Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-27
Struck by Channel Steamer.

Struck by Channel Steamer.
Struck by the cross-ciannel steamer
Pas de Calais two miles off here yester-
day, the submarine arose to the surface
for moment. and then sank to the bot
tom Of the channel, more than 100 feet
below the surface. There she remained
fast until released by the action of the
swift waters this afternoon.
Up to that time every effort had been
made by wrecking crews. under the dl-
rectiOn OF Admiral de la Peyrere, French
minister Of marine, to reach the wreck.
in the hope that some OF those on board
might have survived. There was, how
ever, little to encourage this hope.
The divers reported that the hull OF the
submarine appeared to have been crushed.
Their examination was not satisfactory.
Because of the swift current they were
unable to get good view of the wreck
At Work All Night.
A fiotilla of torpedo boats and dredgers.
with the force of divers, worked vainly
throughout the night to raise the ILL
fated war craft. Strong currents inter-
fered greatly with the operations. At
noon today little had been accomplished
The appearance Of the submersible on
the surface for brief period following
the accident is attributed by navy ex-
perts to a desperate attempt Of her COM
mander to operate the flooding ma
chinery
The channel steamer Pas de Calais
sighted the periscope of the Pluviose some
seventy feet ahead and backed. but too
first saw the periscope said today that he
had never seen such an instrument before
and mistook it for buoy.
The report that the Pluviose was oper-
ating beneath the channel steamer in
furtherance of its practice in torpedoing
passing vessels is not generally credited
Account of Accident.
The cross-channel steamer was crowded
with passengers bound for Dover when
she struck the partly submerged Pluviose.
Accounts differ as to the cause of the
accident. Admiral Fournier has expressed
the opinion that the submarine attempted
to pass beneath the steamer. Other Off
cials think the PluvioSe, after a long dive
came up by chance directly under the pad
die wheels.
The shock of the contact brought the
passengers to the steamers rails They
saw almost instantly the hull OF the SUD-
marine, which was rolling about as though
trying to right herself.
A boat was hastily launched. The foun-
dering craft, which seemed to have been
AdiO uiSp tuIhSQ parity over anu ulSdp-
peared.
Pas de Calais Fills.
Signals of distress from the Pas de CAL
ais, which was taking water rapidly.
brought two tugs to the scene. Later a
torpedo boat destroyer put out and an
chored near where the Pluviose had gone
down.
Within an hour or two a wrecking YES
sci was lying near the destroyer. Her
crew made hasty preparations to send
down divers to locate the Inflated SUBJ
marine. In the opinion of experts, either
the naphtha reservoirs OF the Pluviose
burst or the craft was SO badly damaged
that she filled.
The Pluviose left Calais thirty minutes
before the time she came up under the
Pas de Calais. though it is difficult to be-
iieve that she would dive in such crowded
waters.
The submarine was Of the Laubeuf type.
Her length was 1GO feet and her displace-
ment was 39S tons.