New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-27
FRENCH SUBMARINE
SUNK WITH q MEN
Struck by D0Ver-CaIaiS Channel
Passenger Boat Two Miles
from Calais.
TAPPING FROM INTERIOR
Reported That Diver Who
Reached the Vessel Heard
Sounds Made by I'M
prisoned Men.
BIG SUBMARINE ACCIDENTS.
Name and place. No. killed Date

Calais, France, May 26.-Another
her crew aboard, lies tonight in thirty
fathoms of water She was sent to the
bottom of the English Channel at 23O
O'Clock this afternoon by the cross
channel steamer Pas de Calais, which,
crowded with passengers bound for
Dover. struck the partly submerged
Pluviose when about two miles from the
harbor.
Accounts differ as to the cause of the
accident Admiral Fournier has ex-
pressed the opinion that the submarine
attempted to pass beneath the steamer.
while other officials think that the
Pluviose. after a long dive, came up by
chance directly under the paddle wheels
The shock of the contact brought the
passengers to the steamers rails, and
they saw almost instantly the hull of the
submarine rolling about as though try
ing to right herself. A boat was hastily
launched. but the laundering craft which
seemed to have been hard hit, turned
partly over and disappeared.
Signals of distress from the Pas de
Calais, which was making water rapidly,
brought two tugs to the scene, and later
a torpedo boat destroyer put out and an
chored near where the Pluviose had gone
down. Within an hour or two a wrecking
vessel was lying near the destroyer, and
her crew was making hasty preparations
to send down divers to locate the Inflated
submarine. entombed in which are three
officers and twenty-four men.
After fruftless efforts hope practically
has been given up. of bringing them to
the surface alive.
A powerful undercurrent baked the
divers in their attempt this evening to
reach the Pluviose, and il the imprisoned
men are not already dead. it is almost
certain that the delay will prove fatal.
The submarine lies in many fathoms of
water, and the divers were able to de-
scend only a short distance Powerful
dredges and machinery will arrive from
Cherbourg in the morning. when all eff
forts will be centred in final attempt to
reach the Inflated craft and bring her to
the surface.
The general fear is entertained that
the Pluviose received a vital blow from
the paddle wheels of the Pas de Calais
and that some of her plates were crushed.
Even if the crew succeeded In closing
her watertight compartments. they will
not be able 10 survive for any great
length Of time.
Commandant Prat. Of the submarine
division of Calais. was one of the officers
on board.
The Piuviose left Calais thirty minutes
before the time it is presumed she came
I'D under the paddle wheels of the Pas
de Calais. though il is hard to believe
that she would dive in such crowded
waters. The Maritime Project of Calais
in reporting his action to the Marine
Ministry of sending boats to the scene
offers the opinion that the naphtha res
ervoirs of the Pluviose burst.
Paris. May pa special to the
.-Matin" from Calais says that chains
have been attached to the submerged
Pluviose.
dispatch to the journal says that
the torpedo boat destroyer has reported
that a diver reached the Pluviose at
niphtfaII and heard rappings in the in
terror.