LOST SUBMARINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 190, 13 August 1928, Page 7

LOST SUBMARINE.

UNDERWORLD DRAMA. Pathetic Messages From Doomed Italians. FORTITUDE OF CREW. (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) ROME, August 12. The victims of the disaster to the Italian coastal submarine Fl4 on August 7 were yesterday interred, in the presence of the whole of the country's armed forces at Pola. The first complete account of the dramatic messages which passed between the rescuers and the imprisoned crew prior to the salvage of the craft has now been published. A sister ship, the Fl3, which was searching for the position of the sunken vessel, sent out repeated messages. To these came a feeble reply from the radio telephone: "We hear you. Come nearer.'' Ten minutes afterwards the followiug words were heard: "Come nearer. You are too far to the left. Turn more to the right." Then later: "We are at an angle of 70 degrees. Move forward slowly." An hour later this message was heard: "We have dropped all our ballast. Tell us if salvage is proceeding." The Fls answered: "Yes. Big pontoons and cranes are coming from Pola." Later in the afternoon the following was heard: "Twenty-four of us are safe forward. Three have perished. Hurry. The gas is coming." This was followed a few minutes later by the message: "We are breathing gas and suffocating. Hurry." Finally were heard the following last feeble words: "We feel it is all over. Viva It. . . ." The last word was obviously Italia, but it was not completed.