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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76811 ***
+
+
+Crash Dive
+
+[Illustration: The men in gas-masks working on a ship almost on its
+head, was a sight to haunt one.]
+
+
+
+
+Crash Dive
+
+by Claude C. Vickrey
+
+Illustrated by L. R. Gustavson
+
+	    An American submarine officer tells a vivid story of
+	    his dangerous service.
+
+
+“Rig ship for diving!”
+
+Having just come from the submarine school at New London, I had yet to
+make my first “crash” dive, as the old-timers so aptly call it when you
+slam a submarine down and out of sight with full diving rudder, as if
+the enemy had suddenly come upon you in a fog.
+
+The other officers on the ship, who had been “in the boats” for years,
+didn’t seem to be much excited. Bud Tyler the executive, and Jack
+Lansing the engineering officer, were arguing away just as if they were
+discussing something important.
+
+Their arguments usually had three stages—an extravagant statement by
+Bud, a flat contradiction by Jack, and a bet. Apparently, they had
+reached the third stage, so I joined them to act as judge.
+
+“Any bet yet?” I asked.
+
+“Yes, and I want you to bear witness that Bud bets me the first day’s
+duty at Pensacola that the division commander will pester us with more,
+‘_Why did you not do so and so?_’ messages on this trip south than,
+‘_Cannot understand why you did so and so’s._’”
+
+“Does that include semaphore signals as well as radio?” I wanted to get
+the bet straight. “For we join the division commander and the other
+submarines after we finish our engineering runs, don’t we?”
+
+“Yes,” said Jack, “it means all messages from the time we left New
+London until we arrive in Pensacola.”
+
+That afternoon we “rigged ship for diving.” As I wanted to learn all I
+could, I decided to make the rounds with the “chief-of-the-boat” to
+acquaint myself with the details—and there were a surprising lot of
+them. The chief-of-the-boat is, more or less, a sea-going top-sergeant.
+
+The diving-log was consulted to check up on the weights that had been
+added to, or taken aboard since the last dive. Any change of weight was
+compensated for by blowing out of, or flooding water into, special
+tanks designed for this purpose. The trim or balance, fore and aft, was
+also inspected and adjusted. All hatches and outboard openings, except
+those necessary for ventilation purposes, were closed and secured;
+batteries were charged, and air-tanks filled with compressed air for
+blowing water out of tanks.
+
+“Ship rigged for diving, sir,” reported the chief-of-the-boat.
+
+The Captain decided on a “slow dive,” as he wanted to accustom all
+hands to their stations, since the ship had been in the Navy Yard for
+some time being overhauled. Moreover he wanted to check the diving trim
+under actual diving conditions before making a crash dive.
+
+At three o’clock the general alarm was sounded. The Diesel engines were
+stopped and the engine clutch thrown out. We then shifted to our
+electric motors, which are always used for the submerged run. All
+outboard openings, such as the engine exhausts and ventilating systems,
+were closed. The conning-tower hatch was closed and secured. The
+Kingston sea-valves were opened, flooding the six ballast tanks, and
+the ship slowly submerged.
+
+We were then in a state of approximate neutral buoyancy—that is,
+neither heavier nor lighter than water.
+
+The Captain, who was at the periscope, keeping an eye out for any
+approaching vessels, gave the order: “Depth twenty-eight feet.” The
+diving officer, noting that more “rise” than “dive” rudder was being
+used, ordered four or five hundred pounds of water pumped from the
+adjusting tank to sea. This helped, but we were still a little heavy
+forward. By pumping water from the extreme forward tank to the extreme
+after tank, a proper balance or trim was obtained.
+
+She now held her depth easily. But to get a fine check, it was
+necessary to slow down to a very low speed, so that after a few more
+small adjustments of water, the ship would almost hang at any depth
+with very little rudder.
+
+As soon as the Captain saw that the diving officer had his trim, he
+lowered the periscope and ordered different depths and speeds to give
+the diving-rudder men practice at depth-keeping.
