SUBMARINE HERO

Hokitika Guardian, 11 September 1931, Page 8

SUBMARINE HERO

SEAMAN’S GRAPHIC STORY. LOSS OF THE POSEIDON. ' \ Facing death in a sunken submarine, twenty-five fathoms below the sea—the rush of incoming water and the sweat of physical terror —the body of a Chinese boy floating among the men —the prayers, and thoughts of home. These are flashes from a letter written by Able Seaman Edmund G. Holt, one of the sailors who was trapped when the British submarine Poseidon was rammed off the Chinese coast and who escaped with the . Davis apparatus. The letter was sent to his mother, Mrs H. T. Holt, of Burbage, Marlborough, Wiltshire. Mrs Holt, with u mother’s pride in her boy’s heroic conduct, sent the letter to the “Daily Express” for publication. It is Holt’s first letter to mother following the disaster, and was written aS' he lay in the sick bay of., H.M.S. Medway, the submarine parent slap. It was posted before Holt knew that he had been awarded the Medal of the Order of the British Empire, Military Division, land promoted to leading seaman.

Following are passages from the letter: “1 was right forward getting ready to fire a torpedo when, all oi a sudden, there was a terrific bump, and out went all lights, and after about two minutes she started nose diving. The next thing that happened was that we had crashed on the ocean bed with 25 fathoms of water above us, and with water rushing in from the

next compartment. Oh, it was like hell itself, all in pitch darkness. So we put on our life-saving apparatus. . . . “Aftdr about three-quarters of an hour down below the air was killing and sweat was rolling off us and the piace was full up with water within a built five feet of the top. So a fellow named Lovack and 1 tried to open the naicli, but. we failed, and another quarter of an hour after that we tried again.

“After pushing hard the sea started rushing in and still wo couldn’t open it. Another quarter of an hour passed and by this time the place’ was nearly full with oil and * water, and the pressure was terrific by now. “So Lovack and I, seeing that outsets were all 0.K., gave another hard push and it burst open, allowing the sea to rush in and Lovack and I to shoot out with air. ‘ ■

“From the boat to the surface seemed miles .... and when J arrived at the surface, still hanging on to Lovack, I noticed destroyers, submarines, cruisers and merchant ships all kround us near where the Poseidon sank.

“1 saw that Lovack was .unconscious and black and blue in the face, so I had to keep him up as well as myself. After three to . five minutes which

seemed like hours—we were picked U P but Lovack died.

“I could not sleep all that night, and I had not got over the shock. 1 could still see water rushing down in front of me. My pal that I used to go running with went down with her. Gee! lie was a jolly fine kid. It fairly breaks my heart to think of it all. It lias finished me with submarines, as my nerves would not stand it any more.

“Oil, it was awful. How we all prayed to God together, and also to all at home. When I was in that awful hell, death awaiting me, I could picture you all at home, peacefully asleep.”.,