The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-12-19
disaster Pictures on Page One, Section
Two.)
BY OTIS PEABODY SWIFT
United Press Stan Correspondent

PROVINCETOWN, Mass,
Dec. 19.-The United States
Navy, striving to save the six
men still alive in the torpedo
room of the sunken submarine
S-4, fought grim, dishearten-
ing fight today against the seas
off Provincetown harbor.
The condition Of the wreck
made unavailing attempts to
tighten the sunken ship by
pumping it full Of air.
The same conditions prevent
ed air being pumped into the
torpedo room to supplement the
fast-thinning supply the six
men there may have.
The Navy turned then to more
orthodox methods of floating the
ship the methods which eatai.
sinking air-Alled- pontoons around
the vessels hull to buoy it--and
there began a race from Brooklyn
by two naval tugs towing three pom
toons each.
If they could get there by after
noon, there still would be chance.
Ocean Has Upper Hand
At S:97 p. m. today, forty EIGHT
hours will have elapsed since the
S-4 went down. That was the limit
Of time which navy experts esti-
mated the imprisoned men could
live. So at 3:37 p. m. today the zero
hour will have passed and after that
the fight to save them will be only
an outside chance that they may
still be alive.
But the stormy Atlantic, pitted
against the Navy in an equal fight
for the lives of the handful OF sur
vivors, had the upper hand.
A gale was blowing of the tip OF
Cape Cod, where the S-4, rammed
Saturday by the coast guard de-
stroyer Paulding, lay 101 feet un-
der the surface.
At 7:30 a. m. the wind reached
gale force, the Race Point coast
guard station reporting velocity OF
fifty miles. 1t was blowing west
northwest.
The icy blasts that swept Cape
waters had driven the mercury
down to 20 at that hour, and it
seemed even colder. The sea was
rough.
Weather May Moderate
Cloudy weather prevailed in the
early morning, but it was expected
to clear late in the day. The fore
cast was for moderating weather.
The divers sent down yesterday
from the rescue boats riding the
tossing waters above the sunken
submarine had communicated with
the six men still living by tapping
on the hull, and had learned that
the air was becoming foul. 1t was
doubtful if any of the others Of the
crew of forty remained alive.
Thus, with adverse weather to-
day, the Navy'S efforts at rescue
became gallant but heart-break-
ing race against time, each precious
minute that passed bringing nearer
the time when the air in the S-4
would be too foul to sustain life.
Mine Sweeper Leaves
Depression settled on those aboard
the half-dozen rescue ships when
the mine-Sweeper Falcon, carrying
Rear Admiral Frank Bumby and the
divers with their gear was forced to
leave the scene for Boston.
The Falcon carried L. s. Michael,
a diver, first of the men who risked
their lives III the rescue attemp to
fall a victim to the sea.
Michael had become caught In
the wrecked coming tower of the
S-4 while working on the air hose
connection through which the Fall
con was pumping air into the SUBJ
marines ballast tanks in an effort to
start her toward the surface.
He was rescued by Thomas Eadie,
another diver, who, although he al
ready had spent hours under the
chilly water and had been the first
man to reach the S-4, and learn
that life was aboard her, went down
again to save his cornrade.
Eadie brought Michael to the
surface and it was found he was
in serious condition. The Falcon
decided to take him to the Naval
Hospital in Boston and return.
Pump All Night
The pumping was continued all
night, In the rather slim hope that
enough water could be forced out