SEVEN SURVIVORS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 270, 9 July 1932, Page 5

SEVEN SURVIVORS

THE COMMANDER'S STORY PARIS, Friday. Later reports stbte that seven were rescued — the commander, two midsliipmen, two petty officers, and two seamen. All were good swimmers and kept afloat over an hour, when they were rescued by a fishing smack and hurried to Cherbourg, where the commander, Lieutenant Du Mesnil, gave th-e first news of the catastrophe. He says he was inspecting tho engines with the experts when he heard suspicious noises and cries coming from the deck. He rushed up. and found the Promothee sinking beneath his feet. All the hatches were open. He ordered those below to eseape, but within a few minutes the vessel disajrpeared. The search up to the present has been fruitless. The loss of the Promothee is the biggest submarine disaster in French naval history. The next ih. magnitude was the loss of 43 men when the Ondine was rammed by a Greek steamer in October, 1928. The Promothee was designed for colonial defence. Those rescued were too dazed to give a coherent account of the tragedy, though some said they were blown off the submarine. A fishing boat which picked up the survivors had no wireless aboard, so it hurried to port to give tidings to the Admiralty, and thus lost valuabl-e time before divers could be hurried to the scene. When the Promothee foundered all the hatches were open, so there is no hope of other survivors.