+
+Finally we reached one hundred feet. Everything went smoothly, so the
+Captain decided to come up. As we had been considerably below periscope
+depth for some time our motors were stopped and the hydrophone man
+trained his listening tube all around to see if there was any propeller
+noise from ships in the vicinity. Hearing none, the ship was brought
+rapidly to the surface by blowing the water from the ballast tanks, and
+soon we were cruising ahead again on our engines, Pensacola-bound.
+
+[Illustration: The ship was brought to the surface, and soon we were
+cruising ahead again, Pensacola-bound.]
+
+Word was passed shortly before eleven next morning to “rig ship for
+diving.” We had just about completed our full-power engine run and were
+preparing for our full-power run submerged. According to the rules, the
+dive on this run must be a crash dive, with a penalty applied against
+our yearly engineering standing if we did not get our conning-tower
+under water and out of sight in less than sixty seconds after the
+diving siren was sounded. A good diving crew could make it in
+considerably less time, but even with sixty seconds, each man had to
+know his job and do the right thing at exactly the right time.
+
+The ship was rigged for diving; the crew was standing by diving
+stations, and all was in readiness for the diving alarm which was to be
+sounded at eleven sharp.
+
+There was a feeling of alertness in the air. Everyone kept glancing at
+the clock.
+
+The chief-of-the-boat, an old-time chief gunner’s mate with years of
+submarine service, was standing by the “main induction,” which he was
+to close upon diving, and after that keep an eye on the other stations
+in the control-room, ready to supervise and help in any emergency.
+
+                 *       *       *       *       *
+
+In order to understand what happened, it will be best perhaps to
+explain that the main induction is a large air-intake or ventilating
+line, one part of which runs aft to the engine-room and motor-room,
+assuring a supply of air for the engines; the other leads forward to
+the torpedo-room, furnishing air to the forward part of the ship. These
+two parts join amidships in the control-room—which, as the name
+signifies, is where the ship is controlled when submerged—and forming
+an inverted T, pass through the upper part of the hull to the open air.
+The main induction must be closed before submerging, but should not be
+closed until the Diesel engines are stopped; for if by accident the
+conning-tower hatch were also closed, the engines would use up all the
+air in the boat in four or five revolutions. Should this occur—and it
+has occurred on some submarines with almost fatal results—everyone in
+the boat would drop as if shot, from collapsed lungs. So you can see
+that the chief’s station was an important one.
+
+As the hands of the control-room clock moved to eleven and the second
+hand came to zero, the order rang out: “Sound diving alarm.”
+
+“Aye-aye, sir,” came from the officer-of-the-deck, and the siren
+shrieked its call for action throughout the ship.
+
+Men jumped to their tasks. Air was hissing; sharp orders were given; a
+dozen things were being done at once. A single mistake, and the results
+might prove fatal to us all.
+
+The watch on the bridge slid down the hatch, the quartermaster staying
+in the conning-tower ready to close the conning-tower hatch the instant
+he heard the engines shut down. The chief-of-the-boat had his hand on
+the stop valve ready to close the main induction. The diving-rudder men
+had “Hard dive” on the diving planes. The Kingston sea-valves were
+being opened, flooding the six ballast tanks, three on each side of the
+ship.
+
+A slight list to starboard developed which rapidly increased to the
+point of danger. The chief-of-the-boat, seeing that the man at the
+Kingstons was having trouble opening the valves on the port side, so
+that water was flooding in the tanks on the other side only, thus
+tilting the boat heavily to the flooded side, jumped to help get the
+port valves open.
+
+Were my premonitions coming true? Or was this just one of those
+emergencies that submarine life is full of?
+
+While all this was happening, the engines had been shut down, the ship
+was going ahead on the electric motors, the conning-tower hatch was
+closed, the diving rudders were at “Hard dive,” and we were going down,
+down, down—with the main induction wide open and forgotten, all
+attention being focused on the other danger.
+
+With the chief-of-the-boat’s help, the port valves were soon opened,
+and with the water now flooding in the port ballast tanks, the ship
+began to right the big list to starboard. What a relief!
+
+All of this had happened in the space of a few seconds.
