More Tragic Details Disclosed at Inquiry Into Thetis Disaster

Northern Advocate, 15 July 1939, Page 7

More Tragic Details Disclosed at Inquiry Into Thetis Disaster

(Received 11.0 a.m.) LONDON, July 14. At the adjourned hearing of the inquiry INTO THE THETIS DISASTER, IT WAS INTIMATED THAT CAPTAIN H. B. ORAM, ONE OF THE SURVIVORS, WOULD BE RECALLED TO GIVE EVIDENCE ON THE SUGGESTION THAT THE SUBMARINE’S UNDERWATER SIGNALLING WAS OUT OF ORDER, THEREBY PREVENTING HER CALLING TO NEIGHBOURING VESSELS.

An Independent Cable Service message states that Captain Nicholson, commanding the Sixth Destroyer Flotilla, said that when he arrived at the Thetis’s position, the submarine’s stern was sticking eight or ten feet out of the water. He passed a line round the stern in an endeavour to lift it.

“We decided at all costs to try to

enter the submarine, in order to save life. At the back of our minds was the idea of drilling a hole somehow or other. “We managed to lift the stern clear of the water, but the submarine canted and slithered round and assumed another position.” Wire Breaks Under Strain. Captain Nicholson said it was then decided to try to pass a wire around the stern of the submarine, in the hope of forming a cradle, with a view to lifting the stern further out of the

water, but the wire parted, and the stern of the submarine passed under the water. Evidence was heard as to the action taken by responsible officers and the trans mission of a message between them in the hours immediately following the failure of the submarine to rise to the surface. According to an Independent Cable Service message, the salvage company stated that the work on the Thetis was held up owing to strong winds, but all is clear and they are awaiting suitable weather.