Norwich bulletin., 1921-12-09
STORY OF EXPERIENCE
BY MEMBERS OF CREW


New York, Dec S.-(By The A. P)-
Fifty-one members of the crew Of the
submarine SIS who escaped through
torpedo tubes after their craft had made
nose dive off Bridgeport harbor yes
Dor yesterday and stuck to the bottom,
told a remarkable story Of rescue on
their arrival today at the New York navy
yard.
According to a report made to the
| commandant they nghtTed one end Of
the submarine until it appeared above
the surface and then sat perched or
| this pinacle for more than ten hours un-
til after darkness had fallen.
Then, by lighting matches, they at
tracted the attention of a passing tanker
| which picked them up and brought them
| here. Severl Of the men. as well as
Lieut.. Francis Adams Smith, were found
TO be suffering from the effects Of chlo-
rine gas created by salt water flooding
storage batteries. After examination
| however, only three were detained at the
| hospital. The submarine left Bridgeport
at 1928 a. m. on a trial trip. About
one mile off the entrance tothe harbor
after making a nose dive, she failed to
come up and her commander reported
that the presumption was one Of her
hatch covers had not been properly fast
l
Salvaging operations already have
been started. The submarine Is believed
not to have been damag aged.
When night came on some. of the 81
officers, sailors and mechanics went
down into the sunken craft and hauled
out mattresses to burn in order to get
a brigNer signalling fare than matches
could give One by one the mattresses
were burned at the tin Of the upstand-
ing bow, the 81 sitting around their fam
ing signal. There was a stiff wind and
the waters of the sound were becoming
more rough. Just as the last mattress
was burning about 1890 o'clock the
Standard Oil tug No. % sighted the sub
marine and came alongside A small
boat was lowered from the tug to gath
er in the men huddled together on the
tip of the submarine. lieutenant Smith
Fin the hospital here. praised Captain OIL
sen Of the rescuing tug for splendid sea
msnshin in getting the stranded men off
the undersea craft and aboard his own
vessel with the waters of the sound
swishing heavily
None of the 81 men was Overcome nv
. the chlorine gas but all were exposef
the crew reported. It was said AZ +re
/ Brooklyn hospital that of the three rer
who suffered the worst none was In :
serious condition.
: Detailed Account of the Accident,
Tonight Lieutenant Smith gave a de
tailed account of the accident:
soon after casting off at Prideenor+
D he said, Eve decided 1t would be hes
to submerge before making a long RIM
1 AS we started down, the engine and mo
s tor rooms flooded and we sank to
c depth Of about 40 feet The stern str1,cI
I bottom and the boat foated at an angI
: of about As degrees.
! The chemical reaction. of the salt wa
ter on the sulphuric acid in the batter
e les generated a flood of chlorine ga
= which soon became almost unbea rahIe 7,
h order to lessen this danger we battene
4 down the deck as tight as possible an,
r swabbed the salt water in the batter
e room with blankets then fired two tor
. pedoes to tighten the vessel All hand
e set to the pumps and then the fuel wa
: blown overheard.
d I've god rid Of the pig iron sba,1ss o
: through the sounding machine. the IN
= terlocking valve tube at the bow. Fror
noon until 8 o'clock at night We wer
I at this work, then started to blow waite
n from the engine and motor rooms b,,
: gave up because of the precision air los
q "The riddance Of the pig iron causo
= the boat to rise about six feet. bu+ sb
dropped back again to a depth t;,is tim
between so and so feet. The boat wa
on a great angle this time and the %
increa sed. All hands used their cof
fee cups to bail out the battery room an
then the boat tilted to such an ane,
n that the torpedo tubes reached above +h
9 surface.
y 'Dunne climbed through the tube wit
3 line which he made fast to a cles
e This enabled the man to reach the s,1,
: face with ease but they did go In re-
~ laps SO as not to overweight the how
Il with a small searchlight the mo
flashed distress signals in code an
,, though several passing vessels answers
- none came to our aid. Many othe,
Il, passed but either did not see or pap q,
. tention to the signals. Then the OIL TN,
with tanker in tow came up.
1.-THE tow scraped the exposed nar+ ,
the submarine the skipper of the Fl,
n maneuvered. but fortunately the tanl
er was light and onlp caused a sma
e leak near the periscoDe. The sea ws
1t running heavy and Captain Olsen of II
lie tug Is to be compiimented for his ab
le direction Of our rescue
It "The periscape leak had heiped to I,
i crease the gas in the submarine and
It would have caused our deaths in a fe
| more hours.
is 'The crew of the submarine conduct,
themselves nobly nd bravely"