U.S. Navy submarine R-14 with a crew of 28 searched the ocean in 1921 for U.S. Conestoga, a tug boat which had disappeared about 100 miles from Hawaii. They looked for the missing tugboat for so long, about two weeks, that they eventually ran out of fuel and, because they lost radio communication, were also unable to transmit radio messages about their location. Suddenly the search and rescue mission became a rescue mission itself.
Fortunately, the chief engineer, Lieutenant Roy Trent Gallemore, came up with a plan to sail out of their predicament. The crew made sails out of any available fabric, bedsheets, towels, hammocks, stitched them together, and attached them to frames made out of metal beds. They connected the sails to the highest points on the deck.
The sub sailed with a speed of three knots across the Pacific Ocean for three days and managed to reach Hilo harbor in Hawaii.
The chief engineer Roy Trent Gallemore, who had harnessed the wind to save his crew was promoted to Lieutenant Commander of the U.S. sub R-15.
Conestoga’s wreck was found off the coast of California in 2016. It is believed that it had sank in a storm in 1921 on its way to Pearl Harbor.
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