136 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE VOL. '-' i 



been left for consumption during flight, yet it was thought best to Launch the 

 aerodrome, so al L2.37 p. hi. the car was released and the aerodrome launched. 

 The Launching apparatus worked perfectly; the aerodrome started off smoothly, 

 ami immediately after being released from the ear it dropped slightly and be- 

 wail In turn to the right. It had been impossible to move the house-boat out 

 iido the stream so as to point the launching apparatus directly into the wind, as 

 one end had settled slightly on the muddy beach in consequence id' the existing 

 low tide. For this reason it was necessary to launch the aerodrome due south, 

 while the wind, which was very light, was from the north-northeast, and, there- 

 fore, blowing on its port (punier. The effect of the aerodrome turning to the 

 righl immediately after being launched was that it caused the wind to strike it 

 to an increasing extent on the port side until, finally, it was going directly with 

 the wind. It did not, however, continue in this direction, but kept turning to 

 the right in a circle until it headed directly into the wind, which, now striking 

 the under instead of the upper surface of the wings, immediately caused the 

 aerodrome to rise. It continued circling, making three complete eireles of ap- 

 proximately 200 feet diameter, dropping slightly when moving with the wind, hut 

 rising when moving against it, until, at the completion of the third circle, it 

 had altered its path to such an extent that the left front wing touched a tree and 

 caused the front of the machine to dip a little. It, however, kept up its flight, 

 hut the contact with the tree had so lowered its bow, and apparently also caused 

 the wings to lie twisted to such an extent, that it seemed unable to rise again, 

 and after making another quarter circle it descended. Although the propellers 

 were still turning when it struck the water, they had very greatly decreased 

 their speed, making it apparent that the power had been very greatly reduced 

 through the exhaustion of the fuel and water supply. The aerodrome did not 

 sink, but slowly drifted with the current of the creek and was recovered in about 

 five minutes and brought to the house-boat, where the wings were dismounted 

 and dried, and the metal parts were carefully wiped off to prevent them from 

 rusting. The path of this High! is plotted on a portion of a coast-survey chart 

 and is shown in Plate ."».'!. 



This erratic circling at first seemed unaccountable, hut on closer examina- 

 tion, after the aerodrome laid been brought into the house-boat, it was found 

 that the pin which connects the synchronizing near to the port propeller shaft 

 had been sheared off. This had evidently happened while the aerodrome was 

 still on the Launching apparatus. The effect of this was to throw the total work 

 of the water-circulating pump on the starboard engine, thus giving the port en- 

 gine less work to do, and consequently making the port propeller run much 

 faster than the starboard one, and thereby causing the peculiar and erratic cir- 

 cling of the aerodrome. It is evident that the undulatory motion of the aero- 



