SALVAGE OF THETIS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 161, 9 June 1939, Page 7

SALVAGE OF THETIS

NOT BEING ABANDONED. WIRE HAWSERS SNAP. TEMPORARY CESSATION. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) Received June 9, 9.45 a.m. LONDON, June S. The Controller of the Navy is ”'oing' to Birkenhead to confer with experts regarding 1 the next step in salvaging the Thetis. The Press Association states that the advisability of leaving the Thetis on the seabed was tinder consideration, but Lord Stanhope, in the House of Lords, said there was no authority for the suggestion tliat the Thetis may be abandoned. Mr Chamberlain, in Ihe House of Commons, announced that Mr Justice Bucknill will preside int flic Thetis inquiry. The flooding of the submarine is thought to bo more extensive than was expected, the consequent loss of buoyancy necessitating more poweriul liiLing gear. An earlier message staled tliat the salvage operations on the submarine Thetis were suspended alter the snapping of the wire hawser in a heavy swell. Heavier wires are being obtained. One of the survivors, Leading-Stoker Arnold, has volunteered to be the first to enter the Thetis alter its salvage. All the plant has been temporarily withdrawn from the scene of the wreck because of the necessity for the manufacture of heavier salvage cables, which probably means weeks of delay.