1939-06-06 — Page 11

THE CHINA MAIL, JUNE 6, 1939.

PREMIER'S

STATEMENT

ON SUBMARINE DISASTER

Accident Occurred While Adjusting Thetis's Trim

London, To-day.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, made the official Government statement on the Thesis disaster in a crowded House when the Commons reassembled yesterday after the Whitsun recess.

Mr. Chamberlain said the extra personnel had no- thing to do with the sinking of the submarine, which was caused by the flooding of the two forward compartments through the bow tor- pedo tubes.

QUEEN MARY NOW ALMOST RECOVERED

London, To-day.. Queen Mary has almost com pletely recovered from the ordeal of her motor-car accident, and hopes to attend the Trooping of the Colour with the little Prin- cesses on Thursday.Reuter Bul- letin.

SCAPA FLOW DIVERS The submarine was located again after some hours, and by this time deep sea divers from Scapa Flow had arrived and diving operations were again carried out.

By this time it was clear there

One of the tubes became open or was open when was no further possibility of sav-

the submarine submerged.

face ships.

escape

ap-

The submarine's signalling ap- means of the Davis paratus was destroyed, preventing paratus, and one of these was Cap- her communicating with the sur-tain Oram, who with great gallan

try took upon himself, before he knew the submarine was sighted, to escape from Thetis, under con- ditions which he realised as most dangerous, in order to direct opera- tions.

Marker buoys and smoke signals were released but were not imme- diately observed.

An effort was made to lift the stern more from the water, with a view to making a hole in it, but the attempt was unsuccessful.

SLIPPED WIRE

It was believed that three were killed trying to escape the first party, and were drawn into the submarine.

men

with with-

BAD BUT ALIYE Captain Oram reported that con- ditions in the submarine were be- coming bad, although ali on board were still alive...‚

Later two more men came to the surface, and as soon as it was pos- Referring to the salvage opera-sible a diver from Vigilant went tions, Mr. Chamberlain said a wire down but had the greatest difficulty was passed round the submarine in working.

and a camel (a metal container An endeavour was made to lift filled with compressed air) placed the stern of the submarine higher, in position, but the submarine slipped the wire and - had to be located again.

It was not possible to say how soon the submarine could be raised.

A full public enquiry would held.

LIGHTENING VESSEL

be

with a view to cutting a hole above water as soon as conditions allowed.

To have attempted to cut a hole in the conditions then obtaining would have incurred severe risks of: flooding which would have been un- justified.

BUOY CUT AWAY

Mr. Chamberlain expressed the Later a fresh effort was made to Government's and the House's pro-lift the stern, but this again was found sorrow at the loss of so many unsuccessful as Thetis was becom-: valuable lives and deep sympathy ing less buoyant. with the relatives.

It was believed three men were:

With a view to facilitating es-killed when trying to escape with cape of the personnel all possible the first party, and were taken back measures were taken by the crew into the submarine. to lighten the submarine, and the stern came to the surface.

After the rescue ship Brazen had located the submarine and indicated its presence by sound signals, two survivors came to the surface by

No further escapes could be made by the Davis apparatus.

Shortly before low water a wire: was placed round Thetis but it slipped, cutting away the indicator buoy.

London To Hand Over Czech Gold

LONDON, TO-DAY.

BREACH OF TREATY!

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE It would be a breach of treaty EXCHEQUER, SIR JOHN | obligations to withhold Treasury SIMON, MADE A FURTHER consent. STATEMENT IN THE HOUSE

Sir John added there was no OF COMMONS YESTERDAY | validity in any of the suggestions ON THE CZECH GOLD ASSETS made in the recent debate that HELD BY THE BANK OF ENG- the Bank of England would be LAND..

entitled to refuse to obey, in- structions given by the Bank for International Settlements.

Sir John said he had consulted law officers, who had advised that the British Government was pre- He said there was no means cluded from taking any steps to by which the Treasury could ob prevent the Bank of England tain the ruling of the courts as obeying instructions given to it to whether it had the power to by its customer, the Bank, for prevent the Bank of England International Settlements, to making the transfer when order-

led to do so. transfer the gold, as directed,...

Reuter

ing life, and they proceeded to the task of salvaging the vessel.

|

The main ballast tanks were im- mediately emptied by compressed air with the intention of bringing Thetis to the surface, but she con- tinued to dive and took an angle of 35 degrees, hitting the bottom at 130 feet.

PROVISION FOR DEPENDENTS

Cammell Laird were making pro- vision for the dependents and their staff, and the Lord Mayor of Lon- don, in accordance with the feel- ings of the country, had opened a public subscription.

The Premier expressed on behalf of the Government profound sor- row at the loss of so many valu- able lives.

Answering questions whether the public enquiry would await salvage of Thetis, the Premier re- plied it would be opened as early as possible, but it would be quite impossible to bring it to a satis- factory conclusion until the sub- marine was salved and conditions inside ascertained.

Mr. Chamberlain added that ex- ceptionally strong Spring tides made diving operations impossible except in slack water.

Mr. Chamberlain added that it was while adjusting the trim of flooding of the forward compart-operations had the greatest dim- the submarine after diving ́· that

ment occurred.

Divers taking part in the rescue

culty in working.

TERROR to Police!- DYNAMITE to Crime Row!- PUZZLE to a Nation!- Baffling the law. . stealing women's hearts..smashing injustice..He lives by his fighting courage! The most hunted, haunting, mysterious figure in police records and wo- men's diaries! Get the "Saint!”

Reuter.

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