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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #50582 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50582)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Submarine, by Farnham Bishop
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: The Story of the Submarine
-
-Author: Farnham Bishop
-
-Release Date: November 30, 2015 [EBook #50582]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE SUBMARINE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chris Curnow, Charlie Howard, and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-THE STORY OF THE SUBMARINE
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.
-
-U. S. Submarine _M-1_.]
-
-
-
-
- THE STORY OF
- THE SUBMARINE
-
-
- BY
- FARNHAM BISHOP
- Author of “Panama, Past and Present,” etc.
-
- _ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
- AND DRAWINGS_
-
-
- [Illustration]
-
-
- NEW YORK
- THE CENTURY CO.
- 1916
-
-
-
-
- Copyright, 1916, by
- THE CENTURY CO.
-
- _Published, February, 1916_
-
-
-
-
- To
- MY MOTHER
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE
-
-
-This book has been written for the nontechnical reader--for the man or
-boy who is interested in submarines and torpedoes, and would like to
-know something about the men who invented these things and how they
-came to do it. Much has been omitted that I should have liked to have
-put in, for this is a small book and the story of the submarine is much
-longer than most people realize. It is perhaps astonishing to think
-of the launching of an underseaboat in the year the Pilgrims landed
-at Plymouth Rock, or George Washington watching his submarine attack
-the British fleet in 1776. But are these things as astonishing as the
-thought of European soldiers wearing steel helmets and fighting with
-crossbows and catapults in 1916?
-
-The chapter on “A Trip in a Modern Submarine” is purely imaginative.
-There is no such boat in our submarine flotilla as the _X-4_. We ought
-to have plenty of big, fast, sea-going submarines, with plenty of big,
-fast sea-planes and battle-cruisers, so that if an invading army ever
-starts for this country we can meet it and smash it while it is cooped
-up on transports somewhere in mid-ocean. There, and not in shallow,
-off-shore waters, cumbered with nets and mines, is the true battlefield
-of the submarine.
-
-The last part of this book has a broken-off and fragmentary
-appearance. This is almost unavoidable at a time when writing history
-is like trying to make a statue of a moving-picture. I have tried to do
-justice to both sides in the present war.
-
-I wish to express my thanks to those whose kindness and courtesy have
-made it possible for me to write this book. To Mr. Kelby, Librarian of
-the New York Historical Society, I am indebted for much information
-about Bushnell’s _Turtle_, and to Mrs. Daniel Whitney, of Germantown,
-Pa., a descendant of Ezra Lee, for the portrait of her intrepid
-ancestor. Both the Electric Boat Company and Mr. Simon Lake have
-supplied me most generously with information and pictures. The Bureau
-of Construction, United States Navy, E. P. Dutton & Company, publishers
-of Mr. Alan H. Burgoyne’s “Submarine Navigation Past and Present”;
-the American Magazine, Flying, International Marine Engineering,
-the _Scientific American_, and the _New York Sun_ have cheerfully
-given permission for the reproduction of many pictures of which they
-hold the copyright. Albert Frank & Company have given the cut of the
-advertisement of the last sailing of the _Lusitania_. Special thanks
-are due to Mr. A. Russell Bond, Associate Editor of the _Scientific
-American_, for expert advice and suggestion.
-
-Some well-known pictures of submarines are herein credited for the
-first time to the man who made them: Captain Francis M. Barber,
-U. S. N. (retired). This officer published a little pink-backed
-pamphlet on submarine boats--the first book devoted exclusively to this
-subject--in 1875.
-
-“The last time I heard of that pink pamphlet,” writes Captain Barber
-from Washington, “was when I was Naval Attache at Berlin in 1898.
-Admiral von Tirpitz was then head of the Torpedo Bureau in the Navy
-Department, and he was good enough to say that it was the foundation
-of his studies--and look what we have now in the terrible German
-production.”
-
- FARNHAM BISHOP.
-
- New York,
- January, 1916.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- CHAPTER PAGE
-
- I IN THE BEGINNING 3
-
- II DAVID BUSHNELL’S “TURTLE” 12
-
- III ROBERT FULTON’S “NAUTILUS” 26
-
- IV SUBMARINES IN THE CIVIL WAR 36
-
- V THE WHITEHEAD TORPEDO 43
-
- VI FREAKS AND FAILURES 56
-
- VII JOHN P. HOLLAND 69
-
- VIII THE LAKE SUBMARINES 82
-
- IX A TRIP IN A MODERN SUBMARINE 100
-
- X ACCIDENTS AND SAFETY DEVICES 124
-
- XI MINES 139
-
- XII THE SUBMARINE IN ACTION 156
-
- XIII THE SUBMARINE BLOCKADE 177
-
- XIV THE SUBMARINE AND NEUTRALS 189
-
- INDEX 207
-
-
-
-
-List of Illustrations
-
-
- PAGE
-
- U. S. Submarine _M-1_ _Frontispiece_
-
- Cornelius Van Drebel 5
-
- The _Rotterdam Boat_ 8
-
- Symons’s Submarine 10
-
- The Submarine of 1776 13
-
- The Best-known Picture of Bushnell’s _Turtle_ 16
-
- Another Idea of Bushnell’s _Turtle_ 19
-
- Ezra Lee 21
-
- The _Nautilus_ Invented by Robert Fulton 28
-
- Destruction of the _Dorothea_ 33
-
- Views of a Confederate _David_ 37
-
- C. S. S. _Hundley_ 38
-
- Cross-section of a Whitehead Torpedo 51
-
- Davis Gun-torpedo After Discharge, Showing Eight-inch Gun
- Forward of Air-flask 53
-
- Effect of Davis Gun-torpedo on a Specially-constructed Target 54
-
- The _Intelligent Whale_ 58
-
- _Le Plongeur_ 59
-
- Steam Submarine _Nordenfeldt II_, at Constantinople, 1887 62
-
- Bauer’s Submarine Concert, Cronstadt Harbor, 1855 65
-
- Apostoloff’s Proposed Submarine 67
-
- The _Holland No. 1_ 70
-
- The _Fenian Ram_ 73
-
- U. S. S. _Holland_, in Drydock with the Russian Battleship
- _Retvizan_ 77
-
- John P. Holland 80
-
- Lake 1893 Design as Submitted to the U. S. Navy Department 83
-
- The _Argonaut Junior_ 84
-
- _Argonaut_ as Originally Built 87
-
- _Argonaut_ as Rebuilt 90
-
- The Rebuilt _Argonaut_, Showing Pipe-masts and Ship-shaped
- Superstructure 93
-
- Cross-section of Diving-compartment on a Lake Submarine 94
-
- Cross-section of the _Protector_ 97
-
- Mr. Simon Lake 98
-
- U. S. Submarine _E-2_ 101
-
- A Submarine Cruiser, or Fleet Submarine (Lake Type) 105
-
- Auxiliary Switchboard and Electric Cook-stove, in a U. S.
