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William Floyd Collins ( – c. ) was an American cave explorer in central Kentucky, an area which houses hundreds of miles of interconnected caves, including the Mammoth Cave National Park. On January 30, 1925, while trying to discover a new entrance to the system of underground caves that were a popular tourist attraction in Kentucky, Collins became trapped in a narrow crawlway below the surface. The reports about efforts to save Collins became a nationwide newspaper sensation and among the first major news stories to become a sensation on the new technology of broadcast radio. The rescue attempt grew to become the third-biggest media event between the world wars. After four days during which Collins could be brought water and food, a collapse in the cave closed the entrance passageway to everything except voice contact. Collins died of thirst and exposure after about fourteen days underground, three days before a rescue shaft reached his position. Collins' body was recovered two months later. Collins discovered Crystal Cave in 1917. Crystal Cave is now part of the Flint Ridge Cave System of the Mammoth Cave National Park. Although Collins was an unknown figure in life, the fame brought by his demise caused his tombstone to be inscribed ''The Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known''. ==Trapped in Sand Cave== The Collins family owned Crystal Cave, a tourist cave in the same general area as the Mammoth Caves. Although beautiful, Crystal Cave attracted a disappointingly low number of tourists because of its remote location. Collins hoped to find another entrance to the Mammoth Caves or possibly a new cave along the road to the Mammoth Caves and to draw some of the visitors to them. He made an agreement with three farmers who owned land closer to the main highway. If he found a cave with commercial potential on their land, the owners would pay to develop the cave, and Collins would share in the profits from operating it as a tourist attraction. Working alone over three weeks, he explored and expanded a hole that would later be named "Sand Cave" by news media. On January 30, 1925, after several hours of work, Collins managed to squeeze through several narrow passageways; he claimed he had discovered a large chamber, though this was never verified. Because his lamp was dying, he had to leave quickly before exploring the chamber. He became trapped in a small passage on his way out. He accidentally knocked over his lamp, putting out the light, and in the dark he dislodged a rock from the ceiling, pinning his left leg. The rock weighed only 16 pounds (7.2 kg), but it was wedged in where neither he nor rescuers could reach it. Collins was trapped just 150 feet (50 m) from the entrance. After being found the next day by friends, crackers were taken to him, and an electric light was run down the passage to provide him light and some warmth. Collins survived for over a week while rescue efforts were made. On February 4, the cave passage used to reach Collins collapsed in two places. Rescue leaders, chief among them being Henry St. George Tucker Carmichael, believing the cave impassable and too dangerous, began to dig a shaft to reach the chamber behind Collins. The 55-foot (18 m) shaft and subsequent lateral tunnel intersected the cave just above Collins, but when he was finally reached on February 17, he was already dead from exposure. Because he could not be reached from behind, the rescuers could not free his leg. They left his body in place and filled the shaft with debris. A doctor estimated he had died three or four days before he was reached, with February 13 the most likely date. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Floyd Collins」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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