In 1910, he won the national race with his balloon America II alongside his aide and life-long friend Augustus Post.

[1] He was born on 29 July 1869 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to Peter William Radcliffe Hawley (1829–1884) and Isabella Meritt (1838–1904).

He attended the Trinity School in New York City before becoming a stockbroker with his brother, William Hawley, until he retired in 1912.

46 hours later, at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, 19 October they landed in the middle of the wilderness in Quebec, Canada, about 58 miles (93 km) north of Chicoutimi.

The message Hawley sent to his brother read: "Landed in wilderness week ago, fifty miles north of Chicoutimi.

Clifford B. Harman, a wealthy amateur aeronaut and aviator, had offered $1,000 to anyone who found Hawley and Post, dead or alive.