The Thetis ' Inquiry Though it is impossible to forecast
the future course of the ' Thetis ' inquiry, there are several points which emerge from the evidence given by Captain Oram and Lieutenant Woods which suggest the topics on which the investigation is likely to focus. Neither of these witnesses is able to account for the failure of other men to escape except on the basis of a conjecture that some major disaster must have occurred inside the submarine itself, and it seems reasonably clear that the immediate cause of the tragedy will not be ascertained until the salvage operations are completed. The present state of the evidence also suggests that if surface vessels had been on the spot earlier, there need have been little or no loss of life, while it seems likely that time would have been gained if there had not been almost a double complement on board. The findings of the tribunal on these points will be of the highest importance, and so will be the findings as to the causes of the submarine getting stuck in the mud. * *
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