Were Thetis Men Too III to Escape?

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 171, 22 July 1939, Page 5

Were Thetis Men Too 111 to Escape?

Scientist’s Remarkable Experiment DAVIS APPARATUS United Press Association.—Bv Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. LONDON, July 20. At the inquiry into the sinking of the submarine Thetis, Professor J. B. S. Haldane described a remarkable experiment in which he was locked in an airtight steel chamber for 14$ hours on July 13 in order to reproduce the conditions existing in the Thetis and to determine whether those entrapped were capable of using the Davis escape apparatus.

The chamber's diameter and height were both 78 inches.

When Professor Haldane entered at 10 p.m., the air in the chamber contained 23 per cent, of carbon dioxide, roughly corresponding with the air the Thetis men were breathing at 10 o'clock on the evening after the dive. He slept intermittently, with Captain Oram periodically observing his condition from the outside.

The percentage of carbon dioxide at 8.30 a.m. was 4.7, and rose to 5.35 at 11.15 a.m., when Professor Haldane was panting heavily and suffering from headache. The symptoms became worse rapidly from then on. Captain Oram spoke to him by telephone at noon, telling Professor Haldane that he was then in a worse condition than the Thetis men when he (Captain Oram) escaped from the submarine 17 hours after ita dive.

Professor Haldane left the chamber at 12.40 p.m. with a violent headache and put on the Davis breathing apparatus. An assistant had to turn on the oxygen tap because Professor Haldane was too weak. He breathed for a short time and then vomited violently and was repeatedly forced to remove the apparatus. The wearer ordinarily controlled the oxygen. His condition corresponded with that of the Thetis men who might have tried to escape after Captain Oram got to the surface.

Professor Haldane added that, accompanied by four assistants, he later entered a chamber in which the proportion of carbon dioxide was 5.55 per cent., representing the conditions existing on the Thetis at 10 a.m. One felt very bad -when the carbon dioxide reached 6 per cent. All experienced a marked dulling of their mental faculties.

When they left the chamber and breathed by means of the Davis apparatus, three showed acute distress and would have been Incapable of doing much. The fourth victim vomited violently. If calm, they might have escaped by means of the Davis apparatus from a submarine, but there was a danger of panic with such mental and physical distress.

If the men on the Thetis vomited in the flooded escape chamber, Professor Haldane added, they would have been drowned.

“It might be of some comfort,” he went on, “if I say that I believe the Thetis victims did not suffer severe pain. They might have suffered headaches. Although the panting sensation is most unpleasant, it is not the intolerable feeling of bursting lungs one might get if buried alive, and could not in any degree be called torture. You gradually get less sensible.” The Judge paid a tribute to Professor Haldane's fortitude. The inquiry was adjourned pending '■•c salvage of the Thetis. EFFORT TO LIFT THETIS TO BE MADE TO-NIGHT (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, July 20. After Professor Haldane’s evidence, the Thetis inquiry adjourned for one week. If the weather is favourable, it is hoped to-night to lift the Thetis at to morrow night's low tide.