1961-05-20 — Page 11

Page

THE CHINA MAIL,

SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1961.

OFF DUTY ... and members of Scal's crew bring vital items of baggage ashore

ON DUTY

a picture taken aboard Seal while she was escorting a convoy

(Continued from Page 6)

But there was the smell- smell that contid only be experienced in a submarine. It was not a strong odour, but it was compounded of many elements: diesel of, the damp smell of water and the tang of sult; the arjuna of the ment which had been cooked for the meal so abruptly Interrupted; the disinfectant which had been used to clean up the mess made by the overturned plater and the homely smell of sweat, for submarkers always wear too many clothes at sea, and get no exercise,

HAZARDOUS

at

Out

Lonsdale now called a con- ference of officers in the ward- 100m, and decided on the first concerted action to be taken. As long as Seal cemained That steep angle, undisturbed, he thought it might be found possible to shut the doors of the escape chamber and pump Bane of the water in the etern. This was Lieutenant Clark's assignment. He collected the group of men with whom he planned to

out the Carry hazardous re-entry into the flooded compartments. There was Chief ERA. John Stalt and Chief Sloker "Spoff" Middleton and ER.A. "Tubby" Lister.

even

But before they could Irake up their minds about how they would tackle the various problems involved they were Joined by a revitalised Leading Stoker Vidler who insisted C!! coming alt to add his own experience of the compartments from which Reynolds and be had so recently escaped.

Clark cautiously opened the watertight door leading into the motor-room, No water sloshed over the sill at them.

By this time all the lights aft

had of the motor-room failed, and the men were dependent on the beans of their torches. As they peered around they could see that the compart- ment was largely clear of water -the courage cl Vidler and Reynolds in refusing to move for'ard until the door between The motor-room and the deck was shut was clearly pay- ing dividends.

PERMISSION TO GAMBLE, SIR?

The

captain writes...

The following is taken from the foreword which

Lieut.-Commander Rupert Lonsdale, captain of the Seal (now a Church of England priest) wrote for the book by C. E. T. Warren and James Ben- 2011:-

The men in Seal were typical of submariners throughout the Service. In many ways they had to bear far greater burdens than their commanding officer; and I take this opportunity of thanking theni again for their loyalty, efficiency, Bud steadfastness in adversity and for their Food humour, qualities inherent in the Service to which they belonged. They would humbly agree with me, Y believe that their story may, in some way, to some people, be a help in And- ing faith in God, who is merciful for ever to those who put their trust in him.

The five of them were shut off from the rest of the crew, and, from the safety of the for'ard compartments, in Vidler's caso

for the second time in a matter of minutes.

ICY COLD

But the gristy precaution was necessary, in case Seal should suddenly lift on to a more even keel, which would allow all the sea-water to flow for'ard through whatever apertures It might dnd open.

They mess

They passed a brief message back to confirm what they had found, and then they shut and clipped the door behind them.

17

23

But the angle was Increasing main motors, letting the to the escape sprawled over the control room

by the entrance compartment.

Their target was first of all the far door" of the compart. ment.

To reach this menué ducking one's head in the dark lato the flooded chamber, groping for the heavy door and trying to pall It "uphill' through the fce-cold water. One after another they tried. They all falled.

After several altempla they retreated a few feet tor'ard to

rest,

As they held one another, in position, half standing, halt hanging. they surveyed the seeTC. The beams of their torches showed a quile depress- Ing picture. There were smashed benches, broken tables and mis- cellaneous other debris wallow- the Althy, black, slimy ing t water.

They drew breath and decided to have one more attempl.

This time, working on the mes deck, they tried to ahut the for'ard door of the escape compartment. This had swung right open, and was jammed by the weight of water against the bulkhead. It should not cause too much trouble, they thought. Once the door could be pulled away from the bullchend where It was being imprisoned by the weight of water it would close on to its seating "downhill,”

Sure enough the door swung into position with very little trouble. But for some the "doga" that locked it refused to engage properly.

reason

"It' have to tio," Clark decided. "We just daren't tempt Providence too far by opening it again."

