On the Bottom

by Ellsberg, Edward; Beach, Edward L.

• ISBN13: 9780451211514
• ISBN10: 0451211510
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-06
• Publisher: NAL Trade

Summary

In a collision with a steamship, City of Rome, on the night of September 25, 1925, the U.S. Navy Submarine S-51 sank in 132 feet of water, taking 33 sailors to the ocean floor. This is the story of the men charged with doing the impossible-raising the thousand ton sub from the bottom of the sea. Added to this modern classic of true adventure are a foreword and afterword giving specifics of the accident and the aftermath, additional photographs, a publisher's preface, and appendices.

Author Biography

Commander Edward Ellsberg graduated first in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1914. In 1925, he led the effort to raise the S-51, for which he became the first sailor to earn the Distinguished Service Medal during peacetime, and was promoted to Commander by a special act of Congress. In the late 1920s, Ellsberg began his prolific career as a writer of Naval history and fiction.

Table of Contents

PUBLISHER'S PREFACE	ix
INTRODUCTION	xiii
CHAPTER I: Collision	1	(2)
CHAPTER II: On the S-51	3	(2)
CHAPTER III: Rescue Efforts	5	(4)
CHAPTER IV: Vacillation	9	(3)
CHAPTER V: The Salvage Problem	12	(2)
CHAPTER VI: Diving	14	(4)
CHAPTER VII: The Divers	18	(1)
CHAPTER VIII: Off Block Island	19	(2)
CHAPTER IX: In the Engine Room	21	(4)
CHAPTER X: The First Snag	25	(7)
CHAPTER XI: The Control Room	32	(12)
CHAPTER XII: Another Struggle	44	(8)
CHAPTER XIII: The First Pontoon	52	(12)
CHAPTER XIV: Blowing the Ballast Tanks	64	(3)
CHAPTER XV: Outside the Control Room	67	(5)
CHAPTER XVI: A Lost Diver	72	(5)
CHAPTER XVII: The Motor Room	77	(2)
CHAPTER XVIII: Winter	79	(5)
CHAPTER XIX: A Diving School	84	(5)
CHAPTER XX: Lost, a Submarine	89	(3)
CHAPTER XXI: Pontoons Again	92	(6)
CHAPTER XXII: My First Dive	98	(7)
CHAPTER XXIII: Sealing Up Aft	105	(10)
CHAPTER XXIV: The Torch Solves a Problem	115	(4)
CHAPTER XXV: The First Tunnel	119	(12)
CHAPTER XXVI: The Cement Gun	131	(6)
CHAPTER XXVII: An Ocean Oil Well	137	(2)
CHAPTER XXVIII: The Engine Room Hatch	139	(6)
CHAPTER XXIX: More Pontoons	145	(7)
CHAPTER XXX: A Tug of War	152	(8)
CHAPTER XXXI: The Last Tunnel	160	(9)
CHAPTER XXXII: Lashing Up	169	(17)
CHAPTER XXXIII: June 22, 1926	186	(6)
CHAPTER XXXIV: Still More Pontoons	192	(10)
CHAPTER XXXV: July 5, 1926	202	(4)
CHAPTER XXXVI: The Tow	206	(3)
CHAPTER XXXVII: Man of War Rock	209	(12)
CHAPTER XXXVIII: The Bell	221	(2)
CHAPTER XXXIX: The End	223	(2)
GLOSSARY	225	(2)
PUBLISHER'S AFTERWORD	227	(10)
APPENDIX A: Final Sailing List	237	(2)
APPENDIX B: Additional Sources	239	(1)
APPENDIX C: S-51 Schematics	240	(5)
INDEX	245