THE TRAGEDY OF THE "A 8"

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1745, 16 August 1905, Page 7

THE TRAGEDY OF THE "A 8"

(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, June 23. The inquest on the bodies of the victims of the mysterious and fatal plunge of the submarine “A 8” has produced some blood-chilling reading. What really happened after the little craft plunged suddenly to the bottom will never be known, but such expert evidence on “what might have been" as was given at the inquest renders , it tolerably certain that the fifteen victims did not meet a comparatively swift and easy death by drowning. Captain Bacon’s evidence, indeed, sugguests that for nearly a hundred minutes after -the boat had disappeared life was left in the hapless men entombed in the steel walls of the craft. But, mercifully, they would be unconscious for the greater part o-f that time owing to the chlorine gas given off from the electric batteries on board soon after they were flooded. Probably they were all rendered absolutely unconscious within twenty minutes of the “A 8” disappearing below the surface, and, indeed, the examination of the vessel showed that so little had been done by the crew to attempt to save themselves that it is almost certain-that a much less space of time expired before- merciful oblivion overtook them. Even so the horrors of their last- few minutes of life wiii not bear thinking upon. The cause of the catastrophe must ever remain a matter of conjecture, Ibut from the technical evidenoe it would appear that a rivet in the forward petrol tank had worked out, thus admitting water at the rate of about a ton .n ten minutes and gradually pull, ing the “A 8” down by the nose, (reducing her proper buoyancy, and rendering her unamenable to her helm. The conning tower hatch which was open when she disappeared was found closed when the “A 8” was docked, but ■whether by human agency or as a resujju of the water rushing in from all si . i.ic vessel’s speed reduced from the ten knots she was making at the time of the plunge cannot be decided. The expert evidence, however, suggests that before the closing of the hatch the “A 8” had taken in some 30 tons of sea water. Apparently but for the generation of chlorine .gas the crew might possibly have got rid of this water and have saved tnemselves. But everything m connection with the disaster is more or less vague conjecture save the fact that fifteen gallant British tars have perished miserably, the victims in peace time of an engine of war.