THETIS TRAGEDY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 July 1939, Page 7

THETIS TRAGEDY

EFFORTS BY DESTROYERS ATTEMPTS TO LIFT STERN OF SUBMARINE. IN HOPE OF ENTERING SOMEHOW. (Independent Cable Service.) (Received This Day, 8.35 a.m.) LONDON, July 14. Captain Nicholson, commanding the Sixth Destroyer Flotilla, said that when he arrived on the scene of the Thetis disaster the submarine's stern was sticking 8 to 10 feet out of the water. He passed a line round the stern, in nil endeavour to lift it. He added: “We decided, at all costs, to try and 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, slithered around and assumed another position.” Captain Nicholson said he then decided to try to pass a wire round 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 water. It was intimated that Captain Oram would 'be recalled to give evidence on a suggestion that the Thetis’s underwater signalling apparatus was out of order, thus preventing the calling of neighbouring vessels. TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. .July 13. At the resumption today of the inquiry into the sinking of the submarine Thetis, evidence was heard as to action taken by responsible officers and the transmission of a message between them in the hours immediately following the failure of the submarine to surface. SALVAGE DELAYS. WORK HELD UP BY STRONG WINDS. LONDON, July 13. The salvage company stated that the work on the sunken submarine Thetis is held up by strong winds, but all is clear and suitable weather is being awaited.