On 17 December 1927, while surfacing from a submerged run over the measured-mile off Cape Cod while returning to Provincetown Harbor, she was accidentally rammed and sunk by the Coast Guard destroyer Paulding. Thirty-six members of the 42 member crew perished immediately, but six made it to the forward torpedo room. Local fisherman offered to use their fishing draggers to pull the doomed ship closer to shore but the Navy said stay away. Rescue and salvage operations were commenced, only to be thwarted by severe weather. Heroic efforts were made to rescue six known survivors trapped in the forward torpedo room, who had exchanged a series of signals with divers, by tapping on the hull. As the trapped men used the last of available oxygen in the sub, a diver placed his helmeted ear to the side of the vessel and received this morse-coded message, “Is … there … any … hope?” Sadly, there was no reason for hope and all six men perished. Below are pictures of the sub, a Navy Bell diver trying to listen for life aboard the sub, and the pontoons used to finally raise the sub in March of 1928.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 11:32:21 +0000
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