Evening star., 1939-06-03
HopetoSaveAny
Of 98 on Thefis
Abandoned
All Of Trapped Men
Believed Killed
By Chlorine
By the Associated Press.

BIRKENHEAD. England, June 3.
Trapped and believed killed by
chlorine gas, SO men were given up
for dead by the admiralty late to-
day in the submarine Thetis on the
muddy bottom of the Irish Sea.
The disaster ranks as the greatest
In submarine history.
The admiralty announced at 4::30
pm. 10:30 am, E. S. T.) there is
now no longer justification for hope
that any further lives can be saved
from the Thetis. Salvage work pro-
ceeds.'
Only shortly before it had raised
the number left aboard the sub
marine from 81 to 98.
-Four of the 102 men aboard when
the vessel dived into the mud
Thursday IA miles off Great Ormes
Head escaped yesterday with Davis
lungs Three of the SO left were
believed to have died trying to
get out the same way.
Britain Perplexed
Britain. stunned and beWildered,
wavered between sorrow and per-
plexity as it accepted the news of
the catastrophe with torrent of
questions.
There was no immediate answer
to the questions of what caused the
submarine to dive into the mud
or why no one was able to follow
the four men who escaped safely
yesterday.
The admiralty statement abandon
Ing hope was preceded by similar
one from the Offices of Cammell
Laird, Ltd. builders of the vessel.
An official of Cammell Laird an
nounced shortly after 3 pm. % am.
E. S. to:
I'VE have now no hope of saving
further lives
I'VE consider that the men died
from chlorine gas. The ship carried
a large quantity of chlorine which
we think would have escaped owing
to the angle at which she lay"
Admiralty officials did not abandon
their efforts to raise the Thetis. but
admitted slow seepage of water into
the submarines batteries probably
had formed a quantity of chlorine
gas and killed the men.
Stuck in Test Dive.
The new s1,500000 Thetis became
imbedded in mud at a As degree
angle during a test dive at lao pm.
GAO am, E. S. TD Thursday. The
265-foot craft was in water only 100
feet deep, and when first found
Friday morning l8 feet of her tail
were above the surface.
While attempts we're being made
to keep this part of the craft above
water. a strong tide came in about
dusk Friday and. after the tail had
been visible for seven hours, swept
it undersea.
When the tide slackened the tail
failed to reappear. 1t was at this
point that the Admiralty and the
builders first disclosed to the public
grave doubts that any lives would be
saved in addition to those of the
four men who had escaped.
Why more men failed to follow the
mysteries of the tragedy
Other mysteries - discussed in
pointed questions in the London
press-were why conveying vessels
were not near the Thetis on such an
early test operation, why she was
not found until Is hours after the
search began, and why an air line
mt Yroo6n fo fo
ing an estimated 18 hours the men
were believed to be alive after the
vessel was found.
HistOry's Greatest Sub Loss.
The death toll of 98 was by far the
greatest in the history of mans at
tempts to navigate beneath the sur
face Of the sea. The next greatest
loss of life was in the sinking of a
Japanese submarine on August 81,
1928. beside dock at Kobe, Japan,
when IS men, all aboard were lost.
The next greatest loss of life was
83. This was in the sinking of the
British L-24 on January 10, 1884.
The Thetis disaster was the third
grave submarine accident this year.
On February 2. The japanese I-63
sank in Gungo Channel, 400 miles
southwest Of Toxic. with loss of 81
lives, and the second was the sinking
only week ago of the United States
Navy's Squalus with a loss of 26
men.
Thirty-three were rescued in the
Squalus accident by use of diving
bell-something the British Navy
does not have. Whether such ap-
paratus might have been used, had
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