FIGHT FOR LIFE IN A SUBMARINE.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1904, Page 13

FIGHT FOR LIFE IN A SUBMARINE.

One of the most thrilling episode in submarine navigation took place off No*vport lately, -when the Porpoise, which had dived to make a mock attack upon the. cruiser Peoria and the torpedo boat Stiletto, suddenly lunged to the bottom, a distance of 20ft, and remained there a considerable length of time, de3pi»e the desperate efforts of her imprisoned crew to bring her to the surface. There is some doubt (says the New York Herald) as to what caused the unexpected settling of the Holland b6at, but no uncertainty of the serioushesa of the peril which confronted her eJvw. All the usual resources for regaining buoyancy were of no avail, a leak in the valves preventing the tanks from being blown out. .The hand pumps were tried, but owing to the great depth to which the boat had settled the men who toiled at them had little hope that they could be made to work under the great pressure of 20ft of water. There were eight men in the crew, and for twenty minutes they toiled at the pumps working in relays, and working as men do who are in desperate peril. But despite their efforts the boat sufienly kept to the bottom, and Wheh Water began to pour in from the torpedo tube, the great pressure proving too much for the valve, it looked as though the boat was to prove a living tomb for the imprisoned crew. Seeing this, another relay went to the pumps, and then, as suddenly as she had plunged to the bottom, the boat began to rise, and so swiftly that within fifteen seconds she had bobbed upward to the surface. Captain Frank F. Fletcher, commandant of the torpedo station, stated that the accident waß due to the fact that tho tubes of the Porpoise leaked. She had not been docked for some time, hd said, and needed overhauling. Moreover, she reached a depth where hand pumps are not supposed to be of use. He did not think the incident was as sensational as had been reported, as the men never lost control of the boat, and were down but twenty minutes. He said he very much regretted that the report had got out.