DEATH CAME QUICKLY TO SUBMARINE CREW

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2298, 17 November 1925, Page 7

DEATH CAME QUICKLY TO SUBMARINE CREW

Every Effort Made to Salvage 11 OPERATIONS WITH DIVING APPARATUS [By Electric Cable —Copyright.] [Aust. and N.Z. Cable (Received Monday '.115 p.m.) LONDON, November 15. A naval official, on being Interviewed by the “Daily Express” declared: “We know more or less what happened to the .lost submarine and are. making every effort at salvage, in order to make sure and to obtain important data for future construction. Every submarine has a limit depth. If it goes below it the crew Is powerless to' bring her up and she crashes like an aeroplane. “The MI probibly took an acute dive and stood on her head on the ocean floor. Everything would be carried away in the hull; acid would spill from the batteries and sea water would flow in, meaning sudden death for the whole crew from fumes. The crash would be a matter of seconds, like an aeroplane. The crew would be called in a couple of minutes There would be no prolonged waiting for death, as the public seems to imagine. The “Daily News’ 1 states that Herr Cutmache, the inventor, and eight experts will conduct operations with the German diving apparatus. It consists of a non-collapsible steel diving suit weighing half a ton, every limb being equipped with ball-bearing joints and mechanical hands to operate pincers, pliers, cutters and files. A cable attached to the helmet proviees electric light and air is manufactured within the suit. The wearer is lowered and raised by cranes, assisted by the flooding or emptying of water tanks attached to the suit, which is so buoyant that walking and other movements are very easy. The apparatus has already been satisfactorily tested at a depth of 480 feet.

RISKING BRAVE ATEN’S LIVES, BRITAIN DOES NOT WANT SUBMARINES. LONDON, November 18. Mr F. D. Macklnnon, Chairman of Lloyds, in commenting on the loss of the submarine M I in a letter to “The Times,” declares that those deadly machines, which are destroying those In charge of them, ought to be scrapped, since all the great maritime nations have suffered heart-breaking losses thereby. The newspapers support Mr Mac. kinnon . "The Star” expresses the opinion that, even if the nations are willing to risk brave men’s fives in peace time, submarines ought to be warn, ed. off in wartime, as they are pirates preying on merchantmen. “The Evening News” declares that the Navy wduld be delighted to see the submarine abolished. Britain does not want them, but the smaller naval Powers consider them a cheap, but powerful, weapon and the chief means of attack. Lady Astor says that women all over the world should unite in demanding the elimination of the submarine and poison gas. She is wining to tour the world to rouse public opinion. Mr Mackinnon, in an Interview, said that Lloyd’s committee would support an appeal which is to be sent to the Premier, Mr Stanley Baldwin.