FATAL HARBOR COLLISION
A STOKER DROWNED.
(By Electric Telegraph-Copyright] [United Press Association.] Sydney, June 9. The Sydney-North Coast steamer Coombar ran, down and sank a naval cutter containing three of the crew of a submarine. The cutter was proceeding to the Cockatoo Dock on Garden Island, and in endeavouring to avoid the ferry was unable to clear the Coombar, which struck her amidships. The cutter sank immediately. John Reardon, a New Zealander, and Joe MacGregor were precipitated into the water, but were picked up. John Groves, a stoker, who was below, attending to the fires, was drowned, and the body has not been recovered. -Stratford Evening Post, 10/6/1914.
LOSS OF AUSTRALIAN SUBMARINE
REPORTED MISSING
ACCIDENT SUPPOSED TO HAVE HAPPENED
(Rec. September 19, 6.15.p.m.) Sydney, September 19. Rear-Admiral Patey has sent a wireless message to Senator Pearce (Commonwealth Minister of Defence), stating that submarine AE1 is missing. It was last seen on the afternoon of September 14, returning from patrol. No enemy was in the vicinity. Though a search disclosed no wreckage, it is supposed that the disappearance was due to an accident. Thirty-four officers and men were on board.
(Rec. September 19, 4.30 p.m.) The missing submarine crew consisted of: —
Lieutenant Commander E. F. Besant and Lieutenant L. Scarlette.
Petty Officers Smail, Hodge, Tribe, Guilbert, Stretch, Maloney, Wright, and Waddylave.
Seamen Corbould, Reardon, Woodland Jarman, Thomas, Fisher, Dennis, and Hodgkins.
Signalman Danes, Telegraphist Baker, Artificers Lowe, Marsland, Wilson, Fitte, and Messenger.
Stokers Barton, Meek, Gtfy Wilson, Bray, Blake, Holt, Guild and Gough. Reardon and Woodland.
Seamen Reardon and Woodland were New Zealanders.
TRIBUTE TO THE ILL-FATED COMPANY.
(Rec. September 19, 7.50 p.m.) Sydney, September 19.
Senator Pearce (Commonwealth Minister of Defence), in a statement, deplores the submarine disaster; and adds that the only gleam of consolation is that though the loss was not due to an action with the enemy, the officers and men had just as truly given their lives in the service of the Empire as if they had been killed in action.
NINETEEN BRITISH SEAMEN LOST.
(Rec. September 20, 8.45 p.m.) The official list gives thirty-four on board. There is some doubt as to whether Lieutenant Moore was also aboard. His name was included, but a telegram from Melbourne states that he has been replaced by Lieutenant Scarlette.
Nineteen of the submarine's crew, including Besant and Scarlette, were lent by the Admiralty to the Australian Navy.
Reardon's next of kin is given as Mrs. Reardon, Post Office, Kaikoura.
One paper states that "Woodland" is a son of Mrs. Emina Heir, Woodland, South Island, New Zealand, Others say he hails from Bangor (Wales), -Dominion, 21/9/1914.
While it is not thought by Rear Admiral Patey, Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Fleet, that any German warship has accounted for the missing submarine AE1, there appears to be little doubt that she has met with disaster. The submarines of this type represent a vast improvement over earlier vessels of which the A class, the first built for the Royal Navy, have been particularly unfortunate. The A7, which sank last year with all on board, was a small vessel built in 1904, and was, 150 feet in length with a submerged displacement of only 200 tons. The AE1 was last seen on the afternoon of Monday, 14th inst., when she was returning from patrol duty. Submarines are, at best, a somewhat risky type of ship, and it is quite possible that the AE1 foundered after an accident to her machinery, or that she may have run ashore, or be drifting about in a disabled condition.
The AE1, and her sister ship AE2, were the first submarines built for the Royal Australian Navy. They are of the same type as the class of submarines in the Royal Navy, being 176 feet in length, 22 1/2 feet in breadth, and displacement when submerged of 200 tons. They are fitted with Diesel oil engines of 1000 horse-power, giving them a surface speed of 15 knots, and with electric motors tor propulsion when submerged at a speed of about 10 knots. The AE1 and AE2 are each fitted with three torpedo tubes forward, and carry quick-firing guns on disappearing mountings, and are identical in every way with the submarine E9, which torpedoed the German cruiser Hela off Heligoland last week. They were built by Messrs Vickers, Ltd., at Barrow, and were commissioned early in the present year, for their long voyage out to Australia.
The two boats, escorted by a cruiser, started from Portsmouth, and had a rough passage across the Bay of Biscay. After passing Gibraltar one or other of them was towed by the cruiser to save fuel, and also to give the engine-room hands a spell. Calls were made at Malta, Port Said, Aden, Colombo, and Singapore, where they were met by the cruiser Sydney, which escorted them for the remainder of the passage via Batavia, Torres Strait, and Cairns to Sydney. They reached Sydney on May 23rd last, and Lieut.-Commander Besant stated on arrival that both submarines were good sea boats, and had behaved very well in the spell of heavy weather experienced during the 12,000-mile passagje. No serious trouble was experienced witn the engines at any time, the AE1 cast a blade from one of her propellers before she reached Gibraltar, and she shipped a new propeller at that port. -Press, 21/9/1914.
It was more than 100 years before the AE1 was discovered. It was found on the sea floor in the Duke of York Islands, which were part of the German possessions which the submarine, with other ships, had sailed to occupy at the beginning of the Great War. The AE1 was found at 300 metres, fully intact, and the rear torpedo tube was seen to be opened. The "crush depth" for the AE1 was 100 metres. It has been surmised that the rear tube doors may have been faulty, leading to a catastrophic inrush of water, the submarine sinking and the rest of the compartments imploding at the "crush depth." The position of the wreck indicates that it hit the sea bed nose down and at speed. Death would have been fast for John Reardon and the rest of the crew, but not unexpected.
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