Commissioned on June 24, 1922 the
American submarine S-51 (SS-162) was based at New London, Connecticut. On
the night of September 25, 1925, S-51 was operating on the surface in
Long Island Sound near Block Island. Despite having her running lights "on"
S-51 suffered a collision with the merchant steamer City of Rome.
Only 3 of the 36 men aboard the submarine were able to abandon ship before the
small vessel sank. S-51 quickly dropped to the bottom in 132 feet of water.
Thirty-three
U.S. sailors lost their lives in the cold Atlantic. The disaster stirred such a
strong public reaction that Navy brass made the decision to attempt the
impossible—to raise the 1,000-ton submarine from the bottom of the sea. This
gargantuan task was given to Lieutenant Commander Edward Ellsberg and a group of
divers scavenged from the Navy's entire fleet. Over a painstaking nine-month
period, he and his men performed exhausting and terrifying work at unprecedented
depths in hour-long increments—working against the severe, dangerous, and often
unforeseen forces of nature—to enact a miracle of ingenuity and sheer will. This
is the classic story of their stunning feat—told by the man who oversaw it from
the beginning to end. Added to this modern classic of true
adventure is an Introduction by Captain Edward L. Beach, USN, (Ret.).
New
softbound edition, 253 pages, 29 historic black and white photos, 3 diagrams, an
S-51 crew roster and an index. Supplies are limited, this book now out-of-print!
New Book --- $16.95 Last
of our new inventory!
"A marvelous
tale, filled with moments of horrified expectancy, of impossible deeds and
endurances, of achievements that smack of magic." The New York Times
"When I
was a kid, browsing a used book sale at a mall in San Antonio, I bought a
book named "Thirty Fathoms Deep" by Commander Edward Ellsberg. It was a
pretty good yarn about diving on sunken treasure, not very plausible but a
good read. I still have the book, and a few years ago (probably after
reading "Run Silent, Run Deep") I started wondering who this Ellsberg guy
was, especially as there were a bunch of other books by him printed on the
flyleaf of "Thirty Fathoms Deep." Google to the rescue—I found a website
containing the U.S. Navy report on the raising of the S-51 (which
seemed to be the "Columbia" incident of its day) in 1926, written by
Ellsberg. Here was the source of technical themes repeated in "Thirty
Fathoms Deep" and I read it thoroughly. In spite of the dry Navy language,
it was a thrilling story, and then I read "On The Bottom." This book is more
or less the same information found in the Navy report, of course, but with a
more human touch. While still somewhat dry and full of technical details,
the picture painted is one of men struggling to perform a herculean task in
extreme conditions with primitive tools (some invented as they went along),
against cruel setbacks seemingly thrown by a pantheon of laughing gods. This
is truth on par with Spielbergian fiction and worth a movie, with no
embellishment required. Josh Poage "kalpol"
"For sheer
vividness this battle with the treacherous waters has no equal in recent
fiction or nonfiction." William McFee in the New York Herald Tribune
"A
fantastic reprint of one of the all time classics of the sea. The
introduction by Captain Ned Beach is a wonderful tribute to Admiral Edward
Ellsberg. It's a must for any naval history buff!"
The Author
The son of Jewish immigrants, Edward
Ellsberg was born in 1891 in New Haven, Connecticut. He entered the
U.S. Academy in 1910 and graduated first in his class in 1914.
Following his successful salvage efforts of the submarine S-51
in 1925 Ellsberg was promoted to the rank of Commander and became the first sailor to earn the Distinguished Service
Medal during peacetime. In the late 1920s, Ellsberg began his prolific
career as a writer of Naval history and fiction. Ellsberg reentered
the active Navy on December 8, 1941. He retired in 1951, at the rank
of Rear Admiral. Edward Ellsberg died in 1983 at the age of 92.
ISBN # 0-451-21151-0
The Raising of the U.S. Navy submarine S-51
by Commander Edward Ellsberg
Introduction by Captain Edward L. Beach, USN (Ret.)
New Softbound edition
253 pages, 29 black and white photographs
New $16.95
Note: Photo below appears in the book.
Above photo: Submarine S-51 on the left
Above photo: The wreck of S-51 in drydock
following her being raised