- Submarine 107
-
- Forward Deck of a U. S. Submarine, in Cruising Trim 109
-
- Same, Preparing to Submerge 110
-
- Depth-control Station, U. S. Submarine 113
-
- Cross-section of a Periscope 114
-
- Forward Torpedo-compartment, U. S. Submarine 117
-
- Fessenden Oscillator Outside the Hull of a Ship 120
-
- Professor Fessenden Receiving a Message Sent Through Several
- Miles of Sea-water by His “Oscillator” 121
-
- Side-elevation of a Modern Submarine 127
-
- One Type of Safety-jacket 131
-
- The _Vulcan_ Salvaging the _U-3_ 134
-
- Fulton’s Anchored Torpedoes 140
-
- Sinking of the U. S. S. _Tecumseh_, by a Confederate Mine, in
- Mobile Bay 143
-
- A Confederate “Keg-torpedo” 144
-
- First Warship Destroyed by a Mine 145
-
- A Confederate “Buoyant Torpedo” or Contact-mine 146
-
- Modern Contact-mine 150
-
- U. S. Mine-planter _San Francisco_ 153
-
- English Submarine Rescuing English Sailors 157
-
- Engagement Between the _Birmingham_ and the _U-15_ 159
-
- Sinking of the _Aboukir_, _Cressy_, and _Hogue_ 163
-
- Tiny Target Afforded by Periscopes in Rough Weather 167
-
- Photograph of a Submarine, Twenty Feet Below the Surface,
- Taken from the Aeroplane, Whose Shadow Is Shown in the
- Picture 173
-
- German Submarine Pursuing English Merchantman 182
-
- British Submarine, Showing One Type of Disappearing Deck-gun
- Now in Use 190
-
-
-
-
-THE STORY OF THE SUBMARINE
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-IN THE BEGINNING
-
-
-If you had been in London in the year 1624, and had gone to the
-theater to see “The Staple of News,” a new and very dull comedy by
-Shakespeare’s friend Ben Jonson, you would have heard, in act III,
-scene i, the following dialogue about submarines:
-
- THOMAS
-
- They write hear one Cornelius’ son
- Hath made the Hollanders an invisible eel
- To swim the haven at Dunkirk and sink all
- The shipping there.
-
- PENNYBOY
-
- But how is’t done?
-
- GRABAL
-
- I’ll show you, sir,
- It is an automa, runs under water
- With a snug nose, and has a nimble tail
- Made like an auger, with which tail she wriggles
- Betwixt the costs of a ship and sinks it straight.
-
- PENNYBOY
-
- Whence have you this news?
-
- FITTON
-
- From a right hand I assure you.
- The eel-boats here, that lie before Queen-hythe
- Came out of Holland.
-
- PENNYBOY
-
- A most brave device
- To murder their flat bottoms.
-
-The idea of submarine navigation is much older than 1624. Crude diving
-bells, and primitive leather diving helmets, with bladders to keep the
-upper end of the air tube afloat on the surface of the water, were
-used as early as the fourteenth century. William Bourne, an Englishman
-who published a book on “Inventions or Devices” in 1578, suggested the
-military value of a boat that could be sailed just below the surface
-of the water, with a hollow mast for a ventilator. John Napier, Laird
-of Merchiston, the great Scotch mathematician who invented logarithms,
-wrote in 1596 about his proposed “Devices of sailing under the water,
-with divers other devices and stratagems for the burning of enemies.”
-
-But the first man actually to build and navigate a submarine was a
-Dutchman: the learned Doctor Cornelius Van Drebel.[1] He was “a native
-of Alkmaar, a very fair and handsome man, and of very gentle manners.”
-Both his pleasing personality and his knowledge of science--which
-caused many to suspect him of being a magician--made the Netherlander
-an honored guest at the court of his most pedantic Majesty, King James
-I of England.
-
-Van Drebel was walking along the banks of the Thames, one pleasant
-evening in the year 1620, when he “noticed some sailors dragging
-behind their barques baskets full of fish; he saw that the barques
-were weighed down in the water, but that they rose a little when the
-baskets allowed the ropes which held them to slacken a little. The idea
-occurred to him that a ship could be held under water by a somewhat
-similar method and could be propelled by oars and poles.”[2]
-
-[Illustration: Cornelius Van Drebel.
-
- Reproduced from “Submarine Navigation, Past and Present” by Alan H.
- Burgoyne, by permission of E. P. Dutton & Company.
-]
-
-Lodged by the king in Eltham Palace, and supplied with funds from the
-royal treasury, Van Drebel designed and built three submarine boats,
-between 1620 and 1624. They were simply large wooden rowboats, decked
-over and made water-tight by a covering of thick, well-greased leather.
-Harsdoffer, a chronicler of the period, declared that
-
-“King James himself journeyed in one of them on the Thames. There were
-on this occasion twelve rowers besides the passengers, and the vessel
-during several hours was kept at a depth of twelve to fifteen feet
-below the surface.”
-
-Another contemporary historian, Cornelius Van der Wonde, of Van
-Drebel’s home town, said of him:
-
-“He built a ship in which one could row and navigate under water from
-Westminster to Greenwich, the distance of two Dutch miles; even five
-or six miles or as far as one pleased. In this boat a person could see
-under the surface of the water and without candle-light, as much as
-he needed to read in the Bible or any other book. Not long ago this
-remarkable ship was yet to be seen lying in the Thames or London river.”
-
-The glow of phosphorescent bodies, suggested by the monk Mersenne for
-illuminating the interior of a submarine, later in the seventeenth
-century and actually so used by Bushnell in the eighteenth, might have
-furnished sufficient light for Bible- and compass-reading on this
-voyage. But how did King James--the first and last monarch to venture
-on an underwater voyage--the other passengers, and the twelve rowers
-get enough air?
-
-“That deservedly Famous Mechanician and Chymist, Cornelius Drebell ...
