But troubles were by no means at an end when Pickles switched off and waited for help. Propelled by a strong north-easterly wind, the machine drifted southward from a point north-east of the St. Nicholas Lightship, past the harbour entrance, down to Gorleston Bay, where, after being taken in tow by a rowing-boat, the machine was beached. An examination of the machine as it lay on the shore at Gorleston showed that, in spite of the buffeting it had received, very little damage had occurred. The elevator and one of the floats were damaged. As Mr. F. Sigrist, the works manager of the Sopwith Aviation Company, said at the time, the incessant bump of the water, which was on that morning about as soft as concrete, was sufficient completely to break up a good many machines.
After breakfast Mr. Sopwith, Mr. Sigrist, Mr. Pickles, and Lieutenant Gregory held a conference, principally to decide whether or not the machine should be sent back to Southampton by air. After much discussion, which resulted in such a division of opinion that the toss of a coin was resorted to as the deciding factor, the machine was dismantled and sent back to Cowes by rail to be ready for a second attempt. The railway companies were very obliging in providing facilities for rapidly transporting the machine in time for it to be re-erected and to make a fresh start to accomplish the whole circuit before the close of the competition. One cannot help expressing sympathy for Mr. Pickles in being robbed by a heavy sea of his eleventh hour opportunity of participating in the flight.
In the meantime, Messrs. Short Brothers and Frank McClean, with the assistance of Mr. Fred May, of the Green Engine Company, got their machine into serviceable trim, and hoped to fly to Southampton on the following Thursday evening, to be in readiness to make a start on the Friday, but owing to radiator troubles they were forced eventually to abandon the contest.
CHAPTER VI
SECOND ATTEMPT TO FLY ROUND BRITAIN
Harry Recovers—And Takes Charge Again—An Early Start—Almost Unseen by the Starter—Thick Fog—Behind Time at Ramsgate—An Explosion—A Favourable Breeze—But Bumpy Air off Cromer—Scarborough—A Forced Landing—Five Hundred Miles in a Day—Resting at Beadnell Overnight—The Second Day—A Spiral Glide at Aberdeen—A Terrible Journey to Oban—The Third Day—A Water-Logged Float—Another Forced Landing—Ireland—“A Piece of Ghastly Bad Luck”—Kauper Goes to Hospital.