Little Boar's Head - New Hampshire
July 30, 1939
[Memorial Program courtesy John & Connie Holman -- 2000]
Committees
General ChairmanMrs. John Paine Wingate
Treasurer
Mr. George B. Lord
Executive Committee
| Rear Adm. & Mrs. Dismukes |
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Rosser |
| Senator H. Styles Bridges | Mr. John L. Sullivan |
| Senator Charles W. Tobey | Mr. Thomas E. Dolan |
| Hon. Arthur B. Jenks | Dr. Donald Leonard |
| Hon. Foster Stearns | Mrs. William Marston Seabury |
| Mrs. Alvan T. Fuller | Mr. and Mrs. R. C. L. Greer |
| Mr. Arthur L. Hobson | Mr. and Mrs. Charles Amhoff |
| Mr. Philip Hobson | Mrs. Katherine S. Hill |
| Maj. Charles Greenman | Mrs. John Swinnerton |
| Hon. Charles M. Dale | Miss Adeline C. Marston |
| Mr. Robert Cleveland | Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Currier |
| Mrs. Mary I. Wood | Mr. Edward S. Seavey, Jr. |
| -- NASHUA -- | -- EXETER -- |
| Mr. Herman H. Davis, Chairman | Dr. Donald W. Leonard, Chairman |
| Mrs. Ruth Coffin | James A. Pirnie, President Lion's Club |
| Hazel M. Rollins | Mrs. Mary H. Leonard, Pres. Woman's Club |
| Mrs. Duane Clarridge | Mr. H. Gray Funkhauser, Phillips-Exeter |
| Mrs. Carroll B. Wilkins | Mr. Renfrew A. Thomson,Cha'b'r of Com. |
| Mr. Earl F. Mellon | |
| Mildred Johnson | |
| Mrs. Sarah M. Mercer | |
| Edith April | -- MANCHESTER -- |
| Allan G. Saunders | Mrs. Thomas F. Dolan, Chairman |
| Edward G. Blomberg | Miss Marguerita Broderick |
| Mrs. Seymour T. Cook | Mr. Samuel Merchant |
| -- DOVER -- | -- PORTSMSOUTH -- |
| Mrs. Katherine S. Hill, Chairman | Mrs. Charles Amhoff |
| Mrs. Alice Cahill | Mrs. Wallace H. Garrett |
| Mrs. Joel F. Sheppard | Mrs. Katherine S. Hill |
| -- CONCORD -- | |
| Miss Lena Minot, Chairman | |
| -- HAMPTON -- | Mrs. Charles H. Carroll |
| Mr. Harold Keene | Miss Margaret Emmons |
| Mr. Reginald Grenier | Mrs. Paul Farnham |
| Mrs. Harry Parr | Mr. Frank N. Sawyer |
| Mrs. Henry Fleming | Mrs. McCoy |
Sponsor For U. S. Submarine Squalus
Launched September 14, 1939.
Historical Notes
Lt. Oliver F. Naquin, U.S. Navy, Louisiana
Men of the Squalus
One minute, in the precious sun and air,The next, entrapped in steel at depth of sea;
Self-rescue barred by crushing pressure, there,
Heroic means alone could set them free.
How gruelling a test of fortitude,
What stamina of mind and body too,
To let no trace of craven fear intrude,
But steadily conserve and carry through!
Unquestioning obedience at command,
Instant performance of the task assigned;
Intrepid were the rescued, brought to land,
Brave martyrs were the perished, left behind.
The Navy's best traditions were held high
By men trained to endure, to dare, to die.
| --Mabel Rogers Holt |
May 23, 1939
Thus the stage is set when, from the limit of underwater vision, there appears a shadow against the lightness of the ocean's surface. Nearer it comes until the dark under side of the fish-like craft can be distinguished in a frame of foamy brightness and with a seemingly inadequate flutter of propellers under its stern. It appears progressively larger but its increasing size seems to signify more than decreasing distance. A rounded hull, a pair of fin-like projections and darker shadows reveal the unmistakable characteristics of a submarine coming down in a dive. A swirl of churning water and a cloud of bubbles follows its wake as the conning tower and the deck structures come under. In the shimmering light the number "192" painted in white under the bow identifies the "Squalus", a newcomer in the ocean's depths. Inside are men. The ports of the conning tower gleam dully and serve only to emphasize the blind faith of those men who put their trust in a man-made machine.
