Evening star., 1927-12-18
S-4 ON Trial Trip
as Crash Sends
Her Down.
VESSEL RESTS
IN 20 FATHOMS
Attempt to Signal
Victims Ends
i'm Failure.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
PRONINCETOWN, Mass. Decem-
Der 1.-THE fate of 43 officers and
men. the crew of the l. ;. ). sub
marine S4. was in doubt tonight as
the vessel lav on the ocean floor IN
deep water off this port, alter a col
lision with the Coast Guard de-
stroycr Paulding.
Whether the hull of the submarine
was crushed and her crew all
drowned. or whether the crash had
merely disabled her machinery and
made it impossible for her to come
10 the surface. still was unknown.
Those who witnessed the collision
feared. however. that major ma
rine disaster had resulted compar-
able 10 the loss of the submarine
S-5l in September, 1925. When that
vessel was sunk in collision with the
steamship City of Rome, off Block
Island, 50 officers and men perished.
Submarine Struck Amidships.
The destroyer. off patrol duty Oft
Provincetown. was making for the
harbor. Suddenly her lookout saw
the S-4 running submerged dead
ahead. There was no time to swerve
from the course and the vessels
crashed. The destroyer made port
with her lower hold flooded. The
Paulding was struck amidships. but
the point at which the submarine
felt the force of the blow was not
known.
Damaged Ship Sinks at Once.
Tho S-4 wene down immediately.
roats that crnised about the place for
honrs found no Survivors, giving the
faint hone that the submarine's hun
had mt been pierced. A fresh breeze
ard ,ouch seas hampered the work OF
the small boats taking part In the
work of rescue. ooo
The S-4 went down a pare l,oVV
wards from the shore of Wood Emo
Coast Guard station, which is situated
,n the outer. or ocean, side OF the mar
hor The water at that point is very
deem. which, it was admitted, would
increase the difficulties or raising the
sunken vessel -
THE Paulding's wireless message re-
Do,-ting the collision started rescue
f1eet from the New London COAST
Guard, and Submarine bases, ana from
the Boston and Portsmouth, n H.
navy wards. The submarine tehoer
Wandank was the first to reacn the
position of the COLLISION. me ';eo Uou
End Coast Guard Station sent Its hte-
boats to search for posslpie SUI .
but without result.
S-4 on Trial Trip.
The Paulding is a 740-ton destroyer
r-bich was turned over by the Navy 10
,ba Coast Guard service. The 50
while a : the same class as the Sol, II
somewhat smaller. She is 25I Ieet
long and was built a the Portsmouth
Navy Yard in 1919. She was making
her Standardization trials aI'er an
nverhauling when the collision occur
red. ,-..o,.. ~
80 "a raise the S-4 early tonight be
+a,,se no vessel had reached the scene
Nth the necessary equipment Tor the
,,urnose. The Wandank placed SIX
,oys to mark the exact point at
Itch the submarine had gone down.
T,ontoons TO be used in lifting opera
tion were sent from New London, but
81 was not expected that they would
ha bere before tomorrow morning.
PauIding Badly Damaged.
The Paulding was beached at Long
1,oint Light in Provincetown Harbor
when it became apparent that her hull
1,aa been damaged badly. a member
nf'' nf her crew named Mckinley was
ea,ionsIy % scalded by the bursting of a
steam pipe after the collision. He
s,e;n he taken to the hospital here to-
morrow. 49,. u.o,,ao,1. :,
dicated that the water Is from ~ 10
90 fatboms in depth at the point
s,.hare the S-4 went down.