The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-10-17
FRENCH SUBMARINE
 LOST OFF BISERTA
MEETS HER END WHILE GOING THROUGH PLUAGING E4-
 TREATMENTS:
Two Torpedo Boats and Three Tugs Now in Search of Her but Her Fate is Practically Certain--Crew of the Ves- seI Numbered Fourteen-British Offer QuicI1 Assistance-Ship Built In 1901,

seI Numbered Fourteen-British Offer
 ouick Assistance--Ship Built in 1901.
 Biserta. Tunis, Oct, 16,-The French submarine Lutin left this port this morning for plunging experiments. Sig nals receved at 10 o'clock tonight re- ported her disappearance. Two torpedo boats and three tugs have gone in search of the submarine No news of her recovery has been received,
 Paris, Oct. 16.-M. Thomson, the min ister of marine, has received an official dispatch from the naval commandant at Biserta confirming the sinking of the submarine Lutin The message says: "The submarine Lutin, while exercis- ing off the jetties, disappeared from the view of the accompanying tug. Search and dragging operations were begun immediately, and resistance was felt at depth of l3O feet near the place where the Lutin sank.
 It now appears almost certain, ac- cording to news received at a late hour tonight that the crew of the Lu- tin has suffered a horrible fate, similar to that which overlook the crew of the submarine Farfadet here last year. The crew of the Lutin numbered fourteen men under command of Lieutenant Phoepon. Admiral Bellue, commander of the Tunis naval division, who went out on board tug, returned at late hour tonight, and said that owing to the heavy seas and the obscurity 1t was impossible to continue salvage op- eTations until dawn. The tugs and tor pedo boats, however, will remain near the place where the Lutin made her final plunge all through the night. One of these boats reports that it's drag en- countered resistance as though a ves- sel were lying at the bottom.
 The government salvage steamers be- longing to this port, which are at pres ent absent to assist in raising French schooner wrecked on the coast, will re- turn in the morning and participate in the work.
 The British consul-general here pro- posed to the French resident general to telegraph to the British admiralty at Malta for salvage assistance. This of fer was accepted, and powerful salvage apparatus will be sent at once to the scene of the catastrophe.
 The Lutin is a single screw steel sub marine boat designed by Maugas, and built at Rochefort in 1901, She carries complement of nine men. She is 1S5 feet long, with a diameter of nine feet, inches. Her displacement Is 1S5 tons, and her speed 1925 knots on the surface, and knots submerged, Her motive power Is derived from electric accumulators.
 The loss of the Lutin recalls the ca tastrophe to the French submarine boat Farfadet July 6, 1905, at the entrance to the port of Sidi Abdallah, Tunis. Commandant Rotler, of the Farfadet noticed, at the moment of plunging, | that one of the doors was not closed properly, and rushed to try to adjust it.
 He was too late, the water rushing in with force and throwing out the com mandant and two men. The boat sank | Fourteen men perished. The submar- inc eventually was raised. Her machin- cry and hull suffered no serious dam age.
 i On March IS, 1904, the British sub marine Al was run down by a steamer while submerged near Portsmouth. All her crew were lost.
 On February 5, 1905, the British sub- marine A5 sank off Queenstown, only one of her crew being saved. A third British submarine sank off Plymouth June 8, 1905, after an explo- sion on board. Fourteen of her crew were killed.