Text: Anonymous, “Poe's Story Has Come True After Seventy-five Years,” The Sun (New York, NY), vol. LXXXVI, no. 310, July 7, 1919, p. 10, col. 1

[page 10, column 1, continued:]

Poe's Story Has Come True After Seventy-five Years.

“The Atlantic has been actually crossed in a balloon! And this too without difficulty-without any apparent danger — with thorough control of the machine — and in the inconceivably brief period of hours from shore to shore.”

This statement, which appeared in THE SUN of April 13, 1844, in the introduction of a delightful article written by EDGAR ALLAN POE for this newspaper a piece which was recognized immediately as an amiable hoax — now becomes a statement of almost exact tact, the only difference of importance being that while Poe's flying ship took a little more than three days for its voyage, the British dirigible R-84 used four and one half days. After seventy-five years science has caught up with the poet's imagination.

The adventure which was completed at Roosevelt- Field yesterday morning was even more thrilling than the tempest borne flight of Pox's little airship. Instead of having the winds to help it, as his gas bag had, the victorious dirigible had to contend with contrary gales and shortage of fuel. But ill luck has only added glory to the feat, just as contention against misfortune made more golden the performances of the Navy-Curtiss seaplanes and the biplane of ALCOCK and BROWN. The call for destroyers to come and stand by, the despairing decisions, happily withdrawn, to land at Cape Cod or Montauk Point, these show what a battle the dirigible had and how well its crew fought on. Once they had reached the Canadian coast their own personal safety was pretty well assured, but they struggled to save the ship itself, which could be safely moored only at a prepared place. This spirit, that of the seaman in its highest form, is what makes great air captains.

Another romantic chapter in the conquest of the air has been written. It is a useful one too, for the voyagers must of necessity have discovered not only what a dirigible can do well but what it has not been able to do well in its present form. With clouds, fogs, currents and storms, midocean air is treacherous and mysterious, and its perils cannot be overcome on shore with pencil and paper, but only at sea, through intimate conflict. Just as READ and ALCOCK have added to the sum of aviation knowledge, so will SCOTT present useful evidence.

This indeed has been a great year for air science. America was first to cross, the ocean, but since the exploit of Lieutenant-Commander READ the British have accomplished non-stop transatlantic voyages in both forms of flying. The first of these, and the one which appealed most to man's admiration for the daring, was the biplane's fight to Ireland. Perhaps the journey which ended yesterday tickles the Imagination still more, for the dirigible obviously is the kind of airship best suited for passenger traffic.