Smyrna Times

SPEAKER AT
LIONS MEET
Capt. Carl Schnetter, Criminal
Division, State Police Tells
of Adventure

SPONSOR BAKE DEC. 3

A fascinating tale of adventure was told the members of the Smyrna Lions Club by Capt. Carl Schnetter, criminal division, Delaware State Police, who was a member of an expedition made by Sir Hubert Wilkins to the North Pole by submarine in 1931. Speaking at the meeting of the club at The Colonial Hotel on Monday night, Capt. Schnetter, after tracing the background of the first submarines made by Simon Lake, told of the experience of the men who set out from this country in a submarine which had been laid by for some years in the Navy Yard, Philadelphia, and of the motor trouble in the Atlantic, of rescue by battleships off the coast of France, being towed to England, and of reaching Norway two months behind schedule to start the real adventure in Arctic waters.

The purpose of the trip was for scientific study which included use of the sonic depth finder, the charting of an underground mountain range between Spitzbergen and Greenland, terrestrial magnetism, the study of animal life of the sea, temperature taking to determine the course of the Gulf Stream. He told of travel under the ice, and through open leads, of the Nautilus being out of touch with the outside world, when they could hear the voice of Lowell Thomas but could not be heard themselves. Finally the submarine was declared unfit for duty and the expedition disbanded in England. The hazards of the trip were justified by the knowledge that the only way to make the necessary studies is by submarine, and he predicted the day that the boats would go up under the North Pole and proceed down the west coast. Many still photographs of the expedition were shown. The speaker was introduced by C. Preston Poore and the response was made by Burrill McCoy. W. G. Roe, Jr., once a member of the club, rejoined and Walter Eley was welcomed as a new member. Guests were Harley Bodley and Frank Siekmann. Stanley Middleton, presiding, announced that the December visiting committee includes Lester Meyer, Davis Turner, Clarence Collins, and Howard Slaughter. The invocation was given by Robert Dunning. A bake will be sponsored by the Lions on Saturday, December 3, with Mrs. Henry T. Price as chairman. The speaker at the meeting of Monday, December 5 will be Stanley Ross, editor and publisher of the Sunday Star.