-conceived, that ’tis not only the whole body of the air but a certain
-Quintessence (as Chymists speake) or spirituous part that makes it fit
-for respiration ... so that (for aught I could gather) besides the
-Mechanicall contrivance of his vessel he had a Chymicall liquor, which
-he accounted the chief secret of his Submarine Navigation. For when
-from time to time he perceived that the finer and purer part of the air
-was consumed or over-clogged by the respiration and steames of those
-that went in his ship, he would, by unstopping a vessel full of liquor
-speedily restore to the troubled air such a proportion of vital parts
-as would make it again for a good while fit for Respiration.”[3]
-
-Did Van Drebel anticipate by one hundred and fifty years the discovery
-of oxygen: the life-giving “Quintessence” of air? Even if he did, it
-is incredible that he should have found a liquid, utterly unknown to
-modern chemistry, capable of giving off that gas so freely that a few
-gallons would restore the oxygen to a confined body of air as fast
-as fifteen or twenty men could consume it by breathing. Perhaps his
-“Chymicall liquor” instead of producing oxygen directly, increased the
-proportion of it in the atmosphere by absorbing the carbonic acid gas.
-
-The Abbé de Hautefeullie, who wrote in 1680 on “Methods of breathing
-under water,” made the following shrewd guess at the nature of the
-apparatus:
-
-“Drebel’s secret was probably the machine which I had imagined,
-consisting of a bellows with two valves and two tubes resting on the
-surface of the water, the one bringing down air and the other sending
-it back. By speaking of a volatile essence which restored the nitrous
-parts consumed by respiration, Drebel evidently wished to disguise his
-invention and prevent others from finding out its real nature.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Scientific American.
-
-The _Rotterdam Boat_.]
-
-It is a very great pity that we know no more about these earliest
-submarines. Cornelius Van Drebel died in 1634, at the age of sixty-two,
-without leaving any written notes or oral descriptions. We must not
-think too hardly of this inventor of three centuries ago, unguarded
-by patent laws, for making a mystery of his discoveries. He had to
-be a showman as well as a scientist, or his noble patrons would have
-lost all interest in his “ingenious machines,” and mystery is half
-of the showman’s game. Besides his “eel-boats,” Van Drebel is said
-to have invented a wonderful globe with which he imitated perpetual
-motion and illustrated the course of the sun, moon, and stars; an
-incubator, a refrigerator, “Virginals that played of themselves,” and
-other marvels too numerous to mention. Half scientist, half charlatan,
-wholly medieval in appearance, with his long furred gown and long, fair
-beard, Cornelius Van Drebel marches picturesquely at the head of the
-procession of inventors who have made possible the modern submarine.
-
-Eighteen years after Van Drebel’s death, a Frenchman named Le Son
-built a submarine at Rotterdam. This craft, which is usually referred
-to as the _Rotterdam Boat_, was 72 feet long, 12 feet high, and of 8
-foot beam. It was built of wood, with sharply tapering ends, and had
-a superstructure whose sloping sides were designed to deflect cannon
-balls that might be fired at the boat while traveling on the surface,
-while iron-shod legs protected the hull when resting on the sea bottom.
-A single paddle-wheel amidships was to propel the boat,--just how, the
-inventor never revealed. Like so many other submarines, the _Rotterdam
-Boat_ was built primarily to be used against the British fleet. But it
-failed to interest either the Dutch or French minister of marine, and
-never went into action.
-
-The earliest known contemporary picture of a submarine vessel appeared
-in the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” in 1747. It showed a cross section of an
-underwater boat built and navigated on the Thames by one Symons. This
-was a decked-over row-boat, propelled by four pairs of oars working
-in water-tight joints of greased leather. To submerge his vessel,
-Symons admitted water into a number of large leather bottles, placed
-inside the hull with their open mouth passing through holes in the
-bottom. When he wished to rise, he would squeeze out the water with a
-lever and bind up the neck of each emptied bottle with string. This
-ingenious device was not original with Mr. Symons, but was invented by
-a Frenchman named Borelli in 1680.
-
-Submarine navigation was a century and a half old before it claimed
-its first victim. J. Day, an English mechanic, rebuilt a small boat so
-that he was able to submerge it in thirty feet of water, with himself
-on board, and remain there for twenty-four hours with no ill effect.
-At the end of this time, Day rose to the surface, absolutely certain
-of his ability to repeat the experiment at any depth. But how could he
-turn this to practical account?
-
-[Illustration: Symons’s Submarine.]
-
-It was an age of betting, when gentlemen could always be found to risk
-money on any wager, however fantastic. Day found a financial backer in
-a Mr. Blake, who advanced him the money to buy a fifty-ton sloop and
-fit it with a strong water-tight compartment amidships. Ten tons of
-ballast were placed in the hold and twenty more hung outside the hull
-by four iron rods passing through the passenger’s compartment. When the
-rest of the boat was filled with water, it would sink to the bottom,
-to rise again when the man inside released the twenty tons of outer
-ballast.
-
-Shut in the water-tight compartment of this boat, Day sank to the
-bottom of Plymouth Harbor, at 2 P.M., Tuesday, June 28, 1774, to decide
-a bet that he could remain twelve hours at a depth of twenty-two
-fathoms (132 feet). When, at the expiration of this time, the submarine
-failed to reappear, Mr. Blake called on the captain of a near-by
-frigate for help. Bluejackets from the warship and workmen from the
-dockyard were set to work immediately to grapple for the sunken craft
-and raise her to the surface, but to no avail. The great pressure
-of water at that depth--150 feet is the limit of safety for many
-modern submarines--must have crushed in the walls of the water-tight
-compartment without giving Day time enough to release the outer ballast
-and rise to safety.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-DAVID BUSHNELL’S “TURTLE”
-
-
-In the first week of September, 1776, the American army defending New
-York still held Manhattan Island, but nothing more. Hastily improvised,
-badly equipped, and worse disciplined, it had been easily defeated by a
-superior invading force of British regulars and German mercenaries in
-the battle of Long Island. Brooklyn had fallen; from Montauk Point to
-the East River, all was the enemy’s country. Staten Island, too, was
-an armed and hostile land. After the fall of the forts on both sides
-of the Narrows, the British fleet had entered the Upper Bay, and even
-landed marines and infantry on Governor’s Island. Grimly guarding the
-crowded transports, the ship-of-the-line _Asia_ and the frigate _Eagle_
-lay a little above Staten Island, with their broadsides trained on the
-doomed city.
-
-In the mouth of the North River, not a biscuit-toss from the Battery,
-floated the brass conning-tower of an American submarine.
-
-It was the only submarine in the world and its inventor called it
-the _Turtle_. He called it that because it looked like one: a turtle
-floating with its tail down and a conning-tower for a head. It has
-also been compared to a modern soldier’s canteen with an extra-large
-mouthpiece, or a hardshell clam wearing a silk hat. It was deeper than
-it was long and not much longer than it was broad. It had no periscope,
-torpedo tubes, or cage of white mice. But the _Turtle_ was a submarine,
-for all that.
