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 25 FIRE
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Sir. Reginald Fosterdyke laid down his pencil and uttered an exclamation of intense satisfaction He had just 'shot the sun' and had finished working out his position
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'Another hour will see us at Gib
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, lads,' he announced joyously 'Then there’ll be some mafficking
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What’s your programme Going to pack your suit cases and back by the Madrid-Paris express
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' 'You are not leaving the ’Golden Hind’ at Gibraltar
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' asked Kenneth
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'No,' replied the baronet 'But I must certainly get some repairs executed before I resume my flight to England
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I thought, perhaps, you were in a hurry to get home '
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'There’s no immediate hurry, sir,' declared the chums, simultaneously
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'A few more days won’t matter,' began Kenyon but before he could proceed with his explanation the alarm bell rang violently and continuously
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'What’s wrong now
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' exclaimed Fosterdyke, snatching up the voice tube
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Peter, glancing aft through the window of the navigation-room, which being raised gave a clear view over the roof of the rest of the nacelle, saw at once what was amiss
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Dense volumes of smoke, tinged with dull red flames, were pouring from the after-end of the fuselage Fanned by the rush of the airship, the black vapour was streaming in its wake like a fox’s tail
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Leaving Kenyon to take charge of the navigation-room, and cautioning him to keep the 'Golden Hind' dead in the eye of the wind, and as fast as she could possibly go, Fosterdyke and Peter hastened aft
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They found the alley-way thick with smoke, for on the well-known principle that 'the wind follows the ship' the draught was carrying the fumes within the nacelle in a forward direction
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A man wearing a smoke helmet brushed past them
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It was Hayward going to find some fire-extinguishers Others of the crew, who had hastily donned masks to protect themselves from the choking vapour, were busily engaged in hurling pyrene into the seat of the conflagration
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Although the speed of the 'Golden Hind' through the air fanned the flames, Fosterdyke had done well to order speed to be maintained
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The velocity had the effect of compelling the fire to trail astern instead of spreading upwards and thus destroying the envelope Even as it was the heat had caused the non-inflammable brodium to expand, giving the envelope a tendency to trim down by the head
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'Petrol tank to No
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5 motor, sir,' reported a grimy and perspiring mechanic, who through sheer exhaustion and being partly gassed by the noxious fumes had to withdraw from the fray 'Went up all of a sudden, like
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Never saw such a flare up in all my life, sir but we’re getting it under
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' It was indeed a stiff fight
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In a few seconds the area of the fire had attained such large dimensions that it was impossible to reach the actual source The fire-fighters had first to subdue the fringe of the conflagration, and by the time they had done this several of them were _hors de combat_ by reason of the suffocating gases thrown off by the oxygen-exterminating pyrene
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Above the crackling of the flames came the sharp tang of the suspension wires holding the nacelle to the aluminium envelope as they parted under the terrific heat
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Not only were the crew faced with the danger of the fire getting the upper hand the while there was the chance of a portion of the fuselage becoming detached from the gas-bag, and the prospect of being hurled through space from a height of eight or nine thousand feet above the sea was one that might well in cold blood put fear into the heart of the bravest of the brave
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But in the heat of action the crew, knowing the danger, faced the risk manfully Working in relays, they plied the flames with the fire-extinguishing chemicals
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As fast as one man fell out, temporarily overcome by the fumes and the terrific heat, another took his place until the fire was overcome Even then the danger was not over
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There was still a possibility of the smouldering fuselage being fanned into a blaze Parts of the aluminium framework and panelling were warped and twisted into fantastic shapes
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Snake-like coils of wire indicated the fact that several of the highly important connections between the fuselage and the envelope had been burnt through Whether a sufficient number of tension wires remained to adequately support the afterpart of the nacelle remained a matter of doubt
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Unaccountably the petrol tank feeding No
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5 motor had taken fire The pipes and unions had been frequently examined and found to be in good order
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In fact, Hayward had personally inspected the fittings of that particular tank less than a quarter of an hour before the outbreak
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The damage was serious Both Nos
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5 and 6 motors were out of action, the former showing signs of crashing through the charred framework of the fuselage The flames had spread to Fosterdyke’s cabin, completely gutting it
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Only a few aluminium frames were left, and these, blackened and bent, trailed forlornly astern like a gaunt skeleton
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With the contraction of the brodium after the fire had been quelled the envelope, instead of tending to tilt aft, now showed a tendency to droop The heat had melted the solder of the union pipes through which the gas was passed either to or from the metal pressure flasks, and several thousand feet of brodium had escaped