Down, down; a graceful diving slant under control. But wait! Too many bubbles are belching in a cloud around the after part of the ship. It wavers; its forward motion is lost; the angle changes but its progress downward accelerates as the stern falls. The heavy steel walls hide swift drama inside and , as in a picture on a silent film, the stricken submarine sinks noiselessly to the bottom coming to rest in a cloud of churning mud. Tragic bubbles still issue from the undersea giant whose 299-foot length is mocked by the infinite sea.
A moment of inaction -- stunned indecision -- while riled mud settles and bubbles continue to rise from a depth that never before has seen air. The fallen craft with its cargo of trapped survivors seems to stir as clouds of mud rise from the outlets of the valves under the bow with the outward rush of water from the ballast tanks. The long gray ship shows no other sign and the struggle to increase buoyancy ceases as air spurts from the muddy valves. Another moment of thought; inside, probably a conference, and a small movement can be seen ion the middle of the forward deck. Lazily at first, but gathering speed rapidly, there rises from a small hatch a bobbing float which struggles upward on the end of a small cable still attached to the boat. It breaks the surface and the foundered "Squalus" can do no more. To those at the bottom the smoking beacon of the buoy released is in another world, a world of air and sunshine, calling for help.
Who can record what is said as minutes pas within that long black hull? Who can picture the tension of the officer waiting at the receiver of the telephone leading to the buoy above? Who can be said to have been the first to sense the approach of another long, black shape gliding on the surface with a frame of foam and the stur of its beating propellers? The approach of another undersea boat duplicates the image of the silent shadow which disturbed the sea at the start of the ill-fated "Squalus" dive. As though in answer to the call of family, the sister ship "Sculpin" has been drawn to the spot and from the smoking beacon discovered the plight of the craft below. Above the surface intense activity must be starting and, in this other world of sunshine and air the alarm is already spreading to shock into purposeful action the resources of the American Navy. The lives of a crew of trapped men has become, in an instant, the major concern of a nation.
Silent hours pass. The gradual darkening of the ceiling above the inert submarine indicates the fading of daylight. Those above have established the fact that life still exists in the sunken hull and the gently rocking sister ship stands by at the upper end of a slender anchor chain which slants through the murky depths to the ocean's bottom.
May 24, 1939
The light is high and small craft have shuttled endlessly in and out of the range of vision until a larger, more sturdy prow cleaves a path for a throbbing hill whose purposeful approach gives mute evidence of its race from a distant base. Unheard cheers resound in the stuffy compartments of the "Squalus" as the news the "Falcon" has arrived is related. Unheard by these survivors are the words that crackle through the atmosphere to the millions of the world who wait by loudspeakers, "the 'Falcon' has arrived!"
With a celerity born of experience the "Falcon" throws out a circle of anchors which maintain its position over the wreck. A diving stage comes overside and, after a short drop through the green water, discharges the figures of divers who slide to the deck of the submarine each dragging his lines and his inseparable swirl of helium-oxygen bubbles.
["Martin Conrad Sibitzky, boatswain's mate, second class, the United States Navy's tallest deep-sea diver, 6-foot 4-inch, and the man selected to make the first dive to the Squalus. He was 30 years old, a Navy man since January of 1928, and rated a first-class diver qualified to go to 200 feet or more. He was a regularly assigned crew member of the Falcon." --"BLOW ALL BALLAST! The Story of the Squalus" by Nat A. Barrows - 1940.]
It is a scene of fantastic unreality. To a certain point on the forward deck the diver directs his efforts and at some signal, a cable slides down the guide line on a weighted loop. A moment of crouching and this cable is firmly fastened to a bulging hatch on the submarine. The thud of leaded feet on the deck has been cheerful accompaniment to the frenzied nonsense of the trapped men whose talking has prevented serious thought and the knowledge that no one has ever been saved from a disaster of this type. In spite of this, there is an uplifting faith in comrades of the navy and in the recourses of a nation whose experts, military and civilian alike, will not rest until rescue is accomplished.
Thus starts the climax of a chapter in history. Breaking the surface alongside the "Falcon" there appears a strange bell-like shape. After bobbing about for a minute, the cable from the under surface of the bell to the submarine hatch tightens, the bell pulls itself under and starts downward trailing a row of violent bubbles and hose connections. Gently it settled on the deck of the submarine with the flattened end at the apex of tapering sides guided by the diver. Inertly it stays there like a growth marring the sleek lines of the hull. Varying degrees of bubbling surround the bell at the only evidence that its chambers are being blown out or flooded to accommodate the passage of men from the torpedo room of the submarine to the bell.
