As we went along messages were flashing back and forth giving us information on what was happening in the mobilization for the rescue of the men known to be alive in the forward three compartments of the SQUALUS. We learned that Lieutenant "Swede" Momsen and divers from the Experimental Diving Unit and the Deep-Sea Diving School were being flown to the scene of disaster. We were told that the Coast Guard had been alerted and would have ships there in readiness, Our own Commanding Officer, Captain Edwards, was on the way up with the experimental destroyer, the U. S. S. SEMMES, Admiral Cole had hastened to the scene on the old yard tug, the PENACOOK, the oldest naval vessel in active service on the coast. Ships were under way from all directions but the only one that really counted, the one that would mean life or death to the men under the 240 feet of water, was the ship on which I was riding -- the U. S. S. FALCON.
Would this trip be as heartbreaking as the trip the FALCON had made when the S-51 was rammed by the S. S. CITY OF ROME, and went to the bottom? Would the men in the forward torpedo room on the SQUALUS slowly die of suffocation as had the men in the S-4 when she went to the bottom, rammed by the destroyer, U. S. S. J. K. PAULDING? These and many other thoughts raced through the minds of all of us in the submarine and salvage crews of the Navy. These men had practiced and drilled and developed equipment for many years for an opportunity such as this. Would they now be able to rescue the men or would they fail again as they had in the S-4, when a raging storm had prevented any type of rescue work. Would nature be kind to us this time as we tried to get the men out of the SQUALUS?
One message we received was not as heartening as the messages telling of the mobilization. While Wilkin was talking on the buoy telephone with Oliver Naquin, a wave had lifted the small boat he was in and had snapped the telephone cable, severing all direct contact with the SQUALUS. Of course, dragging operations were started immediately in order to maintain the location of the submarine, and the PENACOOK had grappled and caught what they thought was the submarine and they had fastened a buoy to it. But as we plowed through the water the officers and men worried whether we would ever be able to find the submarine again after losing contact with it.