The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-05

had been signed and forwarded to Sec retary Daniels by wireless setting forth these opinions and ending with request that they be sent back to the S-5 as soon as it is salvaged and placed in commits sion and that they be under the com mand of Cooke. or that if Cooke cannot command the S-5 again, that he be Nven another ship, submarine, and that they
 be allowed to follow him.
 WANTS MEN REWARDED
 Although tine sailors i'd not know it,
 at about the same time a petition was
 being sent to President Wilson by Cooke,
 asking him to take steps suitable to re- ward the brave men who had faced death
 with him so smlingly and ui>S nchingly.
 Every man was in high spirits. Three were feeling the effects of the gas, but they were able to walk down the gang plank. They were taken to the navy yard hospital for treatment They are Joseph o Savage, seaman, of Eleco, Pa; Jacob Akers. Jr., of Warnecliffe, w. Va. and Robert O. Igdanez of the Philippine Islands. q mess attendant. They are not expected to experience any serious per manent results from their gassing, uut the navy is taking no chances, and they will remain in the hospital several days at ' NHi''At''"A' dant at the navy yard, reached out his hand with the question How are you? each one; even the three sick men, strengthened up, and with brisk navy salute answered briskly, Fine, thank you, sir.
 CAUSE OF ACCIDENT
 Piercing together the brief interviews the men would give, it was easy to oo-
 tain a fairly accurate story of their ! H. at hp bottom of the sea The cause of the accident, the men declared was a failure of the main air induction to work. Who was to blame for this they did not know That will be the task of a naval board of inquiry, the prelininaries of which began today on the battleshp Ohio. It was in order 20 be present at this hearing that Lieutenant Commander Cooke was absent from the returning group. According to the story at about 2 o'clock Wednesday afternoon the S-5 was about fifty-f1ve miles off Cape , Henlopen, when Lieutenant Commander Cooke gave orders for a practice crash
 dive" This is war meneuver used when speedy submerging is desired. It had been tried the day before and had been successful.
 1 The signal had been given and every
 man was at his place. The matches were 1 closed and water doors were opened as the air ballast was forced out. and the
 water rushed in and the boat began to sink. Tn a moment the indicator showed something was wrong. The DOW was sinking faster than the stern.
 INTAKE VALVE FAILED An inspection that required only sec onds showed the air intake had failed 1 to work and one of the valves had not closed Orders flashed out from Com
 mander Cooke, from Lieut. Charles Grischam and Ensign J. B. Longstarft l Every man knew something was serious 1 ly wrong. but no one left his s,atoh' 1 Then there came a bump.
 | "It took us some time to realize Jnse what had happened" said Youkers. we 1 were too busy to worry for moment | All but three donned masks and TOT l hours they had their long fight for lire. 1 The three men without masks are now patients in the navy yard hospital l As the gas spread through the boat i the thirty-seven men were forced iroin | one compartment to another, gettlng | nearer the stern each tune, uh,h ah were gathered there.
 1 Crowded in the stern of the boat, the
 men drank the juice of canned peas ana beans until they were too weak to open
 cans They tried to eat other food, put
 the oil and water had ruined 1t. l Without a watch a match. the men
 were unable to tell whether it was night l or day
 RISKED THEIR LIVES l Commander Cooke suggested that when l pierced the sheel and set signal they I would need something for night sisI' of distress One of the commissioned or l ficers volunteered to dash into the chio- rine filled torpedo compartment and get one of the batteries there. He was per mitted to do so but in his quest got hold of one that was useless.
 ] Stephen Gaven saluted and said; "We need that battery; I'll get it. | And before anybody could protest, ne ! slipped back into the gas-filled room 1 and returned with the battery. The presence of eight torpedoes made l the bow heavy and aided in pressing l further into the mud. Efforts to release l the torpedoes were without result. At i about o'clock, after the ship had been i under water about six hours. Commander l Cooke decided on trying to force hole | through the side. With Chief Gunner's s
 Mate Fox, he searched in the tools and l tried an electric drill. Then the com mander learned that none of the electri-
 cal apparatus was of any use whatever. 1 Only one ratchet drill was obtained, ' and this was used to drill a small hole
 In the stern.