WRECKED SUBMARINE

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 829, 30 May 1910, Page 7

WRECKED SUBMARINE

THE CHANNEL DISASTER.

WERE CALLS FOR HELP HEARD?

EMPHATIC DENIAL. By Telegraph-Press Association—Ooryrleht Paris, May 28. The commander of the steamer Pas de Calais states that ho saw the periscope of tho submarine Pluviose (which was sunk in the Channel through a collision) five yards ahead, and reversed his vessel's engines and altered her course without avail. The movements of the Pluviose showed that her crew was endeavouring to get the vessel on a level keel. One diver who went down affirms that he heard knocking, and he believes the crow is within the • watertight compartment, in which there is air sufficient for thirty hours. A DENIAL. (Rec. May 29, 5 p.m.) Paris, May 28. An emphatic denial is given to the statement that tho crew of tho Pluviose answered tho knocking or that calls for help were heard. STATEMENT BY MINISTER FOR' MARINE. A PERSONAL INVESTIGATION. Paris, May 27. Since the disasters to the French vessels Farfadefc and Lutin, French submarines have been fitted with buckles. It is suggested that tho Pas de Calais should have immediately attached a hawsor to the buckle ar.d prevented the Pluviose sinking.

Admiral de Lapeyrere, Minister for Marine, has j>ersonally investigated the disaster. He states that the Pluviose rose to the surface owing to the commanders supreme but fruitless effort to right the vessel, which was falling rapidly. It is impossible for the crew to be now alive. A strong current running parallel to the const curried the submarine within the mail steamers' daily track. The Calais tugs arc, not powerful enough to be effective, and the arrival of tugs from Cherbourg is being

awaited. Divers in their latest descents failed to locatc the Pluviose, owing to the strong currents. KING CEORCE'S SYMPATHY. MESSAGE TO THE PRESIDENT. London, May 27. King George has sent to the President of France (M.' Fallieres) a messagb of sympathy in connection with tho disaster to tho submersible Pluviose. ALMOST ANOTHER DISASTER. SUBMARINE HAS A NARROW ESCAPE. (Rec. May 29, 5 p.m.)' Paris, May 28. While the submarine Circe was. manoeuvring off Toulon, it narrowly escaped being cut in halves when rising to the surface by the guardship Admiral Trehouart. IN A SUNKEN VESSEL. JAPANESE OFFICER'S PATHETIC LETTER. Paris, May 27. The newspapers are publishing the full text from Japanese-newspapers of a letter written by the lieutenant of the Japanese submarine which sank during manoeuvres recently.

[The Japanese submarine was losl off Hiroshima. She dived and failed to rise. She was located some hours later and promptly raised, but the crew, consisting of three officers and eleven men, were dead. A document was discovered in the refloated vessel, written by the lieutenant-commanding, and gave details of the accident. The lieutenant described the cause, and the futile steps takeii to endeavour to raise the submarine. The writer stated that he had reached such a stage of asphyxiation that he was breathing only with the greatest difficulty, art! he prayed the Mikado to succour the families of those who perished.]