+
+The Captain, seeing that the dangerous list was rapidly correcting
+itself, quickly looked around to make certain that the main induction
+had been properly closed and secured—and saw it was wide open to the
+sea! He sprang to close it. The chief seeing his action, suddenly
+realizing what he had forgotten, shouted “My God, the main induction!”
+and rushed to help the Captain, but at that very instant—a split second
+too late—a telltale stream of water hit them in the face—an
+insignificant stream, just leakage around the valves; but it meant that
+the hull was below the surface and water was rushing through the big
+leads to the torpedo-room forward and the engine-room aft.
+
+The Captain and the chief—both powerfully built men—struggled with the
+valve, but it was instantly apparent that they would never get it
+closed against the great pressure of the inrushing water.
+
+[Illustration: The chief shouted, “My God, the main induction!” and
+rushed to help the Captain—but a second too late.]
+
+“Surface!” ordered the Captain.
+
+This is an emergency order. Water is blown from tanks; diving-rudder
+men use “Hard rise” rudder; the motors go ahead full speed; the
+bow-buoyancy tank is blown to lift the bow. Normally these extreme
+measures will make the ship shoot to the surface.
+
+“Close watertight doors!” was the next order—scarcely a second after
+the first.
+
+                 *       *       *       *       *
+
+Realizing the almost certain disaster that was upon us, I rushed to the
+torpedo-room, while Bud made a dash for the engine-room. Each had the
+same thought—to get the stop valves at the ends of the main induction
+closed, if humanly possible.
+
+When I got to the torpedo-room, with my heart pounding as if it would
+jump right out of my chest, I saw that already the water was filling
+the bilges. The torpedo-men were striving with all their strength to
+get their stop closed, but it was the same story again—the pressure of
+the inrushing water was too great to overcome.
+
+As the water was pouring in so rapidly, it was only a matter of seconds
+before it would be too late to get the watertight door between
+compartments closed, and moreover, salt water might get into the
+batteries in the next compartment, which would cause chlorine gas and
+consequent strangulation, so I ordered everyone out of the
+torpedo-room.
+
+Realizing that we did not have much time to spare before the water
+would be rushing through and prevent our closing the door, we could
+hardly wait for the last man to wade through before we slammed it shut.
+But one of the “dogs,” or metal clamps, was turned the wrong way, so
+that the door would not close tight enough to be “dogged down.” A
+little detail like this, which should have been noticed when we “rigged
+for diving,” had turned out to be a possible matter of life or death,
+for the dog seemed jammed and would not budge an inch. The water had
+risen up to our waists, submerging the jammed dog before we gave up,
+and since it was then too late to get the door closed, we worked our
+way aft monkey-fashion because of the steep diving angle, hoping that
+the control-room was not flooded, and that we could find safety there.
+
+The big diving angle caused by all the extra water forward turned out
+to be a great advantage, for although the forward part of the
+compartment was flooded, the after part was not, and after some of the
+fastest work I ever expect to see, we had the control-room door
+undogged—it had been closed by those in the control-room—and rushed
+through it, closing it behind us just as water began lapping around the
+bottom of the door. Thank God, the control-room wasn’t flooded!
+
+Just then the bow of the ship hit the bottom of the ocean—a rather
+cushioned blow. Must have been mud bottom. The motors had been backing
+to break the speed of the crash to the bottom as much as possible. This
+had been done when the Captain saw that all efforts to stop the dive
+and get to the surface were hopeless.
+
+Fortunately, we had not dived in mid-ocean, for nothing would have
+stopped our dive but the bottom. If we had been in over one hundred
+fathoms of water, our hull would have been crushed like an eggshell.
+
+I saw the engine-room watertight door was open—the first thing I looked
+for when I rushed back to the control-room; and this meant that the
+engine-room gang had by some miracle managed to get their end of the
+main induction closed. Temporarily we were saved. But to what end?
+
+The deck of the control-room was so wet that it was necessary to hold
+on to something to prevent slipping. As luck would have it, just as we
+took on our big angle, a mess-cook had been passing through the
+control-room with a big tureen of soup and an armful of dishes. He was
+thrown off his balance by the sudden change of diving angle, with the
+result that hot soup and broken dishes were sprayed all over the deck,
+adding to the general confusion; nearly everyone in the control-room
+was thrown by the heavy lurch, and upon trying to regain their feet,
+slipped on the wet deck and went down again. All this was unfortunately
+timed so that it occurred at exactly the wrong psychological
+moment—just when all hands were frantically trying to “surface” the
+vessel, and every man was needed to do his part.
