the explosion or had been hit by falling wreckage
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Amongst them was Unter-Leutnant Hans Leutter, who, by resolutely refusing to leave his command until the rest of the crew were safe, had proved that all Hun officers were not of the von Sinzig type
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Several of the rescued Germans could speak English--but they were decidedly reticent In the back of their minds they rather feared that they were in for a bad time
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They knew that their late kapitan had been practically outlawed and that he was 'wanted' by the authorities for having, amongst other misdemeanours, destroyed the Fremantle aerodrome by means of an incendiary bomb They rather expected that they would be blamed for the acts of their fugitive superior
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On the other hand, they were grateful to their rescuers for having saved their lives, and with typical Teutonic reasoning they eventually decided that one way to repay the kindness and to ingratiate themselves in the eyes of the Englishman would be to give away their former officers
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The spokesman led off by informing Sir. Reginald Fosterdyke that Unter-Leutnant Hans Leutter was the person who dropped the incendiary bomb from the observation basket in the hope that it would destroy the 'Golden Hind
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' 'He was, of course, acting under Count von Sinzig’s orders,' remarked Fosterdyke, drily
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'Where is Herr Leutter '
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'Dead,' was the reply 'He was one of the three left on Z64
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' 'And Count von Sinzig was one of the other two
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' The German airman shrugged his shoulders and made a gesture of disgust
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He still rankled over his kapitan’s cowardly desertion It was long obvious to all the survivors of Z64 that von Sinzig had no intention of summoning aid
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Eight hours had elapsed since he began his flight in the Albatross In that time he must have sighted several vessels, since the scene of the disaster was not many miles from one of the great Atlantic trade routes
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'Kapitan Count von Sinzig left Z64 soon after daybreak this morning, mein Herr,' replied the German
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'At seven o’clock, to be exact '
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'Left--how ' demanded Fosterdyke, sharply
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'In an Albatross monoplane
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He was last seen going east-north-east '
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Fosterdyke dismissed his informant and turned to Kenyon and Bramsdean
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'The cunning old rascal ' he exclaimed
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'I see his little game now He’s completing the final stage by aeroplane
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I suppose by this time he’s won the Chauvasse Prize but I don’t envy him
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' 'Will you enter a protest, sir
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' asked Peter
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'Protest Not much,' replied the baronet, emphatically
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'These seventeen Huns can do the protesting if they want to, and I rather fancy they will '
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'There’s many a slip,' quoted Kenyon 'He may not complete the course after all
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'
