New York, Mar. 8
Captain J. C. Townley and the Chief Engineer, Mr. William Suteliff, of the Queen Elizabeth today described the crossing of the British luxury liner across the Atlantic.
Captain Townley explained to the press that the vessel was dispatched from England upon the request of her underwriters. The crossing was accomplished at an average speed of 24.7 knots and took five days and nine hours. The ship followed a zig-zag course throughout the journey, covering 3,127 mil The crew consisted of 378 men, including technicians who trade the trip to study the operation of the engines and the anti-mine apparatus.
Captain Townley revealed that the electric cables along the hull of the Queen Elizabeth protected the ship against mines, this being the invention of a Swedish scientist named Degauss, "Frankly speaking, the crossing was a trial cruise for the Queen Elizabeth," he added. "The vessel had never sailed before. We assembled the crew on the deck and weighed anchor under secret instructions. We did not know what these instructions were until 50 miles out at sea. "We didn't see any submarines, warships, or vessel of any description."
The Chief Engineer declared that the engines worked perfectly throughout the crossing—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.