On Monday, September 18, 2000 2:04 AM, Chuck wrote:

> > > Ever read The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas?  About Momsun and the
rescue
> > of
> > > the crew of the Squalus.  You might find it interesting.

> > I read it!   And found many of the claims historically inaccurate!  :-)
> >
> Your experience while on the site was different?  I suspect a lot of the
> book was from interviews of survivors that are subject to human memory
> lapses especially common among our elder statesmen like yourself. ;-)

Ah!  I see you still keep making that same mistake!  Next time you go
shopping get the name right.  You're supposed to ask for "Vegemite" - not
"Vitriol".  (And you should only use it sparingly - not swallow
half-a-gallon of the stuff!)  :-)

> What did you find inaccurate?  (Out of curiosity)

First off:  I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the account of the rescue.  It
was a truly gripping tale.  My use of the term "historically innacurate" was
ill-used and was a case of 'firing from the hip'.

However, I question the suggestion that prior to Momsen's development of his
submarine escape apparatus. "every device up until then was either too bulky
or balky, and nowhere had there been any serious effort to train submarine
crews in their use."

The Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus was already standard equipment in RN
submarines and had already established its worth in the 'twenties and early
'thirties - most notably the escape by crew-members from HMS Poseidon in
1931, eight years before the Squalus went down.

Strike