Document text
Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
Page 1
Sir: Referring to your inaccurate article this should set the record straight. With due credit to Sandia for its highly profes sional efforts and to the Spanish witnesses ashore, had we adhered to their imprecise estimates, the location of the bomb would have been delayed at least a month and more likely several months. The hundreds of bits of information and suggestions re ceived from people in the U.S. and Europe were appreciated and evaluated carefully. But the plaudits for this highly successful operation properly belong to the patriotic who so diligently and systematically em ployed their knowledge of the sea and ef fectively utilized the accurate contact in formation generated by TF-65 ships and equipment in accomplishing this unprece dented feat. William S. Guest Commander, Task Force 65 someone on board Ship mt.. have tossed it overboard. During the 83 day sear the Air Force used 750 me Off Spanish Coast Totd m Weeks passed. The bomb Bv HAT SIMMONS 1 Francisco Simon, a fisher- was stiU missing. Tribune Staff Writer man in the area, a man who -what about those para- movements in the water Ian hour, its bright lights (pushing back the darkness 1 only 20 feet in front. Every-! I where else it was coal black, The crew spotted a narrowl unnatural. It went straight! took two days to fmd it again, had to take a real close lot ! On the second find the Alvin jthen blink their eyes for followed it down f i n a lly secon!i look. It was a W2 h; reaching the now famous come tax form on the Med No bomb in sight. Just the The shrouds were secured to a three inch nylon rope “a rope big enough and strong enough to pull a bat tleship,” Capt. Melson re ports. Up came the para The chute had broken loose. Down it-went, How far down that cliff? Down to the bottom of 6,000 foot mud holes, lost in the quagmire, of centuries The effort resumed. It took days to relocate the chute, now partially buried in m u d, 350 feet below its original lo This time a new underwa ter vehicle, the CURV, was used. No crew. An automatic. Big pinchers something like a crab and TV cameras a n d Movements in the and the Navy about 2,000. Sandia Corp. here played s leading role in the search, figuring probabilities or where the bomb might have fallen. Prediction Close Their prediction was with in a few hundred yards ol where the Spanish fishermar. said he thought the parachute They were not quite th ai close on figuring the elusive ocean currents that carried the bomb to the very perimeI powerful weapons was lost before, saw two. One was red chute had opened after it fell chine’s propellers, caused the Ideeo in the blue waters of and loo^ed a'«ut at 30,500 feet, how faJchute to billow up, “like algae itieeo in me oiue wa ^ malJ on it with his guts hang-cou]d have floated if ' 1Ithe 1 MedherranearT"~S~e a~ man on it with his guts hang-couid lt have floated; if thejin a flowing stream.” I threatening to multiply aj n*L°“f' ;fted hteh overc£u*e was luUy opened, _ if the This time two nylon ropes ;As soon as the word was! looked 1}ke ithad a man onl/ter currents carry itw j The CURV moved into conILewi^'blelson^were movingneither chute supported a --when it became woeftdJbillowed up and the CURV (Lewis Melson were moving clear that the bomb wa^was wrapped up like a caterMelson headed a Soon after lhe search be- probably not on land it was^rma nylon cocoon. More authorities gen bomhs carried by thedepthg_ ! No. Chute and lines and I that kept military a .s B52 were found. One was The rapid hunt now became ;CURV were hauled up te' missing, except for the tail the siow, tedious one. “We gether. The bomb was foum section which was found, on iyirtually vacuum cleaned the and raised. bpttom,” Capt. Melson said.; Happiest perhaps were the! ter of their two miles proba bility circle, according to Sam ager at the Corporation. • Capt. Melson said the suc cessful search has stirred more interest in underwater research and recovery. “We have ignored this world right off our door step more than you would think,” the captain said. Someday, he predicts, we will have to “work the ocean just like thej The sea floor sloped grad-Navy men who had been duel 'ually for about three miles, back in home station months] Speaks at Seminar iand> His official: report of what ; ' officials Worry [ ing. Yesterday he described xiety in high piaces_ a super- Then it went down at a before. (Naval Seminar m Applied Rer ^ better found. about 2.5 miles. Then it They had had some inter-! | search meeting . at an la Capt. Melson said it Was dropped of, very steep, end- esting moments like the time | ■ ii7;at that pockmarked land around feet down. 1 ancient wine jugs. On shore! (tanker collided immidj am It iS a mmmg region, an Scuba divers took to the town bought some new wine,! Ibns rained down. Most of nsearched. Some were filled, ■ - - >souvenirs._ Some were imeci virat^T* |m the ocean.^^-be probed. Not a square foot a cli{fj about 2,500 feet below! I could be left untouched. +ha surface.