-
-Its inventor was a Connecticut Yankee, Mr. David Bushnell, later
-Captain Bushnell of the corps of sappers and miners and in the opinion
-of his Excellency General Washington “a man of great mechanical powers,
-fertile in invention and master of execution.” Bushnell was born in
-Saybrook and educated at Yale, where he graduated with the class of
-1775. During his four years as an undergraduate, he spent most of his
-spare time solving the problem of exploding gunpowder under water. A
-water-tight case would keep his powder dry, but how could he get a
-spark inside to explode it? Percussion caps had not yet been invented,
-but Bushnell took the flintlock from a musket and had it snapped by
-clockwork that could be wound up and set for any desired length of time.
-
-[Illustration: The Submarine of 1776.
-
-(As described by its operator.)]
-
-“The first experiment I made,” wrote Bushnell in a letter to Thomas
-Jefferson when the latter was American minister to France in 1789, “was
-with about 2 ounces of powder, which I exploded 4 feet under water, to
-prove to some of the first personages in Connecticut that powder would
-take fire under water.
-
-“The second experiment was made with 2 lb. of powder enclosed in a
-wooden bottle and fixed under a hogshead, with a 2-inch oak plank
-between the hogshead and the powder. The hogshead was loaded with
-stones as deep as it could swim; a wooden pipe, descending through the
-lower head of the hogshead and through the plank into the bottle, was
-primed with powder. A match put to the priming exploded the powder,
-which produced a very great effect, rending the plank into pieces,
-demolishing the hogshead, and casting the stones and the ruins of
-the hogshead, with a body of water, many feet into the air, to the
-astonishment of the spectators. This experiment was likewise made for
-the satisfaction of the gentlemen above mentioned.”
-
-Governor Trumbull of Connecticut was among the “first personages”
-present at these experiments, which so impressed him and his council
-that they appropriated enough money for Bushnell to build the _Turtle_.
-The Nutmeg State was thus the first “world-power” to have a submarine
-in its navy.[4]
-
-The hull of the _Turtle_ was not made of copper, as is sometimes
-stated, but was “built of oak, in the strongest manner possible,
-corked and tarred.”[5] The conning-tower was of brass and also served
-as a hatch-cover. The hatchway was barely big enough for the one man
-who made up the entire crew to squeeze through. Once inside, the
-operator could screw the cover down tight, and look out through “three
-round doors, one directly in front and one on each side, large enough
-to put the hand through. When open they admitted fresh air.” On top of
-the conning-tower were two air-pipes “so constructed that they shut
-themselves whenever the water rose near their tops, so that no water
-could enter through them and opened themselves immediately after they
-rose above the water.
-
-“The vessel was chiefly ballasted with lead fixed to its bottom; when
-this was not sufficient a quantity was placed within, more or less
-according to the weight of the operator; its ballast made it so stiff
-that there was no danger of oversetting. The vessel, with all its
-appendages and the operator, was of sufficient weight to settle it very
-low in the water. About 200 lb. of lead at the bottom for ballast could
-be let down 40 or 50 feet below the vessel; this enabled the operator
-to rise instantly to the surface of the water in case of accident.”
-
-The operator sat on an oaken brace that kept the two sides of the
-boat from being crushed in by the water-pressure, and did things with
-his hands and feet. He must have been as busy as a cathedral organist
-on Easter morning. With one foot he opened a brass valve that let
-water into the ballast tanks, with the other he worked a force pump to
-drive it out. When he had reached an approximate equilibrium, he could
-move the submarine up or down, or hold it at any desired depth, by
-cranking a small vertical-acting propellor placed just forward of the
-conning-tower on the deck above. Before him was the crank of another
-propellor, or rather tractor, for it drew, not pushed, the vessel
-forward. Behind him was the rudder, which the operator controlled with
-a long curved tiller stuck under one arm.
-
-[Illustration: The Best-known Picture of Bushnell’s _Turtle_.
-
-Drawn by Lieutenant F. M. Barber, U. S. N., in 1875.]
-
-Bushnell, in his letter to Jefferson, calls each of these propellors
-“an oar, formed upon the principle of the screw,” and the best-known
-picture of the _Turtle_ shows a bearded gentleman in nineteenth-century
-clothes boring his way through the water with two big gimlets.
-But Sergeant Ezra Lee of the Connecticut Line, who did the actual
-operating, described the submarine’s forward propellor (he makes no
-mention of the other) as having two wooden blades or “oars, of about
-12 inches in length and 4 or 5 in width, shaped like the arms of a
-windmill.” Except in size, this device must have looked very much like
-the wooden-bladed tractor of a modern aeroplane.
-
-“These oars,” noted Judge Griswold on the letter before forwarding it
-to General Humphrey, “were fixed on the end of a shaft like windmill
-arms projected out forward, and turned at right angles with the
-course of the machine; and upon the same principles that wind-mill
-arms are turned by the wind, these oars, when put in motion as the
-writer describes, draw the machine slowly after it. This moving power
-is small, and every attendant circumstance must coöperate with it to
-answer the purpose--calm waters and no current.”
-
-“With hard labor,” said Lee, “the machine might be impelled at the rate
-of ‘3 nots’ an hour for a short time.”
-
-Sergeant Lee volunteered “to learn the ways and mystery of this new
-machine” because the original operator, Bushnell’s brother, “was taken
-sick in the campaign of 1776 at New York before he had an opportunity
-to make use of his skill, and never recovered his health sufficiently
-afterwards.” While Lee was still struggling with the “mystery” in
-practice trips on Long Island Sound, the British fleet entered New
-York Harbor. The submarine was at once hurried to New Rochelle, carted
-overland to the Hudson, and towed down to the city.
-
-At slack tide on the first calm night after his arrival, Lee screwed
-down the conning-tower of the _Turtle_ above his head and set out to
-attack the British fleet.[6] Two whaleboats towed him as near as they
-dared and then cast off. Running awash, with not more than six or seven
-inches of the conning-tower exposed, the submarine crept, silent and
-unseen, down the bay and up under the towering stern of his Britannic
-Majesty’s 64-gun frigate _Eagle_.
-
-“When I rowed under the stern of the ship,” wrote Sergeant Lee in after
-years, “I could see the men on deck and hear them talk. I then shut
-down all the doors, sunk down and came under the bottom of the ship.”
-
-Up through the top of the submarine ran a long sharp gimlet, not for
-boring a hole through the bottom of a ship, but to be screwed into
-the wooden hull and left there, to serve as an anchor for a mine.
