The Daily Worker

Her Boy on Lost Sub

Mrs. Katherine Snizek anxiously scans news of the attempt to rescue the trapped seamen on the S-4. One of her sons, a common sailor, is imprisoned.

S-4 CREW TAPS GROW WEAKER

BOSTON, Mass., Dec. 20. - After thirty-six hours of fussing around the submerged S-4 with divers, lines and paraphernalia with which she might have been raised if the sea were not so heavy, it has occurred to Rear Admiral Frank Brumby in charge of rescue work to try and introduce oxygen, food, and soda-lime into the imprisoned men's compartment through the forward torpedo tubes of the submarine.

A diver reports that the tube is full of mud, but half a day's work will clear it. It is doubtful whether the men within will live that long, as their last messages tell of exhaustion of air, and the tapping they make has become very weak.

"Degree of Culpability."

WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 20. -

While the last six men alive in the wrecked submarine S-4 are still gasping away their lives, a naval post-mortem has already been started. The navy department reports that a board of inquiry has been appointed to define the degree of culpability of the submarine commander, the commander of the tender Wandank, normally in charge of the safety of the submarine from collisions, but absent from the course during the fatal trip of the S-4, or the guilt of any superior officer who might by giving wrong orders, have brought about the destruction of the ship and her crew.

Naval court martials almost never convict a high-ranking officer. The fault in case of wreck is invariably laid on the shoulders of some subordinate.