+
+When we hit bottom, we all expected to see the hull crushed by the
+impact, and the water rushing in; but the soft mud had saved us—for
+perhaps a much worse death.
+
+The motors were stopped.
+
+The ship gradually came to rest with the bow on the ocean bed at an
+angle of about thirty degrees. The depth-gauge showed one hundred
+thirty-two feet.
+
+“Bowers,” said the Captain to the chief-of-the-boat, “have all the men
+go to the engine-room. Tell them there is nothing to worry about—that
+we will have the boat up in a few hours.”
+
+The crew gathered in the engine-room. Although there were several very
+scared-looking faces, still they were taking it well with no signs of
+anyone breaking under the strain—as yet.
+
+When Bowers joined the officers in the control-room, a conference that
+I’ll never forget was held.
+
+“I guess you all realize what we are up against,” said the Captain.
+“There’s one thing certain, and that is that we will have to come to a
+quick decision, and it will have to be the right one the first time.
+Past submarine disasters have shown us that, for we probably won’t have
+time to try out more than one plan of saving ourselves.
+
+“First, let’s size up the situation: With all that water forward, we
+have too much negative buoyancy to get to the surface, even with tanks
+blown dry.
+
+“Second, there’s no possible way to get that water out.
+
+“Now then, as to the length of time we can live on the air we
+have—that’s problematical. We have two bottles of oxygen, and plenty of
+air in the air-tanks—at least for breathing purposes—and as a last
+resort we could flood the ballast tanks again, which would force the
+air now in those tanks back through the vents into the boat. Still,
+what good would a fresh supply of air be, unless we could get rid of
+the old carbon dioxide given off when we breathe? We might be able to
+take care of that when the time comes by starting the air-compressor,
+sucking the bad air out of the boat and storing it in one of the empty
+air-tanks. Something may happen to our electrical power by that time,
+in which case we might be able to turn the air-compressor over by hand.
+Thus, if we can take care of the carbon dioxide, we may have enough air
+to last a week. Unfortunately, we have no soda lime, or we could get
+rid of the carbon dioxide that way.
+
+“The question is—can they find us in a week? And if they do find us,
+can they manage to rescue us or get fresh air to us before our
+air-supply gives out?
+
+“Our orders were to dive ‘at discretion.’ Hence, they don’t know when
+or where we dived. We won’t be missed for another twenty-four or even
+forty-eight hours, for they’ll naturally assume, if they don’t hear
+from us, that our radio set is out of commission again. Fortunately we
+got through our eight A. M. position-report. Even so, they don’t know
+how soon afterward we dived. Our oscillator was put out of commission
+by the crash, so it looks as if our chance of being located before our
+air gives out is too slim to bank on. However, we shall try to devise
+some means of getting word to the surface, in the hope that some stray
+vessel may pick up our message; but we can’t rely on any such long
+chance.
+
+“If we expect to come out of this alive, it looks as if we are thrown
+absolutely on our own resources.
+
+“Since we can’t get rid of that water forward, we will have to take
+that handicap and make it work to our advantage.”
+
+                 *       *       *       *       *
+
+“Go on, Skipper,” said Bud, who could not keep quiet any longer, the
+strain being too much for him. “I think I’ve got the same idea you
+have.”
+
+“Yes, old man, I guess we all have. But can we do it? Can we make this
+old boat stand on her head, so that the stern will stick out of the
+water far enough to cut a hole in the hull and get out, or at least
+assure us of an indefinite supply of fresh air?
+
+“It’s a big gamble! To accomplish it, we’ll have to use up a lot of our
+previous supply of air in the air-tanks, because to get her at a big
+enough angle, it will be necessary to use up a lot of that air to blow
+overboard all our fuel, fresh water and lubricating oil, all of which
+is carried far enough aft so that when blown overboard it will tend to
+raise the stern.
