SIX MEN ALIVE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 20 December 1927, Page 5

SIX MEN ALIVE

IN SUNKEN SUBMARINE.

RESCUE WORK DELAYED. ROUGH WEATHER AND SEAS. in CABLE— PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYEIGHT. NEW YORK, Dec. 18. A message from Province town, Alassaehu setts, states tliat little hope is neJ.ci lor the rescue of the crew of the submarine S 4. Twelve divers are attempting to establish contact- and to attach. hawsers to the vessel- The sea continues rough and choppy and the temperature is at freezing point. Eifteen vessels and live areopianess are: at the- scene of the wreck. Coastguard officials said' that bubbles ol oil rose for two hours from the spot above the submarine. This is considered to lyj an ominous sign, indicating that a hole had been torn in the S 4. The submarine mothership, Bushnell, failed to ireadh the S 4 with an osei, .labor. The vessel is lying on a muddy, •spongy bottom. NEW YORK, Dec. 19. Captain Brume, commanding the group engaged in salvaging the 84, reported itq the Navy Department that signs of life were heard inside the vessel. He said tiiere were .responses to the diver tapping on the torpedo room. A hole eight feet wide was found on the starboard side of the battery room. The men are believed to be living, except those in the battery room, where they died in the crash. A tangle of "’ires prevent tapping at the control room and the other compartments. Communicating by means of code hammer tapping, a diver received a reply from the imprisoned crew saying that six men were alive within the torpedo, .room. The message added : "The gas is not bad, but the air is. Will you be long ?’ ’ There is no. evidence that anyone is .alive in other parts of the submarine. The navy tug luka, when dragging three, pontoons to the scene, lost one in the heavy running seas. The waves at the spot Where the-' disaster occurred are so high that rescue work is almost impossible though navy men are working frenetically in answer to the entombed men’s plea., “Plea.se hurry!’’