Finally the bell stirs. It moves and, under the tug of its cables above, it begins to rise with its freight of survivors. It breaks the surface at the end of its slow journey and it is known by the world that this task has been accomplished for the first time in history. Down again; up again; down again; up again; two more trips go smoothly -- so smoothly that tension grows. The last trip down. Darkness has fallen and the action can only be occasionally glimpsed by the flash of underwater lights. The last trip up. Catastrophe -- almost! Snagged by the tangled downhaul cable the bell hangs suspended unable to break away from the inert wreck and hanging by a frayed cable above. Desperate action to clear the foul consumes four dreadful hours but is at last rewarded. In the last load comes the Commander of the ill-fated "Squalus" to be the only Commander to have survived a submarine disaster.
Up above, the survivors. Every man not lost at the time of the accident is saved. Down below, the lonely tomb; further challenge to the "Falcon" that accomplished the greatest rescue in the history of the world.
This narrative is contributed by Donald Leonard, M. D., through the co-operation and courtesy of Naval Officials who have submitted accurate detailed description for publication.
U.S.S. Squalus Survivors
| OFFICERS | BRANCH | HOME STATE |
| Lieut. O. F. Naquin | U.S. Navy | Louisiana |
| Lieut. W. T. Doyle | U.S. Navy | Maryland |
| Lt. (jg) J. C. Nichols | U.S. Navy | Illinois |
| Lt. (jg) R. N. Robertson | U.S. Navy | Texas |
| ENLISTED MEN | RANK | HOME STATE |
| Roland Blanchard | F2c. | Michigan |
| Jutson Thomas Bland | EM1c. | Virginia |
| Arthur Lagrand Booth | RM1c. | Connecticut |
| William David Boulton | S1c. | Iowa |
| Allen Carlisle Bryson | F1c. | South Carolina |
| Roy Henry Campbell | CTM | Nebraska |
| Gavin James Coyne | MM2c. | California |
| Eugene Donald Cravens | GM1c. | Missouri |
| Feliciano Elvina | Matt1c. | Cavite, P. I. |
| William Joseph Fitzpatrick | TM2c. | Massachusetts |
| Lawrence James Gainor | CEM | Ohio |
| Basilio Galvan | Matt1c. | Manilla, P. I. |
| William Isaacs | SC2c. | New Jersey |
| Theodore Jacobs | SM3c. | New York |
| Charles Smith Kuney | Y2c. | California |
| Gerald Clifton McLees | EM2c. | Kansas |
| Lloyd Bronzia Maness | EM3c. | North Carolina |
| Leonard de Medeiros | TM3c. | Massachusetts |
| Francis Murphy, Jr. | QM1c. | Massachusetts |
| Raymond Frederick O'Hara | PhM1c. | New York |
| Donato Persico | Sealc. | New York |
| Carol Nathan Pierce | MM2c. | Kansas |
| Carleton Blair Powell | MM2c. | California |
| Charles Allane Powell | RM2c. | Louisiana |
| Alfred Gustave Prien | MM2c. | California |
| Warren Wiley Smith, Jr. | SM2c. | Texas |
| Robert Lyle Washburn | Sea2c. | Ohio |
| Charles Yuhas | MM1c. | New Hampshire |
| CIVILIANS | OCCUPATION | HOME STATE |
| Harold C. Preble | Naval Architect | Pennsylvania |
U.S.S. Squalus Deceased
| OFFICERS | BRANCH | HOME STATE |
| Ensign J. H. Patterson | U.S. Navy | Oklahoma |
| ENLISTED MEN | RANK | HOME STATE |
| James Andrew Aitken | FC3c. | Connecticut |
| John James Batick | EM1c. | New Hampshire |
| Joshua Casey | F1c. | Florida |
| John Allan Chesnutt | CMM. | California |
| Robert Lyle Coffey | EM2c. | California |
| Elvin Leon Deal | MM2c. | Tennessee |
| Lionel Hugh Fletcher | EM3c | California |
| Kenneth Ross Garrison | CMM. | Missouri |
| Robert Franklin Gibbs | TM1c. | South Carolina |
| John Plesent Hathaway | F1c. | California |
| Eugene Arthur Hoffman | MM1c. | Michigan |
| Alexander Biggs Keegan | S1c. | Pennsylvania |
| John Joseph Marino | S2c. | Iowa |
| Huie King McAfee | EM2c. | Georgia |
| Alfred Charles Priester | TM2c. | New York |
| Frank Henry Schulte | MM1c. | Missouri |
| Bascom Slemp Scyphers | Em1c. | Virginia |
| Sherman Luther Shirley | TM1c. | Arkansas |
| Jack John Strong | MM1c. | Wisconsin |
| John Laurise Thomala | MM1c. | Minnesota |
| Robert Preson Thompson | SC3c. | Tennessee |
| Marion Lawrence Ward | RM3c. | Oklahoma |
| Robert Ross Weld | F2c. | Idaho |
| CIVILIANS | OCCUPATION | HOME STATE |
| Charles M. Wood | Electrician | New Hampshire |
| Don Smith | Electrician | Ohio |
How 33 Lives Were Saved
The Diving Bell
This self-explanatory diagram shows how the thirty-three trapped sailors aboard the "Squalus" entered the diving bell that brought them safely to the surface twelve miles off Portsmouth. The bell is ten feet high, holds eight persons.
