CHAMBER FILLED WITH WATER

Southland Times, Issue 23828, 27 May 1939, Page 7

CHAMBER FILLED WITH WATER

Escape Hatch Opened By Rescuers

TASK OF SALVAGE TO BEGIN IMMEDIATELY

HINTS OF SABOTAGE IN TABLOID PRESS

(United Press Assn. —Telegraph Copyright) (Received May 26, 10.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, May 25.

Thirty-three men have been saved from the United States submarine Squalus. Twenty-six are dead out of the vessel’s total complement of 59.

It was a bitter act in the tragic sea drama when the rescue chamber was lowered for the last time to the sunken submarine. The rescuers, after the chamber had been firmly sealed to the Squalus and the air pressure built up, pried at the escape hatch. In every mind was the question: “Will we find water or air? The hatch was raised an inch and then flung wide. Below was only water sloshing over the coaming. The Falcon’s officers heard the news over the telephone and turned silently and grimly away. ' There only remains the task of salvage, which will begin immediately in an effort to determine the cause of disaster. There are hints of sabotage, which the tabloid newspapers have treated in a sensational manner, but there are no facts to back up such theories. The Navy Department announced that the investigation would begin when the submarine was raised. , TORPEDO ROOM FLOODED A message from Portsmouth stated that a Navy diver succeeded/in looking into the Squalus’s hulk. He reported that the aft torpedo room was flooded, ending hope that any would be left alive. It was this room which in the experts’ opinion was most likely to remain dry, as it was farthest from the valve through which the water enters. The commander of the navy yard sent 26 coffins to the scene after the discovery. The Navy Department had announced that it was convinced that “there is nobody alive on the Squalus” and ordered the rescue efforts to be abandoned. Details of what happened when the Squalus sank are now becoming available. The electrician’s mate, Mr Mannes, aged 26 years, who closed the bulkhead door, saving the lives of 33 of his shipmates, but sealing the doom of 26 others, said that when he partially closed the door the cries of five shipmates induced him to hold it open momentarily while they joined those destined to live. “I realize that there must have been men trapped in the after compartments, but at such times as this there is no time for sentiment,” said Mr Mannes. “We are trained rigidly to act, so I gave no consideration to the fate of my shipmates any more than I would have expected similar consideration had I been in their place.”