14
Sidney Cotton's plane crash
1920
Botwood Harbour
15
Fishing boats to the rescue
16
Sidney Cotton
1920
Botwood Harbour
17
Plane being towed to Antle's Wharf
18
Sydney Cotton's monoplane
1921
Botwood Airbase
19
Cotton's plane draws a crowd
20
Air Mail Delivery
1921
Fogo Island
21
Florence Newell (Humphries) with bag of mail just dropped from Cotton's plane over Seldom Come By, Fogo Island
22
Nathaniel Hart
11 August 2003
Botwood
23
Nathaniel Hart, Botwood resident, who designed skis for Cotton's plane to land on ice. Also flew with Cotton
24
Cotton's workers
1921
Botwood
25
Proud day for residents of Botwood
26
The company owned by Cotton encountered many setbacks due to poor winters and aircraft malfunctions. In 1923 the company was awarded a contract to survey the gold potential of the Labrador coast. This was not enough to keep the company financially sound and the last air mail flight was made from Botwood on May 16, 1923. Cotton remained at Botwood for less than three years. He liquidated the Aerial Survey Company when the government failed to give him the support he sought and his facilities fell into disuse. By August 1923 he was in New York with $25,000 cash and looking for a new challenge. "The Intrepid Birdman" died at England in Febuary of 1969 at the age of 75 (Morris, 1992).