The civilian, Mr. Preble, slipped away with one of his friends, but I turned all of the military personnel over to the hospital staff and returned to the ship. By the time we made it back to the FALCON the third trip, taking two hours and three minutes, had safely made the surface bringing nine more survivors.
Then came the fourth trip which I am sure will live in the memory of every man on the rescue force long after the rest has faded away. Mihalowski went back again as one of the operators for this memorable trip and our good friend McDonald was the other operator. They made contact with the submarine in routine manner, and the remaining survivors, including the Commanding-Officer, Oliver Naquin, and Lieutenant Doyle climbed into the bell. McDonald was down in the lower compartment and with his feet on the deck of the SQUALUS, he closed and dogged the hatch into the submarine for the last time. With skilled hands he moved the cradle, and the drum that held the downhaul wire, into position and guided the wire so that it flowed onto the drum, Mihalowski turned on the air motor just enough to take up the slack which they had allowed in order to open the hatch. As soon as the downhaul wire was taut between the chamber and the bail of the escape hatch, he removed the four holding-down bolts which were the last firm contact with the submarine. Then he climbed back up into the crowded upper chamber. They dumped all of the portable ballast, which was in the cans used for seats around the outer rim of the upper compartment, down into this lower chamber and closed the hatch. Next they flooded this lower compartment and followed by blowing the ballast tank. This gave the bell its buoyancy an broke the seal to the submarine. It was easy to tell when the seal was broken because the bell swayed slightly as it righted itself from the tilt of the submarine. But it didn't move far because the downhaul cable held it secure.
At 2014 that dark night they reported to the surface, "Starting up." The men in the bell and the men on the FALCON were in good spirits; they had the last of the survivors on the way to safety. The men in the bell were cold and horribly cramped but not worried -- a few more minutes and they would be topside. The bell was worth a million dollars to them right then.
But at the 160 foot level something happened. They slowed down; they stopped. Instinctively, McDonald cut the motor, saying to Mihalowski, "Somethings wrong.' Then they tried to reverse the motor, but the chamber went down only a few feet. It stalled permanently and would not move either way. They immediately disconnected the motor and tried to pay out the downhaul wire by allowing the reel to run against the brake. It did no good. Even with the brake off, the chamber refused to move. By this time those of us listening to the phone topside realized something was wrong. Then word came from McDonald, "The downhaul wire is jammed. We can't move up or down.”
McCann's anxious voice came back, "Have you tried reversing the motor and pulling down on the wire?”
"Yes, we've tried that. We've also tried disconnecting the motor and coming up on the brake. Can't get any movement either way.”