Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-07-08

| sprung a sudden leak A moment later
they found themselves struggling in
! the sea, without a suspicion Of what
had caused the tragedy. Naval au
| thorities said that, with no evidence Of
what happened inside the ship, they
could not even conjecture the cause.
Comdr. du Mesnil said he was not
able to explain the accident. Il heard
a noise on the deck" he said, and,
thinking a man was overheard I sprang
up the ladder I was dumfounded to
see the deck awash and as 1 climbed
| out the hatch felt the ship sink under
| me and / was thrown into the sea. 1t
is impossible to explain how it hap
pened"
Violent Currents Prevail.
Violent currents prevailing around the
spot made salvage operations difficult in
the extreme. The spot is nearly exactly
opposite the place where the British
Navy labored last January for days in
a fruitless effort to rescue the crew of
| the submarine M-2 when 1t sank as
suddenly as the Prcmethee disappeared
| yesterday.
The Promethee had been in service
! only two years. 1t had not been work.
! ing well and a number of civilian ex-
perts were aboard yesterday when it set
out to make diving trials.
1t was estimated 40 members Of the
crew and II others including engineers
and workmen, went down with the ship.
| The correspondent Of the Paris news
paper lie Matin, however, estimated the
number at 10.
1 All the rescue operations, and the
hope OF the navy that at least some OF
| the men might have survived within
the ship, were based upon the theory
| that they might have found time to
! close the water tight matches before the
| seas rushed into the hole, after which
the ship sank like flash.
If the compartments were closed and
| there were no serious break in the hull,
they said, it was reasonable to expect
the crew ran no immediate danger OF
death.
Lying in Cherbourg Harbor is Frances
special floating dock, built especially for
the raising of submarines.
The rescue of the seven was due
largely to the nearness of the fishing
trawler Yette II, which was lying near
the spot, watching the submarine and
! letting out its nets.
A number of men standing on the
| submarines deck seemed to be flung
into the air, they said. The fishing
boat Immediately cut its nets and
started full speed for the spot, where
the skipper, by climbing aloft, saw seven
heads bobbing in the sea-
There was belief that others of the
crew were on deck at the time, too, but
were dragged down by the suction
caused by the sinking hull. The seven
survivors were in the water an hour
before they were dragged out.
Nothing to Be Withheld.
Minister of Marine Leagues promised
the French people that nothing, how
ever sad, will be hidden from the public
concerning the tragedy.
THE truth will be told" M Leagues
said. for the public has a right to
know.
"One of our biggest and heaviest SUBJ
marines has gone to the bottom. IN
/ happily, there exists in France no ap-
paratus sufficiently powerful to bring
these recently launched submarines to
the surface.
ITO the glory of the French navy. it
should be said that France has had
fewer submarine accidents than any
other country possessing this type of
craft.
THE question is: Were the water
tight compartments Of the Promethee
closed in time? Perhaps the mechanism
| failed to work. In this event France
must deplore the death of more than
| 90 men"
Joseph Goasgoen, one of the sub
marines men, told his story Of the
| sinking.
She went down in less than 80
! seconds he said give of us were
on the top side, and we went off into
the water when the ship went out
from under our feet.
Lieut.. du Mesnil was down below
when there was a noise like a shrill
hiss. He jumped up a ladder as fast
as he could to see what was wrong
and got out just as the ship went
| down.
He tried to reach the telephone
| buoy, which was tied to the ship on q
100-yard cord, but things were moving
| fast and we all swan to a salvage
buoy where I hung on for an hour
and IS minutes with four other fell
lows and the skipper.
"One Of the men was pretty lucky.
He was down below where you can't
| smoke and had just come up for drag
on a cigarette. He had no sooner got
it lit than the ship went down."
All the men who were saved will be
| required to testify before board of
inquiry which already has begun an
| investigation.
Comdr. Edward Ellsburg, U. s. N,
retired, who was awarded the Distin-
guished Service Medal and promoted
by special act Of Congress for his work
in raising the American submarines
S-4 and Ssh, said yesterday at West
field, N. j., that, as far as could be
ascertained from the meager facts the
most probable cause Of the sinking Of
the Promethee was an internal ex-
ploSion.
THE scarcity Of facts" he said,
makes me hesitate at this point to
give a definite opinion as to the cause
Of the accident or the possibility of
the crew being saved.
But considering the circumstance
that is, a submarine operating on the
surface with her matches open and her
commander and others on deck and
showing no intention Of submerging-
the most probable cause Of sinking is
an internal explosion.
"All submarines give off an odor-
less gas, hydrogen, when charging bat
teries, and this gas when mixed, even
In small proportions, with air forms an
extremely powerful explosive mixture,
which might be ignited from a number
Of causes inside the boat.
The resulting explosion might easily
have SO damaged the hull as to sink
the submarine Immediately. In our
own Navy there have been two cases
Of such hydrogenic explosions wreck
ing the boats and killing q large num-
Der of men.