W&at H^ppeiied to Amelia?

The crew of the Itasca waited eagerly for a message from Amelia Earhart. At 2:45 A.M., they heard her voice. "Cloudy weather, cloudy," she said. Her voice could hardly be heard above the crackle of the radio, but the
crew was excited. Soon she should be

passing over the ship. She was trying to set a new flying record, and the crew on the Itasca was proud to help her do it.
It was July 2,
1937. Earhart was more than

Earhart. He had no success.

By 7:30 A.M., the crew was worried. Earhart was running late. At 7:42 A.M., she sent another message. "We must be on you but cannot see you. Gas is running low. Have been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." Bellarts tried frantically to reach

At 7:58 A.M., her voice came in again. "We are circling but cannot see the
and the crew feared the worst. At 8:44

halfway through "3

a flight around
the world. No one had ever made such a

island. Cannot hear you." She sounded tense now, almost scared,

different channels.
O Steck-Vaughn Company

trip. By July 1, she had completed 22,000 and south." miles. That left only 7,000 miles to go. Those were the last words anyone ever heard from Amelia Earhart. The most dangerous part of the trip remained. She would take off from New The United States Navy sent out a Guinea and fly 2,500 miles. She would huge search party for the missing plane. have to find and land on tiny Rowland The searchers found no sign of it. Island in the middle of miles and miles of Meanwhile, people everywhere were ocean. She would have no landmarks to asking the same question. What went follow. She had Fred Noonan, a wrong? navigator, with her; but even so, the The Navy said Earhart must have run journey would be dangerous. out of gas. Her plane crashed in the The Coast Guard ship Itasca was ocean. She and Noonan died at sea. anchored near Rowland Island. They Not everyone accepted this story. would give her directions by radio. Rumors began to spread. One rumor was After many hours, Earhart sent her that Earhart couldn't find Howland first message to the Itasca. Over the next Island, so she landed on one of the six hours, the crew received several Marshall Islands. She and Noonan messages from her. But she never talked became prisoners of the Japanese. long enough for radio operator Leo Another rumor was that Earhart had Bellarts to figure out where she was. not flown straight for Howland, but had Earhart kept switching her radio to been on a spy mission for the United

A.M., they heard, "We are on the line of position 157-337. We are running north

States. Earhart was trying to see if Japan

Stories of Mystery
Nonfiction 5, SV 6180-X