New Britain herald., 1928-08-08
SUBMARINES Grew
DEAD FROM fumes
27 Men Perish in Italian Craft
in AdriatiC
STRUCK BY PROPELLER
FIRST Reports We're That Boat Was
Rammcd by Observation-Disclosures
Found at Posts in Coming Tow
er.

Found at Posts in Coming Tow
Rome, Aug. GP--Poisoned by
acid fumes or drowned in the first
rush of water. the crew of the Ital-
ian submarine FLA, sunk in a coll
lision early Monday morning in the
upper Adriatic, died to a man at
their posts.
The stricken submarine was rails
ed to the surface last night after "a
hours of desperate labor by divers
who worked hour after hour to at
tach an airpipe to the sunllen ves-
sci and to fasten steel cables that
she might be lifted to the surface.
81 Men Perish
Twenty seven men perished in the
tragedy. First reports received by
the naval authorities indicated that
81 men We're aboard. but check OF
the bodies today revealed that four
of the crew had remained ashore for
reasons which have not yet been as
Tins We're two officers, Captain We'll
and Commander Fasulo.
Captain We'll and Commander Fa-
sulo We're at their posts of command
in the coming tower while the re-
naming members of the crew were
ell 4 ,t hot ,rl TO
tions. There We're no signs of panic
aboard the boat and the crew evil
dently had hoped till the last that
they would be saved only to sue
cumb one by one to the fumes from
their electric battery room.
Hit BY Propeller
Inspection of the hull showed that
the submersible was not rammed by
the destroyer Giuseppe Missori as
first thought. but was struck by its
propeller. This caused a great gap
ing cash near the stern through
which water rushed into the hull
Those in the immediate vicinity met
instant death by drowning while the
watertight compartments temporari-
ly saved the lives of the remainder
until they died Of poisoning.
1t was found that all of the water
tight compartments held till the end
despite the fear that they might
yield under the terrific pressure TO
which the submarine was subjected
In view of the extraordinary speed
with which the submersible was
raised, it is felt that some of the
crew would certainly have been saw
ed had it not been for the poisonous
fumes from the batter room.
The FLA was towed into Pola this
morning and was met by crowds OF
spectators who showed deep sorrow
at the tragedy.
Naval experts in Rome believe
that the speed with which the res
cue operations we're carried out
despite the fact that none of the
crew was saved. represents re-
markable performance. Throughout
the work, the divers were handicap
ped by raging seas and heavy winds
1t was necessary first to find divers
capable of descending to the 15d
foot depth where the submarine
Law, then to locate the submarine by
means of seaplanes and to rush pom
toons and other necessary apparatus
to the spot before the rescue WORK
could even begin.
Weather Bad
Gr1o C
found and everything was in readl-
ness for the work, the unfavorable
weather conditions which began
about that time made operations ex-
tremely hazardous. After much toll
the divers were able to attach an ar
tube to the submarine and fresh an
was pumped into the Fla. The
quantity thus pumped in apparently
was insufficient to keep the men
alive and the reasons foi this are
now being investigated.
This done, the divers fixed the
stce, cables to the hull and the sub
marine was gradually lifted.
Keel Uneven
As for the poisoning of the crew
IT is considered probable that the
submarine went to the bottom on al
uneven keel which caused the sui
phuric acid in the electric batteries
to pour out. The watertight COM
partments. although successfully
withstanding the terrific pressure OF
the water, permitted slight lnfiltra-
tjors of sea water and this, mixing
with the sulphuric acid produced
poisonous chlorine fumes when
rapidly killed the whole crew. 1t is
thought that death must have beer
extremely rapid once the fumes be-
gan to form.