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Show TRAPPED AT BOTTOM OF SEA BRAVE CHILIAN CREW SAVED Rescue of 21 Sailors, Helpless in Submarine. Without One Loss, a Thrilling Chapter of Heroism in a Navy Already Rich in Traditions of Unfaltering Devotion to Duty. chlorine from the main section had already begun to filler through the cracks. However, (his compartment was soon filled with the poisonous gas and the men had to leave it to avoid asphyxiation. Orders were then given to retire to the only chamber left, that at the bow, where new and frightful tortures awaited them. Just as soon as the officers and sailors sail-ors had shut themselves up in the bow the electric current was cut off, leaving leav-ing the submarine still submerged and in complete darkness. This to the various persons who had never boarded board-ed a submarine before in their lives, meant certain death. The commander exhorted his men to continue in the dark their work of calking up the compartment to stop the inrush of water and gas, which continued to spread throughout the boat. The hull was laying at a depth of 17 meters, in a bed of mud. At Work in Darkness. Each man worked at random in the dark; several of them were almost overcome and their strength had begun be-gun to leave them, but their discipline was not lessened for one moment. The only pump available drove the water out slowly, which helped to prolong the hope of rescue which these in-t in-t 'epid sailors had in their hearts. The air was well nigh irrespirable ; their pulses beat with fury. But, in spite of all, each man was performing perform-ing In the dark the task assigned him. At five o'clock in the afternoon, six hours after the sinking, the crew heard the clatter of a chain that was being cut. They knew then that efforts ef-forts for their rescue were under way and at the same time that these efforts ef-forts were being frustrated. The submarine, sub-marine, after the chain was cut, had remained in position with her stern somewhat raised. Meanwhile, in the world above, the disappearance of the H-3 had become known and all elements of rescue were set to work and succeeded in locating lo-cating the position of the submarine from the indications of a tugboat which had accompanied the submarine up to the moment of the accident. Various other submarines and tugs placejrltv.a-selves about this point and two heavy cranes with chains were set up in worKius,,order. A diver who went to the bottom -o-turned saying that the H-3 was lodged In the mud in a dangerous position and that the telephone buoy was entangled. en-tangled. After a little continued effort ef-fort the telephone apparatus was straightened out and communication with the crew of the submarine reestablished. re-established. When questioned the commander replied with stoical valor that it would be necessary to raise the boat as soon as possible to save the lives of the crew. These words, said without anxiety, without fear in the presence of such a catastrophe, are worthy of the tradition that Prat set clown for our navy, when seeing that his old wooden ship was about to be attacked by a powerful enemy of Chill, he said : "The flag of Chili has never been lowered and I hope this New York. Felix Nieto Del Rio, correspondent in New York of El Diarlo Ilustrado of Santiago, Chili, relates re-lates for the New York Herald the .following story of the sinking of the submarine H-3 of t lie Oilman navy, and Its remarkable rescue without loss of life : In the beginning of June a maritime mari-time accident occurred in the military port of Talcahuauo, Chili, which will figure with honor in the history of submarine navigation. The fact has special interest or the experts of the United States because the submarine H-3 of the Chilian war squadron was constructed here by the Electric Boat company. This submarine is one of six which the British government had ordered built during the war, but which she turned over to Chili along with 50 airplanes and hydroplanes of combat. England made this grant to Chill after having taken over for her own fleet two superdreadnaughts of 28,000 tons, as well as some destroyers of 2,000 tons and other smaller vessels which Chili was having constructed, and which were used by England In the war against Germany. The submarine fleet left New London Lon-don last year, conveyed by the cruiser Chacabuco, under the command of Admiral Luis Gomez Carreno. At Charleston a furious tempest came up. which lasted 70 hours, during which time the submarines, defying all danger, dan-ger, demonstrated their excellent construction con-struction and the dexterity of their Chilian crews. The transport Anga-mos, Anga-mos, auxiliary of the fleet, was almost lost in the storm. Having thus proved the worth of the submarines, which at all times remained in a compact group, those in command understood that they" could continue the trip to the coast of Chili with entire confidence. The fleet touched at Havana, Kingston, Kings-ton, Colon, Balboa, a port In Ecuador; Arlca, Chili, Valparaiso and Talcahuauo, Talca-huauo, their final destination. This formidable voyage of many thousand miles is in truth a record that adds another proud page to the traditional competence and fearlessness fearless-ness of the Chilian sailors, who received re-ceived their first naval instruction rcm - ibp a:uQH3 English admiral, Lord Cochrane, chief of'tiie -eJLil'.?.'1 fleet during the war of independence. This exploit rebounded In all the scientific centers of submarine navigation, navi-gation, and has been recorded as one of the most Interesting successful attempts at-tempts made in the world. The greatest great-est span of continued travel was between be-tween Ecuador and Chili, which is about 1,200 miles. Ventilating Pipe Broken. At a quarter to ten o'clock in the morning of June 1 the submarines started their customary exercises of submersion inside the military port of Talcahuano. Suddenly the commander, command-er, Capt. Del Solar, noticed that his boat had become very heavy and did not easily respond to the maneuvers. He then saw that the ventilating pipe In the battery of the stern had broken and that, besides water, strong fumes f chlorine were entering the compartment. compart-ment. With due presence of miud the, commander ordered that the compartment compart-ment be vacated, taking all the necessary neces-sary precautions so that the water and gases might not enter the other sections of the submarine. As the danger was becoming imminent, immi-nent, the telephone buoy was sent up to call for help, but there was no answer. an-swer. Later It was found that the buoy had became entangled and had never reached the surface of the water. wa-ter. No answer to their calls for help proved to the crew that the situation was desperate. Nevertheless, never for a moment did the discipline of these men weaken. While efforts were being made to get into communication with someone above, the men were trying to hermetically hermet-ically calk the partitions, it having been noted that the fumes of the will not be the occasion for doing so." Prat, killed when he boarded the ship of the enemy, is an example which no Chilian sailor has ever forgotten. Chains Slip and Craft Drops Back. The hoists did not work right, the chains slipped and the II -3 returned to its old position. After some time the rescuers succeeded in passing a new chain under the submarine, which slowly raised by the stern so that the bow would be tipped as little as pos slble. While this maneuver was being made a tug cut the telephone connection connec-tion and communication with the sunk en vessel was again cut otf and wasi not re-established. The hours passed in extreme an guish, the victims believing that the attempts to save them were useless and those making the attempts thinking think-ing It was already too late to resent; their brave companions alive. But ""Ic was continued with energy, and at lengu. iL? stern came to the surface. That was the most solemn raotncin of the whole operation. Few believed that any of the crew would still be alive and that all they had done wan to raise out of the sea a coftiu containing contain-ing 21 bodies. With no means for communicatiou with the submarine to let the men know that the stern was already above water, one of the sailors tapped the Morse code with n hammer on the outside. A few minutes passed and the hatchway was opened. A man appeared, exhausted, pale and his eyes bloodshot. One by one the rest followed. fol-lowed. Then when It was thought that only the captain was still on board ; it was found that two men were missing. Captain Del Solar descended again into tlie submarine and found a machinist ma-chinist still calking and a fireman still at the pump. Neither of the two had received orders to come out and they remained at their posls. The Chilian submarine H-3 was de ignated with die number E-12 iu the English navy. It was the belief of the sailors that because it had borne this number it was certain to come to harm. It was said that the accident was caused by the breaking of the bottom of the tank in the battery. At the time of tlie accident the automatic scaphanders for the rescue of the crew were not on board. They had been taken to the arsenal for repairs. |