-Tied to the screw and carried on the after-deck of the _Turtle_ was
-an egg-shaped “magazine,” made of two hollowed-out pieces of oak and
-containing one hundred and fifty pounds of gunpowder, with a clockwork
-time-fuse that would begin to run as soon as the operator cast off
-the magazine after making fast the screw. Everything seemed ready for
-Sergeant Lee to anticipate Lieutenant Commander Von Weddigen by one
-hundred and thirty-eight years.
-
-But no matter how hard the strong-wristed sergeant turned the handle,
-he could not drive the screw into the frigate’s hull. The _Eagle_ was
-copper-sheathed![7]
-
-“I pulled along to try another place,” said Lee, “but deviated a
-little to one side and immediately rose with great velocity and came
-above the surface 2 or 3 feet, between the ship and the daylight,
-then sunk again like a porpoise. I hove about to try again, but on
-further thought I gave out, knowing that as soon as it was light the
-ships’ boats would be rowing in all directions, and I thought the best
-generalship was to retreat as fast as I could, as I had 4 miles to go
-before passing Governor’s Island. So I jogg’d on as fast as I could.”
-
-To enable him to steer a course when submerged, Lee had before him a
-compass, most ingeniously illuminated with phosphorescent pieces of
-rotten wood. But for some reason this proved to be of no use.
-
-[Illustration: Another Idea of Bushnell’s _Turtle_.]
-
-“I was obliged to rise up every few minutes to see that I sailed in
-the right direction, and for this purpose keeping the machine on the
-surface of the water and the doors open. I was much afraid of getting
-aground on the island, as the tide of the flood set on the north point.
-
-“While on my passage up to the city, my course, owing to the above
-circumstances, was very crooked and zig-zag, and the enemy’s attention
-was drawn towards me from Governor’s Island. When I was abreast of the
-fort on the island, 3 or 400 men got upon the parapet to observe me;
-at length a number came down to the shore, shoved off a 12 oar’d barge
-with 5 or 6 sitters and pulled for me. I eyed them, and when they had
-got within 50 or 60 yards of me I let loose the magazine in hopes that
-if they should take me they would likewise pick up the magazine, and
-then we should all be blown up together. But as kind Providence would
-have it, they took fright and returned to the island to my infinite
-joy. I then weathered the island, and our people seeing me, came off
-with a whaleboat and towed me in. The magazine, after getting a little
-past the island, went off with a tremendous explosion, throwing up
-large bodies of water to an immense height.”
-
-A few days afterwards, the British forces landed on Manhattan Island
-at what is now the foot of East Thirty-fourth Street, and Washington’s
-army hastily withdrew to the Harlem Heights, above One Hundred and
-Twenty-fifth Street. A British frigate sailed up the Hudson and
-anchored off Bloomingdale, or between Seventy-second and One Hundred
-and Tenth Streets, in the same waters where our Atlantic fleet lies
-whenever it comes to town. Here Sergeant Lee in the _Turtle_ made two
-more attempts. But the first time he was discovered by the watch,
-and when he approached again, submerged, the phosphorus-painted cork
-that served as an indicator in his crude but ingenious depth-gage,
-got caught and deceived him so that he dived completely under the
-warship without touching her. Shortly after this, the frigate came
-up the river, overhauled the sloop on which the _Turtle_ was being
-transported, and sent it to the bottom, submarine and all.
-
-[Illustration: Ezra Lee.
-
-Born at Lyme, Conn., Jan. 21, 1749,
-
-Died at Lyme, Conn., Oct. 29, 1821.
-
- From original painting in possession of his descendant, Mrs. Daniel
- Whitney, 5117 Pulaski Avenue, Germantown, Pa.
-]
-
-“Though I afterwards recovered the vessel,” Bushnell wrote to
-Jefferson, “I found it impossible at that time to prosecute the design
-any further. I had been in a bad state of health from the beginning
-of my undertaking, and was now very unwell; the situation of public
-affairs was such that I despaired of obtaining the public attention
-and the assistance necessary. I was unable to support myself and the
-persons I must have employed had I proceeded. Besides, I found it
-absolutely necessary that the operators should acquire more skill in
-the management of the vessel before I could expect success, which would
-have taken up some time, and no small additional expense. I therefore
-gave over the pursuit for that time and waited for a more favorable
-opportunity, which never arrived.
-
-“In the year 1777 I made an attempt from a whaleboat against the
-_Cerberus_ frigate, then lying at anchor between Connecticut River and
-New London, by drawing a machine against her side by means of a line.
-The machine was loaded with powder, to be exploded by a gun-lock, which
-was to be unpinioned by an apparatus to be turned by being brought
-alongside of the frigate. This machine fell in with a schooner at
-anchor astern of the frigate, and concealed from my sight. By some
-means or other it was fired, and demolished the schooner and three men,
-and blew the only one left alive overboard, who was taken up very much
-hurt.[8]
-
-“After this I fixed several kegs under water, charged with powder, to
-explode upon touching anything as they floated along with the tide.
-I set them afloat in the Delaware, above the English shipping at
-Philadelphia, in December, 1777. I was unacquainted with the river, and
-obliged to depend upon a gentleman very imperfectly acquainted with
-that part of it, as I afterwards found. We went as near the shipping as
-we durst venture; I believe the darkness of the night greatly deceived
-him, as it did me. We set them adrift to fall with the ebb upon the
-shipping. Had we been within sixty rods I believe they must have fallen
-in with them immediately, as I designed; but, as I afterwards found,
-they were set adrift much too far distant, and did not arrive until,
-after being detained some time by frost, they advanced in the day-time
-in a dispersed situation and under great disadvantages. One of them
-blew up a boat with several persons in it who imprudently handled it
-too freely, and thus gave the British the alarm which brought on the
-battle of the kegs.”
-
-The agitated redcoats lined the banks and blazed away at every bit
-of drifting wreckage in the river, as described by a sarcastic
-Revolutionary poet in “The Battle of the Kegs.”
-
- Gallants attend, and hear a friend
- Troll forth harmonious ditty,
- Strange things I’ll tell that once befell
- In Philadelphia city.
-
- ’Twas early day, as poets say,
- Just as the sun was rising,
- A soldier stood on a log of wood
- And saw a thing surprising.
-
- As in amaze he stood to gaze,
- The truth can’t be denied, sir,
- He spied a score of kegs or more
- Come floating down the tide, sir.
-
- * * * * *
-
- These kegs, I’m told, the rebels hold
- Packed up like pickled herring,
- And they’re coming down to attack the town,
- In this new way of ferrying.
-
- * * * * *
-
- Therefore prepare for bloody war,
- The kegs must all be routed,
- Or surely we despised shall be
- And British valor doubted.
