From the Bottom of the Sea.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17837, 9 October 1929, Page 15

From the Bottom of the Sea.

| On September 25th, 1925, the United States submarine 5.51 was rammed and sunk by the City of Rome. Fifteen miles from land she lay, at a depth of one hundred and thirty-two feet, and the salvage experts were practically unanimous in their belief that it would be impossible to raise her. None the less, there was a widespread i demand for her salvage. Only a few ! days previously an American airship had ! been caught in a storm and destroyed, j and the public indignation against the j Navy Office was acute. It was therefore decided, in response to certain representaI tions, to undertake the. salvage of the I sunk submarine—and this in spite of the fact that, up to that period, no large submarine had ever been raised from deep water in the open sea. The story of that attempt has been told by the officer in charge of the work, Com- | mander Edward Ellsberg, in a book entitled “On the Bottom.”'lt is a vivid and fascinating record of one of the most heroio achievements in the history of 6ea diving. Unexpected Obstacles. Commander Ellsberg was placed in command of the diving ship Falcon, with a crew of thirty experienced divers. One of these, however, had to relinquish his task almost at the outset of proceedings. He was a man of fifty-eight—and thirtyfive is generally considered the limit for deep work—but he wanted to have one more tussle with the sea before going into retirement. I The little band of workers were beset by unexpected obstacles from the very

The Perils and Excitements of Salvaging . Refloating a Sunken Submarine .

start. It was soon found, for instance, that “it bad taken five days and twenty dives to close a valve that should have been closed in five seconds.” The danger of “bends” a disease closely resembling paralysis, to which divers are peculiarly liable—bad to be guarded against. Then, too, there -were the difficulties presented by stormy weather. In favourable conditions, diving was undertaken one day out of every three, but as the winter approached this became impossible, and the expedition had to be temporarily disbanded. Success at Last. On April 23rd, 1926, work wa6 again resumed, with an additional number of divers. But the anxiety of the captain and his crew was by no means at an end. Once, indeed, it seemed as if their efforts had been crowned with success, but the sea proved too formidable a foe. It was not until July sth that the last obstacle was triumphantly surmounted. I rushed to the rail, looked over. No bubbles, no sign, but I needed none. The divers clustered round. "Gentlemen, here comes your bow!*’ They looked, nothing showed, but an instant later the sea boiled violently and broke into huge geysers of water, then six pontoons burst through the foam, and the 5.51 was afloat again. My cap went into the sea, followed by a hundred others. Cheers, tears, and the happy feeling: "Now we can go home again!” Commander Ellsberg’s book is as thrilling as any story of adventure by Captain Marryat or Mayno Reid.