Lot 478
U.S.S. SQUALUS COLLECTION
A fine and rare collection of material relative to the ill-fated submarine U.S.S. Squalus amassed by a New London artist, our consignor, to honor the heroic efforts of the Navy divers who rushed to the aid of the sub and rescued 33 sailors. Our relics here, among others, were exhibited in June, 2010 at the Custom House Maritime Museum in New London, Conn. as part of homage to the vessel on the 71st Anniversary of her sinking. The Squalus was a diesel-electric sub commissioned in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Mar. 1, 1939. On May 23, she suffered a disastrous valve failure during a test dive off the Isle of Shoals. The vessel was partially flooded and sank an unimaginable 240 feet to the bottom of the water. Twenty-six men were immediately drowned, while 33 others, including New London resident Carl Bryson, scrambled into the forward torpedo compartment and were then faced with the nearly insurmountable challenge of coming up to the surface. In the entire history of the submarines, no rescue attempts over 20 feet had been successful. At 243 feet it would be virtually impossible. The survivors sent up a marker buoy and then began releasing red smoke bombs to the surface in an attempt to signal their distress. Within 24 hours the rescue ship U.S.S. Falcon arrived on the scene with a McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber - a diving bell - and made four hazardous and previously-untested trips over the next 13 hours using a winch to lower the bell and remove the survivors. During each trip two divers would have to go down with the rescue chamber, seal it to the escape hatch of the sub and then transfer 9 men into it for the long trip to the surface. On the fourth attempt, the winch broke and forced the remaining men into a tinier chamber on the quickly-filling vessel. The only remaining option was to haul the bell up by hand. Through rough sea and with the knowledge that time was running out, the crew of the Falcon and her divers in the rescue chamber began the precise ballast and pulling that would bring the chamber once again towards the surface bringing the last man out of the rescue chamber, her skipper Lt. Oliver Naquin. This incredible rescue mission marked the first and only use of the McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber. For their bravery, four divers were given rarely-issued Medals of Honor and 46 Navy crosses. On Sept. 13, 1939 after a lengthy and difficult salvage effort, the wreck of the Squalus was raised and towed to the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was formally decommissioned the following month, refitted and renamed the Sailfish in Feb. 1940 at the personal suggestion of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was recommissioned in May 1940. She served throughout the war in critical offensives until her final decommissioning in October 1945. This collection includes: an original period flag measuring 95" x 57" with a black fish at middle used by surface ships to warn of submarines in the area, stamped "Sub Warning Mare Island 1919" at the edge; a very rare Master Diver patch from 1939 given to each diver in the Squallus rescue mission; an original Navy "Fleet Type Submarine" instruction manual, over 200pp. with numerous fold-out figures dated June 1946 and marked "Restricted'; a handsome silver-tone model of the Squalus measuring 7" and stamped: "Squalus Salvage Unit May 23, 1939 - Sept. 15, 1939"; a rare commemorative cover honoring the Squalus cancelled aboard the renamed Squalus: U.S.S. Sailfish, June 29, 1940 and signed by Naval architect and survivor of the Squalus H. C. PREBLE; a commemorative cover cancelled on the U.S.S. Falcon, Sept. 2, 1939, honoring the "heroic rescue of the U. S. S. Squalus", with a small photograph of the sub at bottom; a pair of dice belonging to Carl Bryson salvaged by divers; a rare postal cover cancelled on the U.S.S. California, May 23, 1939 and stamped simply "U. S. S. Squalus SUNK TODAY". The California would be sank in Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941; and a handsome, large handcrafted wood model of the Squalus measuring 34" long, created in the 1940s by one of the surviving crewmates. The model is entirely original save for the deck gun and rescue chamber which have been replaced; four copies of the Frederick, Maryland newspaper The News, May 23-26,1939, headlining the tragic sinking with a day-by-day report of the rescue mission; an original Navy Submarine Rescue Chambers instruction manual #B-6797 dated 1952; and a copy of the Oct. 27, 1939 booklet entitled Navy Day printed at the Navy Yard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 76pp. The lot is accompanied by four books relative to the event, indispensible research tools. Overall very good condition. A superb collection from one of the greatest rescue missions of the last century.
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