New Britain herald., 1928-01-06

which those inside would close the open the inner door. A man would have to crawl into the tube and re- trieve the packages. Opening the outer door. the witness said, requir- cd fair effort by strong man. The witness said the plan depend ed on the physical condition of the imprisoned men. It had not been communicated to them because there had been no desire to raise false hopes. The rescuers had deemed it better to get air to the men first, meantime conserving their strength. Even in sending messages to the men inside the S-4 every effort had been to minimize the communica- tions 50 as not to exhaust the sur vivors.
 Reviewing the early salvage ef- forts on the S-4. Commander Ells- bsrg said that Diver Eadie. the first man to go down to the wreck on December IS. reported tappings from the torpedo room but no ;sound amidship or aft. No air was leaking from the after compart- ments. The witness said that the men in the various apartments aft | were not necessarily dead, but that living conditions there were not as good as in the torpedo room. which had at least four hunks, with blank cts and any other survivors may have beeu unconscious.
 Explains Falcon's Plan. l The Falcons first plan was to blow the air out of the S-4's ballast l tanks by way of the salvage air line. This might Tighten the hull enough to offset the water in the battery room. punctured in the collision. and cause the ship to come up.
 1 The Falcon had to move away a short distance because of the danger of the S-4 coming up suddenly nn- der her after the ballast tanks were emptied. The witness recalled that ! during salvage operations on the S-51 the bow of that vessel came up f suddenly after its tanks had been blown, and the Falcon had had only 1 20 seconds warning to escape being sunk.
 For an hour air was blown inta the S-4, Commander Ellsberg went on. and at first tho air remained down. Then air bubbles began to come up. and at last as much air was coming up as was going down. It was apparent that ballast tank or an air line had been ruptured. Recalls MicflaeIs' Escape.
 The rescuers were compelled to abandon their first plan and to con- centrate on attempts 10 get air to the six men in the forward torpedo room. Diver Michaels volunteered tc descend. despite the rough seas and low temperatures. to try 10 make connections with the compartment salvage system on the S-4 so thai air could be forced in 10 keep tho men alive pending raising operations The witness toll how Michaels be came entangled in the wreckage O. the Paulding. <trewn on the deck of the S-4. and was finally rescued by the veteran Iadie.
 When Michaels was brought 10 th' surface he was unconscious ane frozen stiff" It was necessary tt icut his diving suit off to get hin out of it. Divers Carr and Eadit worked over him from 1l:3o p. Ill 10 3:30 a. m.. in the decompressior chamber of the Falcon before he re. gained consciousness.
 Tt was well known 10 the officers that diving should not have beer attempted under the conditions, Commander Ellsberg said. "Now that they had practically lost one o' their best divers and conditions werc growing steadily worse. 1t became apparent that nothing more could be attempted Immediately"
 Battery Room, Flooded
 The best estimate of the situation We could make was that we had q flooded battery room and contro room, and probably an engine and