HOPEFUL

They returned to the control- room for'ard. Clark dried him- self as best he could, and made few quick calculations, Seal

hed about 130 tons of water in

the after compartments, he con- duded.

in two seriously concentrating card schools) when Lieutenant Trevor Beel spoke to him,

"Captain wants you to pre- pare all the confidential books as wo for ditching as soon surface, chief." he was told Futer immediately compre- hended the significance of this

two around alin. Seat... they... sources of power battle against, he had failed. So far, anyway. the wolght of water in the after “

COPYRIGHT: compartments and the suction 1961 C. E. T. Warren and of the mud of the Kattegat.

The wavering depth-gauge 'needle defed him. It

from the air and, in some cases, finding there Adr scarcely severely. Eight feet ... 75 feet. enough to allow them to work. the needle, wavered

"Standby to surface," Loria-

The nose of the submarine Lieutenant Buller dale called.

had gone up. The stern W3S acknowledged. The lime was

still wedged on the sea bed.

Was exactly 22.20 G.M.T. "Surface,"

"Stop blowing_for'drd," order- obviously going to ordered Lonsdale. "Burface, sir,"

move no "Blow everything further. and followed cd Lonsdale. repeated Butler,

"Stop blowing," he

motors." this with this crisply announced you can aft, Number One." But ordered. "Stop main blowing instructions

And the the angle persisted.

the Compressed air and battery variously numbered main ballast needle stuck at 75 feel.

power were too precious to

tanks.

for

instruction: Lonsdale must think that their chances of again ultimately reaching home

The attempt was on. were slim in the extreme, for

Anxious faces watched the the bundling of prescribed secret several depth-gauges throughout documents into a weighted bag the submarine. Ninety feet... ready for consignment

to the 3 feet ...

80 feet ... slowly bottom of the sea could only the control-room depth-gauge foreshadow the possible loss of needle crept anti-clockwise. Seal.

"Shall I just keep out one sel of code and cypher books and the appropriate re-coding tables, sir," he asked, "because, once Adm/rally decipher the message I've got to tranamit as sOOT DE we get up topside again, they're bound to send us some instruc- lions? And without the books and tables we'll be completely stuck."

Beat took the query back to Lonsdale, only to return with a confirmation of the original in- atructions all the books and all the tables wore to go..

the

Sadly Futer packed specially issued canvas bag and placed it ready to be taken up to the bridge when the moment should arrive. He told no one of the ominous action he had been ordered to tako,

RUM

It pleased Lonsdale that the morale was so good. As the evening hours passed slowly through eight and nine and ten o'clock he made periodic trips from forlord to as far aft as he could now go, showing his face and chatting.

Once the routine of waiting had been quietly adopted, he ordered "Up spirits the Navy's most welcome order, with its discovered that

extra tot of rum for all hands, the

Higgins omciated in his capacity slckers' mesa-deck was half full

JA coxswain. The ritual of of water. Holding hands and While this sounded a lot, the calculating fractions of a pint clasping the less movable fittings main ballast tank capacity of with the series harder to anchor one another, the

of regulation submarine was 380 tons, copper measures AVIS duly they lowered themselves into which meant that once the adhered to and soon the warm the almost shoulder-high waler main ballast was fully blown and slightly sickly smell was clear of water there should be again adding to the air of res more than suficient buoyancy assurance In Seal. to lift Seal up to the Gurface once again, oven though she would not be able to float very high out of the water once sho got there.

A British Crossword Puzzle

12 113 14

9 10

11

12

13 14

ACROSS

County town,

7 Delty.!

Sanction,

9 Besides,

11 Take by strategy,

12 Corner.

13 Existed,

10 Spur,

17 Shelf.

18 Dispatch,

19 Swallow?

21 Made a scene!

22 Officially approved,

23 Ways,

22

6

18

20

1 Close?

2 Cringed,

DOWN

3 Catch,

4 Virtue,

o Danced?..