+
+“I don’t think the electric pumps will last long, because when we begin
+to get her at a little greater angle, the electrolyte will probably run
+out of the batteries, or the water will get to them, and even if this
+doesn’t cause a fire from short-circuits, or an explosion of the
+hydrogen gas, it will put our electrical power-plant out of commission.
+And the hand pumps are too slow for the enormous amount of water we
+have to handle, so it looks as if we will have to use a lot of our air.
+I think standing her on end is our one and only chance. Our lives
+depend upon the decision we are about to make. If any of you have any
+other ideas, let’s hear them.”
+
+“I have some plans for getting messages to the surface,” replied the
+‘Exec,’ “but I think we had better go ahead with the stern plan without
+losing any time. We want to get our hole in the hull before nightfall,
+if possible, as we may be able to flag a passing ship. We can go ahead
+with my plan after we get the other job started.”
+
+The engineering officer said he had some plans about the oil slick that
+would be made on the surface by our fuel and lubricating oil, but that
+also could wait.
+
+                 *       *       *       *       *
+
+As neither the chief-of-the-boat nor I had much to add to what had been
+said, we decided to go ahead with the up-ending of the boat without
+further delay. We all agreed to gamble our vital supply of fresh air
+and fresh water against the possible chance of getting the stern to the
+surface. If we failed in that, it probably only meant that the end
+would come sooner. We had hopes of outside help, but when we thought of
+the tragedy of other salvaging attempts, we knew how vain such hopes
+must be.
+
+“Good submariners may be down but never out. Now let’s hop to it,” said
+the Captain.
+
+And the struggle to beat a lingering and tortuous death was on!
+
+The pumps were put on all the tanks aft of the torpedo room, with the
+Exec in charge of operations. The Captain and I got out the ship’s
+blueprints. We had to know the exact distance from the bow to the point
+aft where we wanted to cut the hole in the hull.
+
+Next, we had to figure what the actual depth was, for although the
+depth-gauge showed one hundred thirty-two feet, that was merely the
+depth amidships. With the boat at an angle of thirty degrees by the
+bow, the real depth was greater.
+
+With the distance from the bow to the point on the stern where we were
+to drill the hull as the hypotenuse of a triangle, and with the
+computed depth as the second side of the triangle, we found that the
+ship had to be raised to an angle of at least seventy-seven degrees to
+get the stern above water.
+
+Now we knew exactly what we had to do! Could we do it? In the first
+place, was it possible to get the ship at that great an angle, and in
+the second place, would there be time? All hands were working
+feverishly. Men not used at the pumps and valves were put to work
+carrying loose articles from the after part of the ship to the forward
+part. We even planned to dismantle the engines, everything that could
+be loosened from the deck and hull—anything that would get heavy
+objects farther forward.
+
+As each agonizing hour went by, the angle-indicator showed an
+ever-increasing change, but such a heart-breakingly small change that
+we began to have our doubts as to whether we would make it or not. The
+electric pumps went out of commission shortly after we passed the
+sixty-degree mark. Then the electric lights went out, throwing the
+whole ship in absolute darkness. This meant that the batteries had gone
+dead, as we had greatly feared they would.
+
+Although we had several flashlights—one big one in each compartment and
+several smaller ones—the effect of the darkness on the morale was very
+soon felt.
+
+It was easy enough to keep up courage as long as we had plenty of
+light, but when that went, hope seemed to go with it.
+
+Moreover the salt water had apparently seeped through the deck in the
+battery-room and reached the batteries, probably causing them to go
+dead, but what was much worse, it was forming chlorine gas. This gas,
+which is so deadly that it was used during the war for gas attacks, was
+finding its way into the control-room through small leaks around
+supposedly watertight fittings in the battery-room bulkhead. Faint
+whiffs of this gas began to be noticed, both by its pungent smell and
+by the effect on the throat, which caused dry hacking coughs. While we
+might fight the carbon dioxide and live for a week, the chlorine gas
+was a much more serious matter. It cut down our breathing limit from a
+possible week to two days at most.
