After a terrific struggle, the divers managed to fix mighty steel cables under the nose of the submarine. Salvage craft and lifting vessels strained away. For a time they made no impression. Then slowly the grip of the mud began to relax and the bow of the submarine, lightened by the blowing out of the oil tanks, began to rise nearer and nearer the surface until, about midnight, it broke clear into view. It was a weird sight. Great arc lamps lit the scene, and under their glare the salvage men attacked the steel hull of the K.13 with oxy-acetylene blow-pipes. Every one was desperately anxious, afraid that the submarine might slip. Under the intense heat of the blow-pipes, the steel grew soft and melted. Gradually, laboriously, the salvors burned their way through the stout outer plates. [Illustration: HISTORY REVEALS NO MORE THRILLING RESCUE THAN THAT OF THE SURVIVORS OF THE K.13 AFTER SHE HAD BEEN AT THE BOTTOM FOR TWO AND A HALF DAYS. THIS RARE PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS THE BOW OF THE K.13 AFTER IT HAD BEEN HAULED TO THE SURFACE TO ENABLE THE MEN TO BE CUT OUT] They now made an onslaught on the inner hull, directing the flame on the steel shell. The metal glowed and flowed. A rush of air leaped upwards from the interior of the vessel and blew out the roaring flame of the blow-pipe. “Get us some matches!” the divers called to those above. Under their very noses a hand from inside the ship suddenly slid through the hole in the metal, the fingers holding up a box of matches. “Here you are,” said a cheery voice, and the divers knew that all was well. Another period of strenuous endeavour and the hole in the metal was big enough for a man to squeeze through. Then, as the forty prisoners were helped and carried to freedom, the cheers of the salvage men echoed to the shore. Never will men be nearer death than those saved from the K.13. For fifty-seven hours they were imprisoned in the sunken submarine at the bottom of the sea, for two and a half days they lived with death at their elbows, not knowing when the end would come. Their ordeal has never been equalled, and their rescue is one of the most thrilling deeds in the annals of sea salvage. Barely were they rescued when a storm arose. The cables holding up the K.13 snapped asunder, and the submarine plunged again to the bottom. The men had been cut out not a moment too soon.