-
- The royal band now ready stand
- All ranged in dread array, sir,
- With stomach stout to see it out
- And make a bloody day, sir.
-
- The cannon roar from shore to shore,
- The small arms make a rattle,
- Since wars began, I’m sure no man
- E’er saw so strange a battle.
-
- The kegs, ’tis said, though strongly made,
- Of rebel staves and hoops, sir,
- Could not oppose their powerful foes,
- The conquering British troops, sir.
-
-David Bushnell was later captured by the British, who failed to
-recognize him and soon released him as a harmless civilian. After the
-Revolution he went to France, and then to Georgia, where disgusted with
-the Government’s neglect of himself and his invention he changed his
-name to “Dr. Bush.” He was eighty-four years old when he died in 1826.
-His identity was then revealed in his will.
-
-Bushnell found the submarine boat a useless plaything and made it a
-formidable weapon. To him it owes the propellor, the conning-tower,
-and the first suggestion of the torpedo. The _Turtle_ was not only the
-first American submarine but the forerunner of the undersea destroyer
-of to-day.
-
-“I thought and still think that it was an effort of genius,” declared
-George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, “but that too many things were
-necessary to be combined to expect much against an enemy who are always
-on guard.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-ROBERT FULTON’S “NAUTILUS”
-
-
-Robert Fulton was probably the first American who ever went to Paris
-for the purpose of selling war-supplies to the French government.
-Unlike his compatriots of to-day, he found anything but a ready market.
-For three years, beginning in 1797, Fulton tried constantly but vainly
-to interest the Directory in his plans for a submarine. Though a
-commission appointed to examine his designs reported favorably, the
-minister of marine would have nothing to do with them. Fulton built a
-beautiful little model submarine of mahogany and exhibited it, but with
-no results. He made an equally fruitless attempt to sell his invention
-to Holland, then called the Batavian Republic. Nobody seemed to have
-the slightest belief or interest in submarines.
-
-But Fulton was a persistent man or he would never have got his name
-into the history books. He stayed in Paris, where his friend Joel
-Barlow was American minister, and supported himself by inventing and
-exhibiting what he called “the pictures”: the first moving pictures
-the world had ever seen. These were panoramas, where the picture was
-not thrown on the screen by a lantern but painted on it, and the long
-roll of painted canvas was unrolled like a film between two large
-spools on opposite sides of the stage. Very few people remember that
-Robert Fulton invented the panorama, though only a generation ago the
-great panorama of the battle of Gettysburg drew and thrilled as large
-audiences as a film like “The Birth of a Nation” does to-day. Fulton
-painted his own panoramas himself, for he was an artist before he was
-an engineer. He made three of them and had to build a separate little
-theater to show each one in. The Parisians were so well pleased with
-this novelty that they made up a song about the panoramas, and the
-street where the most popular of the three was shown is still called
-“La Rue Fulton.” The picture that won the inventor this honor was a
-panorama of the burning of Moscow--not the burning of the city to
-drive out Napoleon, for that came a dozen years later, but an earlier
-conflagration, some time in the eighteenth century.
-
-Napoleon overthrew the Directory and became First Consul and absolute
-ruler of France in 1800. He appointed three expert naval engineers to
-examine Fulton’s plans, and on their approval, Napoleon advanced him
-10,000 francs to build a submarine.
-
-Construction was begun at once and the boat was finished in May, 1801.
-She was a remarkably modern-looking craft, and a great improvement on
-everything that had gone before. She was the first submarine to have a
-fish-shaped, metal hull. It was built of copper plating on iron ribs,
-and was 21 feet 3 inches long and 6 feet 5 inches in diameter at the
-thickest point, which was well forward. A heavy keel gave stability and
-immediately above it were the water-ballast tanks for submerging the
-vessel. Two men propelled the boat when beneath the surface by turning
-a hand-winch geared to the shaft of a two-bladed, metal propellor.
-(Fulton called the propellor a “fly,” and got the idea of it from the
-little windmill-shaped device placed in the throat of an old-fashioned
-fireplace to be revolved by the hot air passing up the chimney and used
-to turn the roasting-spit in many a French kitchen for centuries past.)
-The third member of the crew stood in the dome-shaped conning-tower
-and steered, while Fulton himself controlled the pumps, valves, and
-the diving-planes or horizontal rudders that steered the submarine up
-and down. Instead of forcing his boat under with a vertical-acting
-screw, like Bushnell and Nordenfelt (see pages 16 and 62), Fulton,
-like Holland, made her dive bow-foremost by depressing her nose with
-the diving-planes and shoving her under by driving her ahead. Fulton
-was also the first to give a submarine separate means of propulsion
-for above and below the surface. Just as a modern undersea boat uses
-oil-engines whenever it can and saves its storage batteries for use
-when submerged, Fulton spared the strength of his screw by rigging
-the _Nautilus_ with a mast and sail. By pulling a rope from inside
-the vessel, the sail could be shut up like a fan, and the hinged mast
-lowered and stowed away in a groove on deck. Later a jib was added to
-the mainsail, and the two combined gave the _Nautilus_ a surface speed
-of two knots an hour. She is the only submarine on record that could go
-faster below the water than above it, for her two-man-power propellor
-bettered this by half a knot.
-
-[Illustration: The _Nautilus_, Invented by Robert Fulton.
-
- A-B, Hull; C-D, Keel; E-E, Pumps; F, Conning Tower; G, Bulkhead;
- H, Propellor; I, Vertical Rudder; L, Horizontal Rudder
- (diving-plane); M, Pivot attaching horizontal to vertical
- rudder; N, Gear controlling horizontal rudder; O, “Horn of the
- _Nautilus_;” P, Torpedo; Q, Hull of vessel attacked; X, Anchor;
- Y, Mast and sail for use on surface.
-]
-
-Her method of attack was the same as the _Turtle’s_. Up through the
-top of the conning-tower projected what Fulton called the “Horn of the
-Nautilus.” This was an eyeleted spike, to be driven into the bottom of
-a hostile ship and left there. From a windlass carried in a water-tight
-forward compartment of the submarine, a thin, strong tow-rope ran
-through the eyehole in the spike to the trigger of a flintlock inside
-a copper case nearly full of gunpowder, which was not carried on deck,
-as on the _Turtle_, but towed some distance astern. As soon as this
-powder-case came to a full stop against the spike, the tow-rope would
-pull the trigger.
