Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-26

just a drifting torpedo of steel, vul
nerable and helpless.
Are you ready?" again he shouted
No reply. A minute later a black
form crept out of the night and
mounted the tiny bridge where we
stood huddled.
Ring says the anchors damned"
shouted the man into Ede's ear.
| Presently Ring himself came back.
| He was much agitated. He gave Eide
! the details. 1t seemed that the lash
| ings had got damned in the anchor
| releasing gear He had reported this
| in the afternoon and the tender re-
| pair shop had promised to fix it at
once. But in those days a submarine
was full OF mechanical woes. The
| tender never did catch up. The pair
| duclled down the hatch to consult. In
a moment was called.
We've got to submerge her" Eide
| told me. Elise will be driven ashore.
It's our only chance"
At that l was ready to lump over
board and swim for it. Indeed, !
might have been tempted to, had not
| the water been bitterly cold. Fo. days
l lad looked forward to the thrill of
my first dive in a submarine. But
| now, to 90 to he bottom in one, on
| cold, black stormy night, with no
"er q d no crew. was dreadful
Troubles began coming thick and
fast. You know. a submarine is an
elongated egg of steel. with two or
! three matches and ventilatorS on her
flattened upper surface. Ordinarily
there are men stationed b. these
matches to close them. This night
there was no crew; only the three
watchkeepers, EIDE, and IL q hope
less non-combatant.
Ring stationed a man at the sub
merging valves. These admitted water
to the ballast tanks on both sides OF
the D-3, changing her buoyancy to
suit the wishes of her coming officer.
| With way on her he could also use
the horizontal rudders in her bow and
stern, just as an airplane nowadays
uses its ailerons.
At Ede's direction, I went below
when all was ready. I was certainly
glad TO get in out of the cutting wind
and spray. But my relief was soon
changed TO anguish when / heard one
OF the men running aft, shouting as
he came:
shes flooding! She's flooding"
That's the end of me-" thought to
myself, and devoutly wished I'd never
seen one of these fool boats
Both Ring and EIDE dashed forward.
/ followed them. a tidal wave of cold
water met me and swept UP to my
knees, 1t seemed that one of the for
ward matches had not been closed
tightly. Heaven only knows how
many tons Of water we had shipped.
EDE directed the valve man to shut
off at once. / saw him lean over
the compass binnacle then glance at
the depth gauge. The latter showed
s fathoms.
CORY! We must have been drift
ing in fast"' he exclaimed.
but that's plenty of water, isn't it?"
Sure, but we were outside the 10.
fathom line when we cut loose
There was no wind on us now. We
We're fiat bang on the bottom of the
sea. We had several small lights on
from the battery. And the air was
still clean and pure. But there was
something about the sepulchral silence
that filled me with an uncomfortable
uneaSineSS.
Suddenly I noted Rings face as he
stood bandaging a cut finger under
one of the lights. 1t was white as a
sheet. Could a small scratch like that
affect him so? l knew strong men
sometimes minded the sight of blood.
Then a horrible suspicion assailed me.
I grabbed Ede's arm:
"How about this, are we all right"
He smiled grimly, Were down adj
right"
Ring glanced up, and the other two
men came a step nearer.
but how are we going to get up
again? Can we pump her out?"
EIDE shook his head. / must say he
was cool about it. / pictured him just
as cool that terrible day in 1916 off
Honolulu when he took the F4 down
for the last time.