A TIMELY RESCUE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 169, 16 July 1908, Page 5

A TIMELY RESCUE.

ACCIDENT TO A SUBMARINE. CREW RENDERED UNCONSCIOUS. OVERPOWERED BT FUMES. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, July 15. Another submarine accident, fortunately unattended by loss of life, occurred during the naval manoeuvres. Seven submarines were proceeding from Portland to Dover, and when off Folkstone the parent ship, the second-class cruiser Aeolus, which was accompanying them, noticed that Submarine A 9 had fallen behind. Assistance was sent, and it was discovered that there had been a n escape of gasoline. Six of the crew were rescued in an unconscious state, while five others were i n a semi-conscious condition. j _ It was stated that Lieutenant Warren, in command, and Lieutenant Groves, second in command, were both in the cou-ning-tower, and, noticing fumes, signalled Ito those below. No answer was received, and the lieui tenants, upon descending, found the engines going at full speed. The fumes were overpowering, and the crew were lying about apparently lifeless. The lieutenants resolved to try to stop . the engines, but. several attempts made jto enter the hull failed, the fumes pouring up the hatchway in considerable volume. .-A petty officer summoned from the tower fell unconscious as he tried to reach the engines. Then Lieutenants Warren and Groves enveloped their faces with wet cloths and descended. Both were rendered unconscious, but Groves had reached the engines and turned off the supply of petrol, thus stopping the engines. 1 The rescuers found him stretched ; across the engines. One of the men is I still in a critical s'ute. The accident was due to a spring connected vita the valve failing to act. All the British submersibles are driven by petrol, and the danger of suffocation from its fumes is fully understood in the navy. It is the custom to carry white mice aboard, for the reason that they are peculiarly susceptible to the petrol vapour, and generally disclose even the smallest leak by squeaking. In 1904 submarine Al was run down by the Berwick Castle and sunk, with the loss of eleven lives. In the next year submarine A 8 sunk off Plymouth breakwater, fifteen being drowned, and last year an explosion on submarine C 8 killed an officer and injured several men.