Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-12-22

Dut / knew i C0ul0nt use Inem II
/ wore the clumsy mittens. These
are very stiff and have only three
fingers, one for the thumb and two
| for the four fingers. So / coated
my hands with grease and pulled on
a pair of wooden mittens. / also took
a lamp and. of course, / had my
| knife.
To reach the spot where mike"
| was trapped I slid down on his life
| line. When I got above him I saw
| he was lying face down on the for
ward deck Of the submarine.
His airline was drawn across his
back in big loop. One side was held
in a U-shaped piece of wreckage on
the starboard side. The other side
was fouled on what l think was a
piece of steel from the bog of the
Paulding, the craft which collided
with the S-4. 1t was caught down
near the bilge keel on the port side
of the submarine.
Because Of the heavy seas Mikes"
airline was $50 feet more than the
depth of the ocean. Usually the line
is nearly taut, but we couldn't do this
here because the rescue ship was
plunging up and down.
Had to Send for Saw.
The bottom of the U.shaped wreck
age was nearest me. I climbed down
on the starboard side and tried to
get the loop Of airline out around
the ends of the u. I found I couldn't
do this. I took hold of the U with
both hands and tried to pry it apart
l soon learned this was impossible.
/ put my helmet close to Mikes"
and asked if he would hold the lamp
for me. He understood, but he threw
the rays in my eyes and blinded me-
1t wasn't that mike" didn't know;
he couldn't help it.
I examined the u again and found
1t was an angle iron broken almost
in two. I telephoned the Falcon for
hack saw. They tied the saw to a
heavy shackle and lowered it. I got
it and then stepped into the wreckage
and began to saw the angle iron.
1t took me an hour to cut through
because I had to work slowly. I was
afraid of breaking the brittle blade
of the hack saw. Finally I cut it
through and got Mikes" line clear.
mike" then thought he was free
and wanted to leave me. I shouted
to him and said: You're still foul on
the other side Mike. Hold the lamp
while 1 clear you there"
fractfcally Unconscious.
mike" was swaying and playing
the light at random. He was prac-
tically unconscious. But was kept
from falling by the bouyancy of the
air in his helmet and the upper part
of his suit.
I took the lamp out of his hand and
went to the port side to see how he
was fouled there. I climbed over
the side of the submarine and sudden.
ly felt myself drop rapidly, and nv
feet hit on some wreckage. I found
the air hose caught under a piece of
Jagged iron II feet down, and with
the air line swaying under it the iron
would soon have cut the hose in two.
1t took me less than a minute to
get the air line loose. I then opened
the air-control valve and let more air
into my suit to give me additional
buoyancy. I started to climb up the
side OF the submarine, but caught the
leg of my trousers on the jagged piece
of metal and ripped a hole in my div
ing suit.
I could feel the water coming in and
before I got to the deck it was up to
my neck. But it couldn't get into my
helmet. My underwear and socks
were soaked through. 1t was pretty
cold. with the water only two degrees
above freezing.
When 1 got to mike" he seemed
to have recovered little. I tele-
phoned up to haul in slack on the
life line. I didn't know Mikes" life
line had caught around my life line.
telephoned "all right on Mike"
and they started to haul him up. l i
felt tug on my line and yelled,
Don't haul me up: haul Mike"
Pulled Him Back.
The Juggling stopped and I looked up
and saw mike" swaying above me-
His feet just within reach pulled him
down to the deck. I opened the spit
cock in his helmet to release excess
air and cut down his buoyancy little.
I then picked him up in my arms,
this being easy because it was under
water, and passed him around me so
he was clear Of my life line.
closed the spit cock, and thinking
it would be better If we could get to
the descending line, / started walking
toward the coming tower. I mo-
toned Mike" to follow, and held the
lamp behind me so he could see.
When I got to the line looked back
for Mike" He was nowhere in sight.
I kept playing the lamp toward where
had left him. But couldn't see him.
I telephoned up and asked, Where is
'Mike'?" I didn't get my answer.
They said, do you want to come up?"
1t was so cold I didn't think 1 could
hold out much longer so I said, Yes.
please haul me up
Rushed to Surface.
Before the line became taut I walked
back on the deck of the submarine
and played the light all around to
make sure Mike" was being pulled
up.
They hauled me straight from the
bottom to the surface without making
any stops for decomposition because
my suit was full of water. They
rushed me into the decomposition
chamber and I got out of my suit. |
Mike" was in there too. We had to
cut his suit and gloves off his under
wear. 1t took two men to bend his
knee. We raped Mike" in blankets
soaked in hot water.
I got my own underwear off and
wrapped up in a blanket. They ran
the air pressure up to 60 pounds, 10
more than the pressure on the bottom,
at the place where the submarine was
sunk.
I was sitting by Mikes side
watching him at $3.50 o'clock Monday
morning when he first opened his
eyes.
Copyright 1927. in. all countries by North
American Newspaper Alliance.
81 DISASTER PROBE
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