-
-Robert Fulton felt the lack of a distinctive name for such an
-under-water charge of explosives, till he thought of its likeness to
-the electric ray, that storage battery of a fish that gives a most
-unpleasant shock to any one touching it. So he took the first half of
-this creature’s scientific name: _Torpedo electricus_. Fulton had a
-knack for picking good names. He called his submarine the _Nautilus_
-because it had a sail which it opened and folded away even as the
-beautiful shellfish of that name was supposed to furl and unfurl its
-large, sail-like membrane.
-
-On her first trial on the Seine at Paris, in May, 1801, the _Nautilus_
-remained submerged for twenty minutes with Fulton and one other
-man on board, and a lighted candle for them to navigate by. This
-consumed too much air, however, so a small glass window was placed
-in the conning-tower, and gave light enough instead. Four men were
-then able to remain under for an hour. After that, Fulton made the
-first compressed-air tank, a copper globe containing a cubic foot
-of compressed air, by drawing on which the submarine’s crew could
-stay under for six hours. This was in the harbor of Brest, where the
-_Nautilus_ had been taken overland. A trial attack was made on an old
-bulk, which was successfully blown up. The submarine also proved its
-ability either to furl its sails and dive quickly out of sight, or to
-cruise for a considerable distance on the surface. Once it sailed for
-seventy miles down the English Channel.
-
-Fulton had planned a submarine campaign for scaring the British navy
-and merchant marine out of the narrow seas and so bringing Great
-Britain to her knees, more than a century before the German emperor
-proclaimed his famous “war zone” around the British Isles. In one of
-his letters to the Directory, the American inventor declared that:
-
-“The enormous commerce of England, no less than its monstrous
-Government, depends upon its military marine. Should some vessels of
-war be destroyed by means so novel, so hidden, and so incalculable, the
-confidence of the seamen will vanish and the fleet will be rendered
-useless from the moment of the first terror.”
-
-To a friend in America, Fulton wrote from Paris on November 20, 1798:
-
-“I would ask any one if all the American difficulties during this war
-are not owing to the naval systems of Europe and a licensed robbery
-on the ocean? How then is America to prevent this? Certainly not by
-attempting to build a fleet to cope with the fleets of Europe, but if
-possible by rendering the European fleets useless.”
-
-Fulton began his campaign by an attack on two brigs, the nearest
-vessels of the English blockading fleet. But whenever the _Nautilus_
-left port for this purpose, both brigs promptly stood out to sea and
-remained there till the submarine went home. Unknown to Fulton, his
-actions were being closely watched by the English secret service, whose
-spies were always able to send a timely warning to the British fleet.
-During the day time, when the _Nautilus_ was about, the warships were
-kept under full sail, with lookouts in the crosstrees watching with
-telescopes for the first glimpse of its sail or conning-tower. At
-night, the frigates and ships-of-the-line were guarded by picket-boats
-rowing round and round them, just as modern dreadnoughts are guarded by
-destroyers.
-
-Disappointed by the lack of results, the French naval authorities
-refused either to let Fulton build a larger and more efficient
-submarine, or to grant commissions in the navy to him and his crew. He
-wanted some assurance that in case they were captured they would not
-be hanged by the British, who then as now denounced submarine warfare
-by others as little better than piracy. To guarantee their own safety,
-Fulton proposed that the French government threaten to retaliate by
-hanging an equal number of English prisoners, but it was pointed out
-to him that this would only lead to further executions by the British,
-who had many more French prisoners of war than there were captive
-Englishmen in France.
-
-Napoleon had lost faith in the submarine, nor could Fulton interest
-him in a steamboat which he now built and operated on the Seine, till
-it was sunk by the weight of the machinery breaking the hull in two.
-So Fulton quit France and crossed over to England, where Mr. Pitt, the
-prime minister, was very much interested in his inventions.
-
-Fulton succeeded in planting one of his torpedoes under an old empty
-Danish brig, the _Dorothea_, in Deal Harbor, in front of Walmer Castle,
-Pitt’s own residence, on October 15, 1805. The prime minister had had
-to hurry back to London, but there were many naval officers present,
-and one of them declared loudly that he would be quite unconcerned
-if he were sitting at dinner at that moment in the cabin of the
-_Dorothea_. Ten minutes later the clockwork ran out and the torpedo
-exploded, breaking the brig in two amidships and hurling the fragments
-high in the air. The success of this experiment was not entirely
-pleasing to the heads of the British navy. Their opinion was voiced by
-Admiral Lord St. Vincent, who declared that:
-
-“Pitt was the greatest fool that ever existed, to encourage a mode
-of war which they who command the seas did not want and which if
-successful would deprive them of it.”
-
-[Illustration: Destruction of the _Dorothea_.
-
-From a woodcut by Robert Fulton.]
-
-Six days after the destruction of the _Dorothea_, the sea-power of
-France was broken by Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar. Napoleon now
-gave up all hope of gaining the few hours’ control of the Channel that
-would have enabled him to invade England, and broke up the camp of
-his Grand Army that had waited so long at Boulogne. With this danger
-gone, England was no longer interested in submarines and torpedoes. So
-Fulton returned to America, to build the _Clairmont_ and win his place
-in history. But to him, steam navigation was far less important than
-submarine warfare. In the letter to his old friend Joel Barlow, dated
-New York, August 22, 1807, in which he described the first voyage of
-the _Clairmont_ up the Hudson, Fulton said:
-
-“However, I will not admit that it is half so important as the torpedo
-system of defense or attack, for out of this will grow the liberty of
-the seas--an object of infinite importance to the welfare of America
-and every civilized country. But thousands of witnesses have now seen
-the steamboat in rapid movement and they believe; but they have not
-seen a ship of war destroyed by a torpedo, and they do not believe. We
-cannot expect people in general to have knowledge of physics or power
-to reason from cause to effect, but in case we have war and the enemy’s
-ships come into our waters, if the government will give me reasonable
-means of action, I will soon convince the world that we have surer and
-cheaper modes of defense than they are aware of.”
-
-Fulton had been having his troubles with the navy department. Soon
-after his return to this country he had made his usual demonstration
-of torpedoing a small anchored vessel, but it was not until 1810 that
-he was given the opportunity to make a test attack on a United States
-warship. But stout old Commodore Rogers, who had been entrusted with
-the defense of the brig _Argus_, under which Fulton was to plant a
-torpedo, anchored the vessel in shallow water, stretched a tight wall
-of spars and netting all round her, and successfully defied the
-inventor to blow her up. Even a modern destroyer or submarine would
-be puzzled to get past this defense. Though compelled to admit his
-failure, Fulton pointed out that “a system then in its infancy, which
-compelled a hostile vessel to guard herself by such extraordinary
-means, could not fail of becoming a most important mode of warfare.”
