Subm Rescued from Wrecked anne GPigk and span n new uniforms, the survivors of the disaster to H.M, Submarine Poseidon on June 9 arrived in yesterday morning by the C.N.C. str. Shuntien, and to-day they will leave for England in the P. & 0. str. Rawalpind One servi only is not with the party, the Chinese steward Ah Hoi, who has remained in his native Weihaiwei.
"Yesterday afternoon news was received of the promotion of the four members of the crew who escaped from the bottom of sea with the aid of the Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus.
Petty Officer Pat Willis, whose cool and courageous conduct has won the plaudits of England, has received special promotion to the rank of Chief Petty Officer, while the three others all receive a step up in bank, The fine discipline and team-work of the crew proved it. alt after the collision, when 29 officers and men made their way to the deck through a narrow hatchway without any signs of panic, the ship sinking in about two minutes, 'The men yesterday appeared in "comparatively good spirits, but they' all regretted the loss' of their ship, which they said was the best in the submarine flotilla, 'The crew were all picked men, selected 'It-Cmdr, Galpin, their captain, and they were proud of their sport ing record, From a total complement of 55 men they ran a hockey side, a crie~ Ket eleven and two soccer' teams, and there were only solitary de-Heats against each of these sides.
Details of the disaster, which have been lacking in previous reports have been pieced together. The Davis apparatus, used for the first time in an emergency, result-in. the saving of five out of "eight liv Willis was in the forward compartment when the str, Yuta rammed the submarine, With him swore Leading Seaman R, T. Clarke and Able Seaman Nagie ani E.
In the next camp:
aft of him were Able Set Hews and A. Loveck, Chinese steward Ah Hol and an additional Chinese steward whose name does not appear to be known.
Suddenly, at about 12.46 p.m., P. +O, Willis felt the submarine shu der and immedi had been ras partment immediately, and order-the watertight door of the compartment to be closed. "Thi carried out within starboard, and the sailors that the submarine was Down it went until it tom. P.O, Willis looked at the: depth gauge which is installed the forward compartment and saw that it registered just over 100 ect.
In the meantime, just after the!
the electric light went out. An electric torch was—produced, and by the dim ti tot this the the submarine touched bottom Willis commenced to give commands. First he ordered. that everyone should put on the Davis equipment, ready to clip it into position when the time for escape came, He told everybody that there was a very good chance of escaping, with the aid of the new apparatus.
Phon ho ordered everybody to tations, telling them that he ing. to flood the compartment and then opened the valve) tthe' end of the compartment thi Would flood No. 8 torpedo tub 'All this took place "wi minute or" so" of "the Ferching the bottom of the sea, 15 frites out of Weihaivel. 'Then, with The. water commencing' to. trickle tu, he ordered everybody 40 take up their' position under the torpedo embarkation hatch, through—which He'was intended thatthe escape should be made.
Then ensued a long wait until the pressures. outside and. inside the Ship should be equalized suff-Biently "to enable the hatch to be forced open. With the water slowly rising, "Willis Kept the men oot spirits, and. all combined. in Fesusuting "the tivo Chinese bays fs to their hopes of escape. The Chinese. boys. were instructed 5 to how to handle the Davis gear.
in the dariiness, veleved by" the occasional glimmer of the electric! torch and the "glow of cigarette! Ducts, "the patty phildgomhieally waited, P.O." Willis offered prayers for the, salvation "of the py commencing with the Lord's wee "Then somebody started a song. Who it was has not been aseer-amed, Dut the group of six British Sailors sang, lusty, while the two Chinese no, doubt echoed the " song in their. spirits, The sailors sang want to be happy," and they sang many ethers. They smoked cigarettes from time t>_ time from the start of their long vigil. True, they did not exactly improve the air that they were breathing, but the sailors hoped before very long. be out of it. Nagle even joked about the cigarette smoking, " and told the story of the Scotsman who of the men, Willis gave orders £or everyone to connect up on their Davis apparatus. This has a clip close the nose, goggles for the joyes, and a mouthpiece connected fo an oxygen cylinder, which also connects to a rubber "tube which facts as a Kifebelt, Then Holt and Loveck got ready to go to the surface. The others Pushed hard against the hatch, Which opened up, and the two men slipped through." "After, this, with
shut heavy. clang, the arch sldnmed inside, Willis thought things over, and decided that those left in the' compartment, must all escape together, if he fet them go two by two it might happen that' the last two men might not be strong enough to fife the hatch and might get left behind. "Accordingly another long wait occurred.
Tt was not until another hour and half had passed that h> gave the word, and by this time the water was up to their chins. Then they all, Willis, Nagle, Clarke, Hews and the two Chinese, got ready to open the hatch.
It opened fairly easily, and all six scrambled out, Willis, Nagle, Clarke"and Ah Hoi reached the surface within a matter of seconds, thanks to the inflated tubes of the Davis gears, but Hews and the second Chinese never came up.
'Willis actually was unconscious when he reached the surface, the Davis gear kept him afloat until he was picked up. He then found that the naval ships were not surprised to find him and his companions, as H.MLS. Hermes had picked up Holt' when he came to the surface, alive, and A. B. Loveck, dead, the change in pressure having proved too much for him.
"Thus of the eight who get out of the forward compartment, five saved their lives; Loveck reached the surad, and Hews and the second Chinese steward failed to reach the surface. All five survivors were carefully treated by doctors "and kept quiet. Not only the difficulties of the escape but the coldness of the water 100 fect below the surface, and. in which they had stood for so long, had affected them.
When the submarine was hit by uta, it. was engaged
the crash occurred the orter was farazion. After its object
Jeiven to close the watertight doors, which was done. "Eighteen men thus were shut off in the after part of the submarine and lost their while eight were shut off forward, the party under P.O. Willis.
'The order was given to abandon the ship, and all those below, four Joficers and 25 ratings, made' their jway up the ladder. There is not room for more than one man to go up at the same time, and the 29 went up quickly, one after the other, Dut, with no semblance of pani Four of the men rushed aft, Hhoping to find time: to open the after hatch from the outside so that [those entrapped in that part of the ship might rush out, but the ship sank too quickly and they could not it, AIl dived overboard.
When the Yuta hit the stibmarine, ithe bows of the ship came into a Jcompartment in which some of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.