MEN IN SUNKEN SUBMARINE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 June 1939, Page 8

MEN IN SUNKEN SUBMARINE

Hope of Saving Farther Lives Diminishing STATEMENT BY THE ADMIRALTY By Telegraph.—Press Association. —Copyright. (Received This Day, 10.0 a.m.) LONDON, -rune 2. THE LATEST MESSAGE REGARDING THE SUB-' MARINE THETIS STATES THAT THE ADMIRALTY REGRETS THAT HOPE OF SAVING FURTHER LIVES IS DIMINISHING. Observers flying over the site where the Thetis sank stated that she was entirely under water at 0.80 p.m. despite low tide, while I lie buoys are no longer visible. Efforts to augment the air supply are being continued. Earlier in the afternoon compressed air cylinders were lashed to the stern of the Thetis to prevent her sinking. A spring fide was rising when the tail of the Thetis was located. The local difference between low and high tide is twenty-seven .feet, and for this reason if the nose of the vessel is caught, the entire tail is likely to be submerged at full tide. Divers are maintaining communication with those inside the submarine by tapping the hull. The Llandudno lifeboat was launched at 1.30 p.m., taking a doctor to the scene. It is estimated that the air supply will last those imprisoned until 1.40 a.m. tomorrow. Cammell Laird have released the names of 2!) members ofAheir staff aboard the Thetis, also three members of the Vickers Armstrong staff, thus revealing that there are still eighty-six men aboard. A. later Admiralty report says the Thetis is apparently at an angle of forty-five degrees, With her nose on the bottom. The King was informed by wireless that all aboard the Thetis were alive, A theory at Birkenhead is that the stern’s height out of the water indicates that the bows are caught in old wreckage. Six salvage experts who helped to raise the German Fleet at Scapa Flow have flown from the Orkneys to assist in salvaging the Thetis. An Orkney salvage steamer, with a special compressor, is also going to the scene. 'Cammell Laird’s expert, Mr F. Shaw, who came to the surface this morning, landed at Birkenhead pale and drawn. Cammell Lairds later stated that steel ropes had been passed under the bow and that it was hoped to move the Thetis shortly. Rear-Admiral Watson, commanding submarines, who is directing operations, docs not. doubt that the forepart, of the Thetis is flooded, but those who have been sated report that none were trapped in there, lie suggested that something went wrong while the crew were demonstrating the flooding of the fore torpedo tubes. Experts state that it is impossible to pump in air unless there is an outlet for foul air.