Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-12-19


and Coast Guard base along the At
lantic Coast sprang into activity. De.
stroyers, mine layers, tugs and other
vessels were ordered to proceed with
all speed to the scene. BY morning a
good.sized fleet was assembled in and
near Provincetown.
1t was a fight against time today.
in which every minute was precious
and the odds were admittedly against
the slowly suffocating survivors in an
almost impossible ratio.
In the ears of every officer and man
of the rescue fleet from Rear Admiral
Brumby down to the rawest recruit
rang the desperate cry of the unfor-
tunate men, laboriously pounded out
by hammer in the metallic dots and
dashes of the Morse code to a diver
alongside on the sandy bottom.
The messages follow:
Diver-Is gas bad?
Submarine-No; but the air. How
long will you be now?
Overflow many are there?
Submarine-There are six. Will
you be long now?
Diver-We are doing everything
possible.
The message that told the fleet that
men still lived on the S-4 came from
the torpedo room. From the other
compartments there was no encourag.
ing word.
Great Hole Opened.
A great hole ripped through the
heavy steel plates starboard at amid
ships and just forward Of the ships
four-inch gun left little doubt of the
fate of officers and men on duty there
when the speeding Prov of the Pauld-
ing Glove its way into the summers
ible's side.
Aft of the coming tower there was
silence, too, but there was also hope.
however slight. Divers had been un;
able to elicit response to their tap
pings because of the mass of wreck
age which INSTRUCTED the decks.
On the surface the frenzied, yet
orderly, efforts at rescue went forward
with zeal. There mine layers which
stood by continuously since shortly
after the crash formed a triangle
about the spot.
The Mallard and the Lark steadied
the Falcon. aboard which Admiral
Brumby and his staff directed the op-
>erations of the divers. Two subma-
rine tenders, the Wandank and the
Bushnell. were prepare" to help, while
a short distance away our destroyers
restlessly awaited orders.
Tugs Rush to Aid.
Farther off, the naval tugs Saga.
more and Iuka raced under forced
draft against a handicap of heavy seas
and adverse windsSto bring six pom
ICONS from the Brooklyn, n. Y. Navy
Yard.
The pontoons were similar to those
used TO raise the ISL, which went
dawn off Block Island two years ago
with a loss of 33 lives. Naval officers
pinned their hope of effecting rescue
on these, should attempts now in prog
ress fail to lift the wreck with COM
pressed air. fail.
The pontoons would take at least
two days to attach under the most ia
vorable circumstances, but weather
conditions were said never to nave
been worse for such work.
A brisk, cold breeze and choppy
sea number divers and made their
work hazardous.
Should it appear that there was no
immediate prospect of bringing the
submarine 20 the surface with air, an
attempt will be made to introduce an
airline into the compartment where
the six men are.
Two men were aboard the rescue
feet on whom the Navy banked espe--
cially high. Both were veterans or
the Ssh operations.
One was Capt. E. ]. King, who sal
vaged the wrecked hull of the BLOCK
Island disaster ship and who raced by
seaplane to take over direct charge
of similar work here.
Offers His Services.
TN, .t. ~o. ro,,dr IrIIsher0 re.
tired, of Westf1eld, N. j.. who super
vised diving work there and whose
emergence from the quiet of his re-
tirement was voluntary.
Comdr. Ellsberg was at home when
he heard the news. He immediate
ly offered his services. and the Navy
Department speedily cut the red tape
involved by his status as a. retired Of
ficer by ordering his enlistment In the
Naval Reserve.
No sooner had he been sworn in
Saturday night than he was ordered
to active duty. A fast express took
him to Boston, while the destroyer
Burrows raced from here to that port.
The commander embarked late last
night, and today, after swift run
across Massachusetts, Bay, was ready
for work.
Nearly 20 divers, hastily assembled
from Naval ships, and the torpedo
School at Newport, r. l., were on
hand to await his orders.
Another reminder Of the S-51 was
the news that the derrick ship Gen.
fury of the Merritt Chapman-Scott Co.
was on it's way to the scene.
Two ships Of the Century type and
owned by the same company attempt
though of the same line, might be
employed here with more success.
Sees Hope i'm Pontoons.
Comdr. Ellsberg said that from a
preliminary study of the situation he
believed 1t might be possible to bring
the bow of the submarine to the sur
face by attaching two pontoons to its
nose. At least two days would be
needed.
If the ship could be put on end suf-
ffciently to expose the torpedo tubes,
the men in tie forward compartment
would be hauled out. He emphasized,
however, that any optimism would be
decidedly premature.
Thomas Eadie and w. j. Carr were
lHe udNdi ulFeTS llTS- 10 reach the
wreck, which lay 102 feet below the
surface and almost at the scene of the
crash, 1900 yards off the Wood End
Coast Guard station, on the outside tip
of Cape Cod.
Eadie went down first, was the first
to locate the ship and to flash word
that men were alive. Carr followed
and carried on the hammer converse
ton that brought to the outside world
the dramatic details Of the plight of
the six.
The divers found the S-4 resting on
an even keel, a fact which Admiral
Brumby said would contribute ma
terially to expediting the work of rails
ing.
Ashore, Provincetown seethed with
unwonted animation. This historic
old town, first haven Of the Pilgrims.
in Summer 10 q mecca FOR tolIriStc apd