Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-12-22
Could See Only 4 Feet.

diving stage over to the line. l threw
one arm and one leg around it to guide
my descent and slid down as rapidly
as possible. The whole drop of l.
fathoms, 102 feet, took less than G
minute. landed on the extreme tor
of the coming tower between both
periscopes. AT least we had found the
| submarine.
Heard Signal at Once.
I climbed down off the coming towe!
to the forward deck. On landing there
I heard a faint signal. / hadn't sent
any signals. But they must have
heard the thump of my shoes, weight
ed with lead, when I started forward
and stepped down on a projection OF
4 the coming tower.
The signal was a tapping sound.
started along the deck in the direction
/ though it was coming from. heard
| it again and then sent signal by hit
ting with my hammer on metal part
of the deck.
| I hit once The answer came imme
I diately. This gave me a better idea
| where the signals were coming from
! Hoping to locate them exactly, I knel'
on the next hatch I came to, and
pounded with the hammer. held my
other hand palm down on the hatch
which of course was of steel and led
into the torpedo room.
Felt Beat on Hatch.
Answering, they hit the hatch just
beneath my hand. felt it distinctly
The vibration was transmitted through
my diving suit to the telephone inside
the helmet so distinctly that the tor
pedo man on the Falcon, who was
wearing the telephone receiving set
knew there were persons alive in the
submarine even before shouted
There's like aboard"
| I gave the imprisoned men another
signal, three or four taps with my
hammer. Their answers were all made
| by six raps. They were trying to tell
me there were six of them in there.
/ I tried to learn what damage had
been done. walked aft. The amount
| of wreckage there was more terrific
than in the case of the Ssh, although
the actual damage to the submarine
is probably less.
She was cut half way through and
seemed to have been struck little aft
of the torpedo room A hole had beer
torn in her hull from there to a point
about eight feet forward of the CUR
which is on the deck forward Of the
coming tower.
Bubbles Gave Location.
walked forward again and got on
the bow, because the people on the
Falcon wanted to know the direction
| in which she was lying. I telephoned
| the Falcon that was on the bow
| and was going to walk aft. AS walk
| ed the bubbles caused by escaping air
from the air control valve in my he'll
met rose to the surface. They formed
a line, showing the direction the sub
marine was headed. Her bow pointed
| southwest.
When I got aft I tried the coming
| tower with my hammer to see II
| there was life inside. I received no
answer. I tried to look inside through
the four-inch glass portfolios. but ]
couldn't see anything. I next walked
farther aft along the port side. ]
then felt myself checked by my air.
line, and found it had fouled on both
the radio antenna and the yard arm
Of the signal mast of the submarine.
I knelt and, reaching as far as
could, raped again with the ham
mer. But I got no answer. con-
WINGED myself the only life aboard was
in the forward part. I started for
ward again. On my way stopped at
the coming tower and opened the
| hatch leading to the connection for
the salvage line. The officers on the
Falcon asked me If I was satisfied
with my inspection and I replied that
l was. They said that they had an
other man ready to come down and
asked me to stand by to go up.
Stopped on Way Up.
The men above pulled me up by the
| life line until I was 40 feet beneath
the surface. They held me there S
! minutes to accustom me to the change
in pressure and then pulled me up 10
feet more. I remained at that depth
Is minutes and then was hauled
/ rapidly TO the top. Within minutes
after my diving suit had been removed
| was in the decomposition chamber
This is a sort of tank in which a
diver is confined after coming to the
surface. The air is pumped into II
under pressure and this pressure is
gradually lowered, I remained in the
chamber 27 minutes.
Bill Carr, chief boatswain's mate
then went down to the submarine and
secured a line of salvage air hose to
the ballast tanks. After Carr came
up. Chief Torpedoman F. G. Michels
went down to attach a second salvage
air hose.
He started down at 8 o'clock Sun.
day night. The Falcon was yawine
badly because of the heavy seas
Under normal conditions no diving
would have been attempted.
Carried Powerful Lamp.
mike" carried a divers lamp OF
1000 watts, a device perfected dur.
ing operations on the Ssh. With
that light he could see through the
water 10 feet
A northwest wind was blowing 81
miles and getting stronger. The sea
was running whitecaps. The Falcor
was riding to one anchor and was
held aft by two hawsers. They lee
from each side of the after deck ant
were made fast to the Lark and tn,
Mallard, which were anchored be-
hind the Falcon. This was to steady
her as much as possible.
Mike" had been down half an hour
when he signaled that he was
fouled His air line had become
tangled within two or three minute:
after he landed on the submarine
and he had spent the rest Of the
time trying to free himself.
When Mikes" signal came / wa.
in my bunk asleep. l was called By
Capt. Hartley. He told me Mike
was fouled, and that they would LIKE
to have me go down. The men or
deck were waiting with the diving
suit and as fast as l could get int
my wooden underclothes and socks
rushed to the after deck.
knew it was important to have
my hands free on this dive, because
Mikes" last signal was "tell Eadi'
to bring the heavy wire cuftarsn