+
+The Captain was everywhere, encouraging the men. His leadership and
+resourcefulness were an inspiration to us all. In the face of the
+coming horrors which hour by hour were stealing in on us, he was
+somehow able to imbue us all with that “never-give-up” spirit which
+accomplishes miracles.
+
+                 *       *       *       *       *
+
+Some time after the lighting system failed, the Captain called the
+officers together to discuss possible ways of getting some message to
+the surface. He tried to keep us from seeing how discouraged he was,
+but we sensed it in spite of his efforts. The Exec advanced a theory
+that we might shoot out some calcium—obtained from the torpedo
+torch-pots, a few of which were in the magazine. This could be done
+through the submarine signaling device which was used in wartime for
+sending secret smoke signals to the surface to make friendly but
+overzealous vessels stop trying to sink you with depth mines. This
+calcium, when ejected, would form gas which upon rising to the surface,
+and coming in contact with the air, would burst into flame. In this
+way, the oil which we had blown out might catch fire and thus attract
+the attention of any passing ship, particularly at night. It seemed
+rather a far-fetched theory, but we had reached the stage where we had
+nothing to lose by trying it.
+
+Then escape through the conning-tower was considered. As a last resort
+we could try that! But as the Captain put it: “At this depth, I’m
+afraid that the pressure would get us, for with a pressure of two or
+three tons per square foot, our lungs would probably collapse, in which
+case we would sink instead of rise. If we did get to the surface alive,
+we would probably get the ‘bends’ or lose consciousness from the
+pressure, and drown. Life preservers wouldn’t prevent that, and we only
+have a few aboard anyway. That gives me an idea, though! We might roll
+up a kapoc mattress lengthwise, cut our message into that piece of
+oilcloth I saw lying around here, and sew it around the mattress. We
+could shoot that through the conning-tower escape hatch; the air
+bubbles would carry it to the surface, and as kapoc floats, it might be
+picked up by some ship, particularly if by that time they were looking
+for us. We will need a volunteer for this, for someone will have to
+manipulate the conning-tower hatch, and that man, to have any chance of
+withstanding the pressure, must be one of the strongest among us.”
+
+“When you’re ready, Captain, I want to be that man,” spoke up Bowers,
+“for I can probably stand the pressure better than anyone else, as I’ve
+had some deep-sea diving experience. What’s more, I caused all this.”
+
+“All right, Bowers,” said the Captain, visibly moved, “when the time
+comes, if I don’t take on the job myself, your offer may be accepted.
+But I don’t want to try that yet, for it would mean draining a lot of
+water into the boat, just making us that much heavier; and I don’t want
+to do anything that will jeopardize our chances of getting our stern to
+the surface, for I have not given up hope of that by a damn’ sight and
+won’t so long as this chlorine gas allows us to keep moving weight
+forward.”
+
+                 *       *       *       *       *
+
+The calcium ejection was tried out, and was to be tried again that
+night. The results, of course, we unfortunately could not tell.
+
+The hydrophone listener reported that he thought he detected a ship
+passing about five o’clock that evening. It was encouraging to know
+that ships did occasionally pass, but they couldn’t help us yet for we
+had no way of letting them know where we were, unless they passed
+almost over us, in which case we might attract their attention by the
+oil slick, or blowing out big bubbles of air through the tanks.
+However, the Captain used the news to encourage the crew as much as
+possible.
+
+[Illustration: Just as we took our big angle, a mess-cook, passing
+through the control-room, was thrown off his balance; soup and broken
+dishes were sprayed all over the deck.]
+
+All through the night we worked—with no thought of sleep. Most of the
+flashlights had gone out. The men, in relays, worked at the hand pumps,
+pumping away in the darkness, hoping against hope that they would live
+to see the light of day.
+
+The chlorine gas in the forward, now the lower part of the ship, had
+become almost too much to work in. Fortunately, we had a few gas-masks
+left over from our war allowance which were used by those whose duties
+kept them working forward. There were not enough to go around, however,
+as part of our allowance was kept in the flooded torpedo-room.
+
+The futuristic effect of men in gas-masks, working their way up and
+down in a ship almost standing on its head, with the occasional flicker
+of a flashlight, was a sight to haunt one in one’s dreams.
