FIRE ON THETIS?

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 June 1939, Page 5

FIRE ON THETIS?

STOKER ARNOLD’S OPINION. ONLY GLOW OF FUSED WIRES. ?y Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. LONDON, June 10. Stoker Arnold explained that he desired to allay the impression that the fire on the Thetis was anything more than a glow of fused wires and smoke. There was so little oxygen that a match would not have burnt. An earlier message stated that RearAdmiral Bruce, Controller of the Navy, who arrived at Liverpool, to attend a conference on the salvaging • of the submarine Thetis, revealed that a fire which broke out just before the last survivors escaped probably hastened the end of the trapped men. He stated that the fire was started electrically, and the smoke was clearly visible in the compartment housing the Davis escape chamber. Engines were worked to operate the Davis apparatus, but after three dead men had been, pulled back into the submarine the chamber was emptied by opening the inner hatch, allowing the water to pour in. The watei- did not escape by the normal channels, because of the steep angle of the ship, and instead trickled into the engineroom and dripped on to the engines, starting fire. The Admiralty stated that confirmation of the statement that a fire occurred on the Thetis must await the official inquiry.