The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-07-22
|SuIlken Submarine RESTING
Easily Following Plunge
Especial to The Citizen)
BY FRANK w. LOWERING

PORTSMOUTH, N. H., July %.
The sunken submarine Squalus
is reported by divers going down
225 feet as resting easily after
her plunge from the raising sings
Thursday, July 18th, when she
came to the surface, broke away
from the seven pontoons and
went back to bottom again with
her freight of Is naval dead.
Apparently the submarine was
not injured and is described in
fine condition and position for
further salvage attempts which
have been blocked some days on
account of rough water at the
scene fifteen miles southeast of
! the naval station here,
All matches were found closed.
This fact gave the navy men
much optimism in following their
plans to bring the Squalus to the
| surface again. Lieut.. Morrison
and Diver Frye explored the
wrecked sub and found the deck
225 feet down instead Of the orig
inal 240 feet, with Z list 70 port
/ of six degrees. The deck seemed
to the divers to be level fore and
aft, they stated in a radio mes
sage to the yard from the rescue
ship Falcon.
The deck was found badly
! fouled with small wire, probably
the strands Of lifting cables and
pontoon lashings which broke
when the submarine dove to the
bottom again. 1t was further
said the deck was some Is feet
out of mud. a blue clay bottom
into which the craft plunged sew
eral feet on the occasion of her
fatal dive May 23rd.
Naval men feared some of the
matches might have been blown
open by the rise of the SUBJ
marine, but this fear was found
baseless by the divers. As the
sub is tight it will be a much
easier task to re-attach the lift
ing devices for further attempt
/ to raise her.
The three pontoons that broke
loose when the Squalus burst in
a tumult of foam to the surface
the evening of July 18th and
sank in flash again were cut
loose and are at the naval station
repair shops here being recondi-
toned for the continuation Of the
work which will 60 on shortly.
Some of these great steel drums
were used at the Key West navy
yard in experiments with the
S-5l several years ago when the
Momsen lung was tested.
The pontoons would have been
repaired at the scene of the
wreck but they were found so
badly damaged that the equip
ment aboard the Falcon could
not handle the job. Many more
dives will have to be made be-
fore the pontoons can be at
tached in proper position to the
wreck, and the great steel chains
slung through mud tunnels again
beneath the Squalus. 1t will
take some weeks, navy men said.
1t was at first feared the rearing
plunge might have damned the
stern of the sunken submarine
even further into the mud than
the death dive did, but the report
of the exploratory divers showed
this fallacy. To them all. how
ever, one disheartening fact
stands out too clearly seven
weeks of dangerous work had
been wiped out in a few fearful
seconds when the gray nose of
the sub knitted into the late after
noon sunlight that fated Thurs
| day afternoon, then vanished
again in q smother Of foam.
Only one of the seven huge
ponto0ns used in the work was
unframed. One was badly crush
ed and three were unaccounted
for.
Three pontoons are attached to
the vessel and several Of the air
lines are still connected, UNI
harmed.