6 II's no locall.

10 Tongue.

11 Ball bearing pert

13 Boat,

14 Youngster,

16 Stops,

18 Supporta ono party,

Is Vanquish,

20 Movement.

YESTERDAY'S CROSSWORD—Across: 1, Preserves, D. Uncle,

19 Addie, 12 Her, 19 Deo, 14 Guen, 18 Peered, 18 Shery, 10 Cocoon, 20 Eari, 22 Ann, 23 Asp, 24 Terso, 25 Strum, 20. Footbella........ Downi a Ruche, 3 Berr, 4 Render, & Elder, 6 Pussy-cata, 7 Pinduliums, 1 Lemons, 11 Deopoot, 14 Pan, 17 11onest, 19 Cargo 21 April; 23 Axia,

The order) of Vidier and Bey- nolds was súll very much in the minds of their messmates and, in the traditional manner, this concern was demonstrated by "sippers" frora a frighteningly large number of Turn-filled glasses, cups and `mage.

He told Lonsdale the result of his mental urlikmetlo. It Was cheering news for the captain; but there could be "Play cards, read, rest, pre- no question of putting Clark's serve the air by moving about calculations to the teat until 42 litle as possible,' Lonsdale darkness.

had said. He had also taken "We shall just have to settle one or two senior hands from down and wall," he said to thy them to make sure that none of each mess on one side and told ratings near him in the control the men resting actually fell room. Within ecconds his met asleep. Any who spre had been passed through never rouse themselves again.

slept might |

Round about ten o'clock, with Every man knew that the the time at which they would vital question would be decided attempt to surface now close at some time after ten o'clock that hand, Lending Steward Hurley night. They had a couple of started moving round the beat hours more to go.

with plates full of sandwiches.

the boat.

Lonsdale's next task was to There was no tea. The diminish- prepare sigial reporting the ing powers of the batteries could day's events, so that i would not be further weakened by use be ready for transmission as of the electric stove. soon 43 Scal surfaced. This involved reference to a mass of cypher documents in the ward-

room.

PRECAUTION

The Air

was geiling bad, Clark was noticing how the men around him were show- jpg signs of difficuity In breathing. It was not dramati- eally bad--not yet, anyway, ho thought.

A little before 10.30 p.m.

It was while he and the other Lonsdale re-entered the control- officers were doing this that Chief Petty Officer Joe Higgins room and ordered the crew to stuck his head between

for up positions wardroom curtains. "Permission attempt to mutace.

take

the

lo

for the ship's company gamble with Carris, Bir," he

asked.

Lamsdale smiled. " think we

WAVERING

In the engine-room men were waste. sliding on the wet deck, striving to maintain a hold on valve- handles or items of machinery. In the control-room the atmo- sphere was tense. For a minute or two Lonsdale continued the blowing and the driving of the

EUS-

Seal hung, seemingly pended, in her strange position for perhaps a whole minute.

Thon she begun cettling slowly downwards again, until she levelled out,

Lonsdale looked straight-eyed

James Benson

NEXT WEEK

The captain leads prayers

-(London Express Service),

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could stretch King's Regulations Without delay, but at the that far, Higging," he replied, same time without the normal Some time Inter Chief Pelty belter-meiter pace at which the Omcor Telephist Charlle order was usually obeyed, the Futer was thinking how calm crow of Seal moved to their everything was (lie had been various positions, watching two groups of ratings

Even Uuly amalt expenditure of energy had

a, parcoppie effect on the condition of the This verses has been air. Not only were the 80 men adapted from the book Wil muddenly conmaning(7) PLODO Hot We Fear, to be published" oxygen, they were also suddenly | by Harrup.

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