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Dr. . iven only by four propellers, her preciously scanty supply of brodium sadly depleted, and with the controls of the two after planes damaged by the flames, the 'Golden Hind' was in a perilous state
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She was just able, and no more, to overcome the attraction of gravity How long she would be able to maintain herself in the air was a problem of supposition
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Had the 'Golden Hind' been supported by hydrogen gas nothing could have saved her
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The overcoming of the flames was a triumph for the fire-resisting properties of brodium The patent gas had been put to one of the severest tests--an actual fire in mid-air--and had emerged with flying colours
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From the time of the alarm being raised until the fire was subdued only half an hour had elapsed
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The smoke-grimed and fatigued crew were glad to rest, while Fosterdyke and Peter returned to the navigation-room, there to wash and replace their singed and reeking clothes with others from Kenyon’s and Bramsdean’s kit-bags The baronet had to borrow a suit
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The one he was wearing was in holes, while all his others on board were destroyed when his cabin was burnt out
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Fosterdyke was cheerful In fact he was jocular
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He realised that things might have been far worse he was glad to find that the 'Golden Hind' was still navigable and that none of his crew had sustained injury
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'This comes of boasting, Kenyon,' he remarked
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'I said we’d be in Gib in an hour
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We stood a chance of being in ’Kingdom Come ’ What’s she doing now
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' 'Not more than eighty, sir,' replied Kenneth, 'and we’ve a stiffish wind to contend with
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' 'Eighty, eh
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Not so dusty, considering we’re trailing the wreckage of my cabin astern, and there’s only four props to shove us along She’s dipping, though
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' 'She is, sir,' agreed Kenyon, gravely
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'I’ve trimmed the planes to their maximum That tends to shove her nose up, but if I didn’t she’d sit on her tail
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' 'We’ll finish at the tape like an aerial Cleopatra’s Needle,' declared Fosterdyke
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'Hello There’s Tangier
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That strip of blue you can just see beyond is the Straits of Gibraltar We’re a bit to the east’ard of our course
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' Another half an hour of strenuous battling against heavy odds brought the 'Golden Hind' immediately to the west of Ceuta
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Ahead could be discerned the famous rock, although viewed from an altitude and 'end on' its well-known appearance as a lion couchant was absent But the 'Golden Hind' had shot her bolt
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'We’re baulked at the tape,' declared Fosterdyke 'This head wind’s doing us
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Hard lines, but we must take things as we find them '
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Like von Sinzig he had been beaten by the head wind, but Fosterdyke, instead of raving and cursing like his German rival, accepted the situation philosophically It was hard lines, failing within sight of the goal
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but the baronet kept a stiff upper lip He had done everything humanly possible to achieve his aim
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He could do no more
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The 'Golden Hind,' inclined at an angle of sixty degrees, was dropping slowly but surely With her remaining motors running all out she was unable to overcome the pull of gravity
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Even as she dropped, her progress towards her goal was maintained at a rate of a bare five miles an hour above and against that of the wind
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Every man on board was holding on like grim death With the floor as steep as the roof of a house there was nothing to be done but hold on
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The ballonets were practically empty save the four or five for’ard ones The propellers were now virtually helices--whirling screws that strove valiantly but unavailingly to lift the huge bulk of the airship in an almost vertical direction
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Should the motors fail to function, then the 'Golden Hind' would drop like a stone As it was she was falling surely and slowly
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Already officers and men had donned their inflated indiarubber lifebelts
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There was not the slightest sign of panic The men, although keenly disappointed at failure within sight of success, were joking with each other
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'Stand by to jump, all hands,' shouted Fosterdyke
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'Keep clear of the raffle, and you’ll be as right as rain There are half a dozen vessels within a couple of miles of us
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' Some of the men slid along the sloping alley-way to the side doors
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Others tore away the large celluloid windows in the cabins and motor-rooms, so as to be able to jump clear directly the fuselage touched the water
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The two chums had drawn themselves through the windows of the navigation-room and were standing on the blunt bows and steadying themselves by the tension wires running from the normal top of the nacelle to the underside of the envelope
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With the four motors running to the last the 'Golden Hind' dropped into the sea Her projecting envelope was the first to come into contact with the water
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The ballonets, practically air-tight compartments, checked the downward movement, while the whole of the hitherto inclined bulk, pivoted as it were by the water-borne stern, dropped until it resumed its normal horizontal position
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Fosterdyke alone had remained in the navigation-room Directly he saw that the airship was resting temporarily on the surface and was beginning to gather way like a gigantic hydroplane he switched off the remaining motors
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'Every man for himself,' he shouted
