The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-05-25

(CouCtnueo nom Fare D knew the water was coming in he gave word to blow the tanks. This order was carried out immediately and well. We took e terrific up-ar- gle. In my judgment about 46 de-f grees Up by the bow. One man closed the door to the affected part of the ship while we were at this angle. It took super-strength to do it---1 don't see how he did 1t. Certain oth- CT valves were closed to stop the flow of water and we kept the for- ward part of the ship pretty dry.
 "All men were gotten out of the after part of the ship we could possibly get out. I don't know if all compartments in the after part are f1ooded-I hope they are not. If not, more men may be gotten out. We lost all power and communication aft. Throughout the day no one was excited and everyone was living in hopes that we would be found.
 Tried Smoke Bombs
 we fired smoke bombs at inter- va1s. We heard the Sculpin's en. zines, we knew their engines be- cause they are the same type we had. We were very much relieved we knew we were found and had nothing to worry about. We had no communication with the top-side other than beating on the hull. All electric power was gone. Two men forward and two men in the control room continually beat signals all night, cold as it was. We got very good results. We were told that the Falcon would arrive about 4:30 in the morning. We all knew the Fal- con had excellent equipment and we also knew of the skillful divers working in conjunction with the Falcons equipment.
 T am not afraid to say that there was not one man at any time who thought he would not be rescued. We knew we would be saved. The air got 8 little bad toward the last, due to the fact that we were trying to conserve it. thinking we would be down longer than we were. How ever, we continued to conserve oxy- gen and when the first rescue party arrived we sent up the weakest men in the first party. I had been in 8 compartment where the air was bad but I moved forward to a better compartment and I went up in the second rescue party. hope all the rest will be found"
 Answers To Questions
 '"There was no sign Of undue ex- citement or anything bordering on panic at any time" one of the news papermen asked.
 ,'No.' he replied. "None whatso- ever."
 c. Where were you at the time of the flooding? A. I was in the con- trol room.
 c. How long after you dived did you realize you were in trouble? A. At least minute.
 o. Were you in a position to see any of the activities of the induc- tion valve? A. No I was not.
 o. Was there any chlorine gas present? A. We only had chlorine gas about an hour prior to my con- ing up. It was discovered in the forward battery to very small ex- tent. We had out masks ready in case we needed them.
 Q. Did you try at any time to communicate with the after com- partment?. A. Yes. We tried for hours.
 Q. In what way. A. By telephone. e. Tell us what did the crew do- how did you pass away the time? A. We passed the time by thinking of the various ways they could res cue us and thi1ngs we would do if certain occasions came up.
 o. What is your age-where are you from-and are you married? A. I am 30 years old. have been in the service 12 and half years. I am from Norfolk, Virginia. I have a wife and a IA months old child, Lola Rochelle Bland. My wife's name is Nadyne. She is in Portsmouth. She met us at the dock.
 c. How long has your present en- listment to run? A. I have about Is months left to do on a four-year enlistment.