In the early afternoon of December 17th this submarine went under to test some part of her machinery and a little workout, and steamed submerged out of the harbor; when about half a mile south of the Wood End Lighthouse, and directly in the channel for vessels leaving or entering the harbor, started to come to the surface. Just at this moment, coming in from a patrol cruise along the coast, came the Coast Guard cutter Paulding, steaming for an anchorage in the harbor at a sixteen miles an hour speed, and crashed with great force into the side of the submarine, just breaking the surface water. The sharp iron stem of the Paulding tore a great ragged hole in the side of the S-4, just forward of the conning tower, and passed completely over her. The torrent of water which poured through this hole sent the under-sea boat to the bottom of the sea in five minutes, with her crew of forty-two imprisoned in her iron hull, with walls that barred their escape from certain death. Caught like rats in a trap without the possibility or hope of escape, they were sealed up in their coffin more than one hundred feet beneath the sea. When this disaster became known, and it was within five minutes of the crash, radio and wireless messages sent it to every section of the country. It sent a thrill of horror to every point the news had reached; the awful tidings were broadcast to the whole country and even to points in Europe. Every available means of possible rescue were hurried to the scene. A dozen deep sea divers were rushed by train and auto from New London. Provincetown was the nearest point of approach to the location of the disaster. Big ships and tugs carrying chains and appliances were rushed forward by every available means, hoping to accomplish something towards raising the sunken boat before all her officers and men had perished by drowning or suffocation. There was hope that at least some of the men might have been able to close the watertight compartments before they were overcome by the inrushing current. Many kinds of appliances were hurried to the locality by fast ships; many tugs and steamers gathered over the place where the S-4 lay at the bottom of the sea off Long Point. Over the sunken boat white-capped waves were breaking, forced over the surging waters of the bay by a thirty-mile northwest gale. As soon as the divers reached the locality a man was sent down and succeeded in placing a chain over the bow of the submarine; they had hoped to raise the bow enough to tip the bow towards the surface, but failed to offer any help. Again a man was sent down with a hammer, and instructed to pound along the iron sides of the sunken boat; if he got any response from the inside it would indicate that there was life there.