Evening star., 1940-03-17

City OF Rome. There was shortage
Of divers for rescue and salvage op-
erations at the time, and Mr.. Bad
ders, member of the ships company
on the salvage boat Falcon, offered
himself as a pinch-hitter.
Today, Mr.. Badders, who lives at
1910 Ridge place S.E.,- can look back
upon Is years of deep-sea diving,
service in the S-51, the S-4 and the
6qualus submarine disasters, and to
heroic duty that has brought him
the Congressional Medal Of Honor
and the Naval Cross. He rescued
18 Of the 33 men saved from the
Squalus, and with another diver
went down a third time in the div
ing bell to make sure there were no
more survivors. ..-
Badders helped organize the deep
sea diving school at the Navy Yard
here, and in the summer Of 1898
made the worlds record dive Of 500
feet In the Navy Yard diving tank.
Make Trip by Air.
Clad In his 200-pound suit, Bad
ders was diving in the tank when
news of the Squalus disaster was
flashed to the Navy Yard on May
%, 1899. He and other divers were
ordered to stand by for a plane
flight to Portsmouth, N. H., near
where the Squalus had sunk to a
grave 240 feet below the waves.
Once they were on the ocean sur
face over the Squalus, the first job
of the divers was to rescue the 80
survivors who remained alive in a
forward compartment of the SUBJ
marine. Four trips were necessary
to bring them out safe and sound.
Badders brought up nine men on
each of two trips down in the diving
bell.
This was q job on which there
could be no mistakes, because mis-
takes would have been fatal to one
or to many men. The diving bell,
once it is attached to the hatch of
q submarine, temporarily becomes
part and parcel of the sub" The
ascent begins only after the hatch
has been tightly closed and the men
who have left the sub are in the
OCu
"They all climbed into the bell by
themselves" Badders said, as he
described the condition of the
Squalus survivors when help reached
them. "They were calm, cool and
collected, but they were extremely
cold on account of their exposure to
the cold air. All Of them were
joking and laughing"
Badders was not in the bell on its
almost il-fated final rescue trip to
the Squalus. This was the trip In
which 1t. Oliver Naquin, the sub
commander, was brought up along
with several Of his men. The all
important down-haul wire became
fouled and the bell was suspended
deep in the sea for four hours before
the wire was Strengthened and
ascent was made safe again.
The real heroism OF Badders and
his companion diver, John Mihalow-
ski, 20, came after the 80 men had
been rescued. They were sent below
to make sure no one was alive in
the torpedo compartment Of the
Squalus. They believed this portion
of the vessel, according to informa-
ton from 1t. Naquin, was flooded,
but nothing could be left to doubt.
Badders and Mihalowski descend
Cd at 40 feet minute to the bot
tom, where the pressure was 100
pounds to the square inch and where
the pressure in the lower part OF
the bell had to be equalized with
the pressure Of the water in the sub
marine. Otherwise their own death
would have been the result.
When the diving bell touched the
squalus' deck, the divers in the
upper compartment Of the bell
turned on compressed air and forced
from the lower chamber the water
caught there as the bell settled on
its gasket. After the pressure had
built up enough suction to hold the
chamber to the submarine, the
divers went down through the bells
hatch and fastened its large hook
bolts to the deck. Then they climbed
back to the interior OF the chamber
and closed the hatch.
The acid test, that Of equalizing
the pressure, was next. Slowly but
surely the cages went up until 100
was reached. Deck crews on the
Falcon waited with bated breath.
It seemed as If hours were passing.
Finally the voice Of Badders came
from below with the news, "Okay,
the compartment Is flooded"
Badders then dropped down to the
torpedo hatch and raised it slightly.
It was full Of water that began to
work up from the partially opened
hatch. Badders knew by this time
that the torpedo room was flooded
and that no man in there could be
alive. The water was dark and
muddied, and, fortunately, he saw
nothing else. He climbed back up
into the bell. The pressure process
was reversed, the bell was discon-
nected and then Badders and Mi
halowski went back to the surface.
Learns of Award.
This was last May, and on Janu-
ary 6 of this year, Badders received
from President Roosevelt q letter
advising him he had been awarded
the Confessional Medal Of Honor
"for extraordinary heroism In the
line of his profession during rescue
And salvage operations following the
sinking Of the U. s. S. Squalus on
% May, 1899. :.
During rescue operations" said
the Presidents citation, "Badders,
~ senior member Of the chamber
rescue crew, made the last extreme
" hazardous trip Of the rescue
chamber to attempt to rescue any
possible survivors in the flooded
after portion Of the Squalus. He
was fully aware Of the great danger
involved In that If he and his as
sistant became incapacitated there
was no way in which either could
be rescued. During the salvage
operations Badders made important
and difficult dives under the most
hazardous conditions. His out
a = N.-L