Evening star., 1939-07-14
Heavy Seas Prevent
Divers From Learninu
SquaIus Damage
Salvage Experts Can
Only Guess When
Work Can Resume
By the Associated Press.

PORTSMOUTH. N. H.. July IA
The i'll luck which has dogged the
submarine Squalus continued today
as heavy seas prevented Navy divers
from determining how much dam
age had resulted from the wild
surge that first shot the craft above
the surface and then thumped it
back upon the ocean floor.
Rear Admiral C. w. Cole mes
saged the Portsmouth Navy Yard
from the salvage ship Falcon that
heavy ground swell and a falling
barometer would delay diving in
definitely.
Until men can be sent down no
one can know for sure whether
the dry forward compartments have
been flooded, whether the three
big pontoons still attached to the
Squalus have been broken or how
badly the ship is tangled in the
broken net of lifting gear from
which it broke late yesterday.
Until these points have been set
tied the salvage experts can only
guess as to when another lifting
effort can be made
Navy officers have said perhaps
next week or maybe not until next
September, or even later. but these
estimates have been guesses only.
In one swift minute yesterday a
surge of buoyance made the Squalus
like a live thing. throwing its bow
clear OF the water in an explosive
smother of foam and broken pom
toons before it sank again, nullifying
seven weeks of salvage effort just
at the moment of success.
High naval officials and tech
nical experts conferred all through
the night aboard the rescue ship
Falcon to map out a new plan of
action, but little apparently could
be done until the divers determined
whether any damage had been done
to the Squalus herself and whether
1t would be possible to use any of
the original salvage preparations.
PontOOn TOwed to Yard.
The most seriously damaged of
the four huge pontoons from which
the Squalus tore loose before settling
back in the ocean was toWed to the
Navy Yard last night by the tug
Sycamore. One of its three COM
partments was demolished, another
was splintered, its air hoses were
broken and parted cable dragged
at one end. A crew of workers today
attacked the job of repairing the
cylindrical lift.
' Beginning at daybreak yesterday,
the delicate but ponderous task of
lifting the submersible proceeded
slowly. The flooded stern, which
holds the bodies of the dead, had to
be tugged for hours before it broke
away from the sucking mud.
The work progressed steadily
however, until surface signs indi-
Gated the Squalus was suspended IS
feet above the bottom, 155 feet be-
low the surface, according to plan
and ready for shoreward tow.
And then something went wrong.
Suddenness of Blast.
Associated Press observers at the
scene told of wild furry which
occurred with all the suddenness
and horror of a dynamite blast
Two big lifting pontoons zoomed to
the surface, the bow of the sub
marine between them. Twenty feet
of the sub nose pointed straight
at the sky
Two of the Falcons whaleboats,
carrying 10 men apiece and as
signed to the task of racing to the
bow pontoon to close valves as soon
as it appeared, were almost engulfed
as the wildly whipping bow sent
water spouting.
60 back, go back came the
Mortified cries from the Falcons
deck as geyser 80 feet in diameter
erupted not so feet from the 26-foot
boats
Skillful maneuvering, spiced with
pure luck, enabled the men to get
safely out of harms way.
And then. lust as suddenly &c II