From The Portsmouth, (N.H.) Herald, May 26, 1939.
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Concert
By Seventy Members of the
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
under the direction of Arthur Fiedler
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Programme
Overture to "Oberon" . . . . . . . WeberSymphony No. 5, in C minor, Opus 67 . . . . . . . . . Beethoven
I. Allegro con brio
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo
IV. Allegro
Intermission
Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1, in A major . . . . . . EnescoFinale of the "Pathetique" Symphony: Adagio Lamentoso . . . . . . . . Wagner
(In Memoriam)
Prelude to "Die Meistersinger" . . . . . . . Wagner
"Eternal Father, Strong to Save" . . . . . . . Whiting-Dykes
(The audience is asked to join in the singing of the hymn)
Star Spangled Banner
At the conclusion of this program on the field, the audience is requested to journey with us across lots to the shore where final tribute of this service will take place, by the gracious act of Aviator Frothingham casting a memorial wreath on the waters over the Squalus.+ + + + + + + + + + + + +
Survivors of the U. S. S. Squalus have graciously offered their services as ushers for the concert.
Acknowledgments
The executive committee wishes to acknowledge their gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur L. Hobson for their generosity in providing the beautiful setting for this Memorial Concert and to Admiral Cyrus W. Cole (Commandant Navy Yard) and members of his staff for their loyal cooperation. To the members of the Navy Yard who have been untiring in their efforts in assisting in the promotion of this affair, the committee is most grateful. And to Mr. Rothwell of the Navy Yard for his original artistic poster, the printing of which was generously given by Lew A. Cummings Co. of Manchester, N.H.
The Memorial page and artistic cover design is the inspirational work of Donald W. Leonard, M. D. of Exeter. Under his supervision are also the arrangements for the emergency medical care during the convert, including the attendance of Mrs. Frank Kucharski, R. N., and the ambulance loaned by F. L. Junkins of Exeter.
We are indebted to the New Hampshire Department of the American Legion for the state-wide promotion of the sale of tickets and to Hampton's [American Legion] Post No. 35 and Auxiliary for the management of the refreshment booth. To the state and local police the organization expresses its appreciation for the expert handling of traffic. For the free parking facilities the committee is indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Clinton H. Taylor.
Through the gracious cooperation of Mr. C. Dekker of the Manchester Union, we are indebted for the donations of the engravings used in this program, and to the gentlemen of the press and radio for the use of their facilities for spreading the spirit of the concert to the nation.
The chairs used to seat the audience were furnished by Pettingill and Pear at a considerable discount. The cooperation of the Casino Associates has been evidenced by the offer of the use of the Casino Ballroom for the concert in case of rain. The patriotic spirit of "young America" is typified by the enthusiastic dilligence of "Dusty" Currier of Rye Beach in assisting members of the committee, and the stenographic service so willingly given by Miss Ann M. Carley.
A generous donation of ice cream from Badger Farms' Creameries and tonic from C. Leary and Company, which is for sale on the Field, is still another contribution for which we are duly grateful.
The many courtesies extended by the employees of Mr. and Mrs. Hobson are greatly appreciated.
The committee deeply regrets that they are unable to print the lengthy list of the names of our patrons.
We would appreciate your mentioning this program when patronizing our advertisers as only by their cooperation could this program have been made possible.
A model of the Squalus was later donated to the Tuck Museum.