New Britain herald., 1927-12-24

Provincetown. Mass. Dee. . L7N--- With one tunnel completed under the sunken submarine S-4 and work in progress on second, operations were halted here today by gales and rough seas.
 The completed tunnel was about 19 feet aft of the bow. A four inch manila cable was passed under and iooped. The same procedure will be followed when the second opening Is forced through the mud. 4s feet cable will replace the manila and both lines will be in readiness 10 be attached to lifting pontoons.
 10 Divers Endangered
 The Initial hurrowing operations were not pllshed without con- siderable hazard 10 the 10 divers en- ployed in the work.
 A strong northwest wind swept against the portside of tbc Falcon. flagship of the fleet of % vessels on the scene and headquarters of Rear Admiral Frank H. Brumby. com manding the operations, added to their danger and eventually com pelled work to cease.
 The wind |oosened the Falcons lines 10 mooring buoys and caused the anchors to drag in the soft mud so that she could no longer main- tain her position over the sunkcn submersiblc.
 Three of the 10 divers met with mishaps before the squad was called off duty. Frank Crilley was blown to the surface when an air valve in his diving suit opened and an excessive amount Of air rushed in. Six mem- bers Of the Falcons crew leaped 10 the divers platform 10 haul him from the cold water.
 Frank Mattox's diving suit was cut against jagged piece of steel while 1 it filled with water from feet 10 shoulders, he stuck 10 his job for an hour. He was pulled up badly i chilled.
 1 The third man, John Schaddt suf. fered eoncussjon of the custodian tubes from long service at the bot tom under high pressure. 1 While diving work remained tenn porarily suspended there seemed no likelihood that anything short of exceedingly rough weather would Interfere with plans to get the S4 up Immediately and both Admiral Brumby and Commander Edward | Ilel 1,, oh,r of tions. announced a belief that this would be possible,
 Ellsberg pointed out that the S-4 was in less exposed position and in shallower water than the S-5l which sank two years ago off Block Island and on which it was necessary to quit work much earlier in the sea son.
 The S-4 was not as badly damaged as the other craft and was lighter. Another advantage was that after being raised 1t would be necessary only to tow it 70 miles to the Boston navy yard whereas the S51 had to be taken almost four times that dis tance to Brooklyn yard.
 "uDOr'S tlSu HWdNeH
 Admiral Brumby, who was await Ing an official visit today from Sec retary of the Navy Wilbur and Ad- miral Charles F. Hughes. chief oi naval operations. declared the navy would not relinqush it's efforts al salvage until forced to do so.'
 The visit of Mir. Wilbur and Ad- miral Hughes was believed here tc be in no way a reflection upon tn, ability of officers on the scene. Tho secretary, in announcing his triI from Washington. declared he hac every confidence in Admiral Brumbl but wished to talk with him person. ally to see if there was anything more the navy department could do
 In a statement acknowledging tn, multitude of suggestions which have poured In concerning possible rescue and salvage methods. Admira Brumby said each had been giver careful consideration.
 ''All those at the wreck have uset and are using every effort and al available facilities for accomplishin; their task
 Much ot the work Is done unde conditions that are very difteren from anything seen on shore, wher