+
+The uncertainty of our fate made the suspense almost unbearable, and
+the chlorine gas wouldn’t let us think of anything but a terrible end.
+
+At six the next morning—to think that meant glorious sunshine to those
+sailing tranquilly above us!—we had finally, by superhuman effort, got
+all after tanks dry, and nearly all movable weights forward. And our
+angle was only seventy-three degrees!
+
+If we moved all hands forward and then could not get our angle, we were
+probably doomed, for it would take days to break down the heavy engine
+parts and move them, all in darkness; time would defeat us, as it has
+in other cases we all remembered but too well.
+
+So we played our last card.
+
+Forty-two men dragged themselves forward—that meant down into the
+chlorine gas—one man remaining aft in case of emergency, while the
+Captain watched the angle indicator with one of the two last remaining
+and fast-dimming flashlights.
+
+We had done it! We had made her do what we wanted her to do, and with a
+little to spare, for she settled just a hair above seventy-eight
+degrees. At last we could commence cutting the hole in the hull. This
+hole, to be above water, had to be way aft where the ship tapers to
+almost nothing, and as all such corners are utilized for special
+fixtures, storage, etc., the working space was very cramped. Then too,
+this now being the top part of the ship, the air was so foul that a man
+could only work ten or fifteen minutes before he would become exhausted
+and have to be relieved.
+
+Twenty-five hours after our crash dive, the cold chisel—for we had to
+use hand tools—finally pierced the hull, and brought daylight!
+
+Four hours more of body-racking work before we had a hole big enough to
+stick the head through.
+
+No ships in sight!
+
+                 *       *       *       *       *
+
+A long pole made by joining several sections of the pipe-frames of the
+crew’s bunks together with a mattress cover painted with red lead tied
+on the end, was, after some trouble, finally forced through this hole.
+The slight roll of the ship from the ground-swell caused our distress
+signal to wave back and forth. We also tried to give it additional
+motion by sliding it up and down as much as our cramped quarters would
+allow. From time to time the signal was pulled in to look for ships.
+Just before sundown the Captain took a final look. Again nothing in
+sight! It looked like another night in hell, perhaps several more, if
+we could live that long.
+
+He had just pulled his head in when he thought he heard a steamer’s
+whistle. Were his senses deceiving him? The thought came to him that he
+must be losing his mind. Now even his eyes were deceiving him, for
+there certainly seemed to be a ship out there where none had been
+before—and not more than a few hundred yards away. Could it have
+approached at such an angle that the projection of the stern kept it
+out of sight until close aboard?
+
+                 *       *       *       *       *
+
+It turned out to be a Coast Guard destroyer which had seen the flag,
+thought it looked suspicious—some rum-runner’s trick—and had come over
+to investigate.
+
+Well, we were soon out of our death-trap, thanks to some good
+seamanship on the destroyer’s part in keeping our stern up with her
+anchor-chain, while they quickly enlarged the hole so that we could be
+pulled out, many of our crew being half-dead from gas, strain and
+exhaustion.
+
+As the Captain, the last to leave the ship, climbed exhaustedly up the
+side of the destroyer, grimy, oily, unshaven, weary in mind and body,
+with throat and lungs raw from the chlorine gas, he was handed a radio
+from his Division Commander which had been intercepted by the
+destroyer, asking: “Why do you not make position reports?”
+
+He turned to his officers, who were waiting to see that he got aboard
+safely, and handed them the message. “Here, one of you answer this for
+me. My brain won’t work any longer; I am dead on my feet. Seems to me
+you had some sort of a bet on these messages, anyway.”
+
+“That’s right, we did,” said Bud, as he glanced at the radio, and out
+of force of habit, was about to turn to Jack Lansing and start in on
+who had won the bet, but he too was so exhausted he could not remember
+just what the bet was about—and what’s more, decided he did not care.
+
+“All right, Captain, I’ll attend to it for you. Shall I give the
+Division Commander the whole story?” he asked.
+
+“Hell, no! Get some sleep. Just reply ‘Position Vertical!’”
+
+
+[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the May 1929 issue of Blue
+Book magazine.]
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76811 ***