Tests Show That No Gas Escaped

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32381, 21 August 1970, Page 11

Tests Show That No Gas Escaped

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) ABOARD U.S.S.

HARTLEY, Aug. 20.

Sample tests indicated yesterday that no gas escaped when an old United States Liberty ship crunched to the ocean floor after a deliberate scuttling.

The ship, the Le Baron Russell Briggs, was sunk yesterday to a depth of 16,000 feet in an Army munitions graveyard 283 miles east of Cape Kennedy, Florida. In its hold were 418 vaults of obsolete nerve gas which the Army said had to be dumped because of deterioration.

After flood valves were opened, the rusty old ship sank slowly for four hours until its stern went under. Then it went quickly to the bottom in eight minutes, striking the mud and siltfilled floor at 25 miles an hour.

Sonar tracking indicated a violent impact, with reverbrations lasting two minutes until the hulk settled. Two escort ships, the destroyer escort Hartley and the Coast Guard cutter Mendota, remained at the site until early today. The Mendota dropped water-sampling casks' to the area of the hulk. Examination of samples taken over several hours showed no presence of gas. Meanwhile from Moscow, N.Z.P.A.-Reuter reported that the official Soviet news agency, Tass, last night condemned the United States for dumping the lethal nerve gas in the Atlantic. In the first official comment on the controversy, Tass branded the United States action as a crime which flouted public opinion and the warnings of scientists on possible after-effects. American militarists were playing a dangerous game by sinking “concrete coffins” off

the Bahamas, the agency de dared.

It quoted scientists from many countries, including United States specialists as saying that such a reckless step could have “extremely dangerous consequences.” Scientists believed toxic agents might be carried by currents to the Indian and Pacific Oceans and to the shores of Antarctica, Tass said.

A leading Soviet scientist warned earlier that the nerve gas could affect man’s health and even his heredity.