IN A SUBMARINE COLLISION.

Colonist, Volume L, Issue 12218, 15 April 1908, Page 4

IN A SUBMARINE COLLISION.

MINUTES OF TERROR FOR THE GREW. A member of the crew of the Souffi;mr. tue French submarine which was damaged in a collision under water with her sister craft, the Bonite, a few week ago, gives a thrilling description oi the situation durmg the minutes when every man thought death was inevitable. The submarines bad been manoeuvring outside Toulon Harbor when tbe accident happened. , The Souffleur was at a depth of 25 feet, and waa preparing tn Gre a blank torpedo at She hull of the battleship Jaurequi berry, when suddenly a black shadow loomed up through tho green water. "It came upon us with a rush," says the . narrator. "Lieutenant Kobillot realised the danger on the instant and shouted the order ta sink. The hope was that the other boat would pas 3 over us ; but it was too late. The Bonite struck us with full force. •It smashed the diving helm, so that it was impossible to check the downward movement. It rasped across the upper plate 3of bur vessel, smashing the periscope and conning tower. By good luck the watertight doors were closed, or we would have gone down like ii sfcon6 in fifty fathoms of water. "All the men were flung around, and several were seriously injured. But the greatest disaster was the capsizing of the wet batteries of our t electric accumulator?. The sulphuric acid was spille<i, and as it attacked the metal plates tne air became tilled | with stifliog vapor. "Some of the men fell suffocated, all of us were coughing and choking so that efforts to save the boat were almost impossible, and yet that new danger was now threatening us. It was only a question of time when the acid would eat its way through the plates and let in the sea. "When we got some of the apparatus to work and attempted to rise we

w«re again in peril of collision. The iionite lay directly abovo us. Minutes passed without a word, tha men clinching their hands till the nails dug into the palms to control their emotions. '• "At last Robillot gave the order. 'Let go the weights.' The vessel began rising, slowly at first, and then faster. Men looked at the pool of acid and felt as if the motion upward were a raoe with its action, a lace with life as the prize. "Then came the silght shock like that of striking a cushion, which showed tbat the boat had reached tho surface. A rush for the hatch followed, and the next moment the men wero tumbling ouc iiito the light aiUi air tunt they had never expected to see again." Every man of the crew, it may be added,, volunteered to go down again with the Souffleur .when she is repaired,