Port Washington – Hamilton – Southampton

On January 21, 1939 at 01:09 PM, Port Washington – Hamilton – Southampton experienced a crash involving Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat, operated by Imperial Airways, with the event recorded near Atlantic Ocean All World.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

13 people were known to be on board, 3 fatalities were recorded, 10 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 23.1%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 8, passenger fatalities: 2, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. The seaplane christened 'Cavalier' left Port Washington seaplane base in Long Island at 1038LT on a transatlantic flight to Southampton with an intermediate stop in Hamilton, Bermuda. Some two hours later, crew encountered poor weather conditions and decided to modify his route to avoid a cumulonimbus area. During this maneuver, the aircraft lost height and while cruising in poor weather with low temperature, the pilot decided to return to his initial route when both inner engines stopped while both outboard engine lost power. In such situation, the captain decide to make an emergency landing into the Atlantic Ocean, some 285 miles southeast of Port Washington. The radio operator was able to give his position and the aircraft sunk four minutes after landing. Crew: M. R. Alderson, pilot, Neil Richardson, copilot.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-ADUU, MSN S.812, year of manufacture 1936.