-
-It was a great triumph for conservatism--the same spirit of
-conservatism that threatens to send our navy into its next war with
-no battle-cruisers, too few scouts and sea-planes, and the slowest
-dreadnoughts in the world. Though Fulton published a wonderful
-little book on “Torpedo War and Submarine Explosions” in New York in
-1810, the United States navy made no use of it in the War of 1812.
-A privateer submarine from Connecticut made three dives under the
-British battleship _Ramillies_ off New London, but failed to attach
-a torpedo for the old reason: copper sheathing. Further attacks were
-prevented by the captain of the _Ramillies_, who gave notice that he
-had had a number of American prisoners placed on board as hostages.
-Fulton himself was hard at work superintending the building both of the
-_Demologos_, the first steam-propelled battleship, and the _Mute_, a
-large armored submarine that was to carry a silent engine and a crew of
-eighty men, when he died in 1815.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-SUBMARINES IN THE CIVIL WAR
-
-
-The most powerful battleship in the world, half a century ago, was the
-U.S.S. _New Ironsides_. She was a wooden-hulled, ship-rigged steamer
-of 3486 tons displacement--about one tenth the size of a modern
-superdreadnought--her sides plated with four inches of iron armor, and
-carrying twenty heavy guns. On the night of October 5, 1863, the _New
-Ironsides_ was on blockade duty off Charleston Harbor, when Ensign
-Howard, the officer of the deck, saw something approaching that looked
-like a floating plank. He hailed it, and was answered by a rifle ball
-that stretched him, mortally wounded, on the deck. An instant later
-came the flash and roar of a tremendous explosion, a column of water
-shot high into the air alongside, and the _New Ironsides_ was shaken
-violently from stem to stern.
-
-The Confederate submarine _David_ had crept up and driven a
-spar-torpedo against Goliath’s armor.
-
-But except for a few splintered timbers, a flooded engine-room, and a
-marine’s broken leg, no damage had been done. As the Confederate craft
-was too close and too low in the water for the broadside guns to bear,
-the crew of the ironclad lined the rail and poured volley after volley
-of musketry into their dimly seen adversary till she drifted away into
-the night. Her crew of seven men had dived overboard at the moment of
-impact, and were all picked up by different vessels of the blockading
-fleet, except the engineer and one other, who swam back to the _David_,
-started her engine again, and brought her safely home to Charleston.
-
-[Illustration: Views of a Confederate _David_.
-
-From Scharf’s History of the Confederate States Navy.]
-
-The _David_ was a cigar-shaped steam launch, fifty-four feet long
-and six feet broad at the thickest point. Projecting from her bow
-was a fifteen-foot spar, with a torpedo charged with sixty pounds of
-gunpowder at the end of it. This was exploded by the heat given off by
-certain chemicals, after they were shaken up together by the impact
-of the torpedo against the enemy’s ship. The _David_, steaming at her
-full speed of seven knots an hour, struck squarely against the _New
-Ironsides_ at the water-line and rebounded to a distance of seven or
-eight feet before this clumsy detonator could do its work. When the
-explosion came, the intervening body of water prevented it from doing
-any great damage.
-
-The _David_ was not a true submarine but a surface torpedo boat, that
-could be submerged till only the funnel and a small pilot-house were
-exposed. A number of other _Davids_ were built and operated by the
-Confederate States navy, but the first of them was the only one to
-accomplish anything.
-
-[Illustration: C. S. S. _Hundley_.
-
-The Only Submarine to sink a Hostile Warship before the Outbreak of the
-Present War.]
-
-The one real submarine possessed by the Confederacy was not a _David_,
-though she is usually so called. This was the C.S.S. _Hundley_, a
-hand-power “diving-boat” not unlike Fulton’s _Nautilus_, but very
-much clumsier and harder to manage. She had ballast tanks and a pair
-of diving-planes for steering her up and down, and she was designed
-to attack an enemy’s ship by swimming under it, towing a torpedo that
-would explode on striking her opponent’s keel.
-
-The _Hundley_ was built at Mobile, Alabama, by the firm of Hundley and
-McKlintock, named for the senior partner, and brought to Charleston on
-a flatcar. There she was manned by a crew of nine volunteers, eight of
-whom sat in a row and turned the cranks on the propellor-shaft, while
-the ninth man steered. There was no conning-tower and the forward
-hatchway had to be left open for the helmsman to look out of while
-running on the surface. On the _Hundley’s_ first practice cruise,
-the wash from the paddle-wheels of a passing steamer poured suddenly
-down the open hatchway. Only the steersman and commanding officer,
-Lieutenant Payne, had time to save himself before the submarine sank,
-drowning the rest of her crew.
-
-The boat was raised and Payne took her out with a new crew. This time
-a sudden squall sank her before they could close the hatches, and
-Payne escaped, with two of his men. He tried a third time, only to be
-capsized off Fort Sumter, with the loss of four of his crew. On the
-fourth trip, the hatches were closed, the tanks filled, and an attempt
-was made to navigate beneath the surface. But the _Hundley_ dived too
-suddenly, stuck her nose deep into the muddy bottom, and stayed there
-till her entire crew were suffocated. On the fifth trial she became
-entangled in the cable of an anchored vessel, with the same result.
-
-By this time the submarine’s victims numbered thirty-five, and the
-Confederates had nicknamed her the “Peripatetic Coffin.” But at the
-sixth call for volunteers, they still came forward. It was decided to
-risk no more lives on practice trips but to attack at once. In spite of
-the protests of Mr. Hundley, the designer of the craft, her latest and
-last commander, Lieutenant Dixon of the 21st South Carolina Infantry,
-was ordered by General Beauregard to use the vessel as a surface
-torpedo-boat, submerged to the hatch-coaming and with the hatches
-open. A spar-torpedo, to be exploded by pulling a trigger with a light
-line running back into the boat, was mounted on the bow. Thus armed,
-and manned by Lieutenant Dixon, Captain Carlson, and five enlisted
-men of their regiment, the little _Hundley_ put out over Charleston
-bar on the night of February 17, 1864, to attack some vessel of the
-blockading fleet. This proved to be the U.S.S. _Housatonic_, a fine new
-thirteen-gun corvette of 1264 tons. What followed is best described by
-Admiral David Porter in his “Naval History of the Civil War.”
-
-“At about 8.45 P.M., the officer of the deck on board the unfortunate
-vessel discovered something about 100 yards away, moving along the
-water. It came directly towards the ship, and within two minutes of
-the time it was first sighted was alongside. The cable was slipped,
-the engines backed, and all hands called to quarters. But it was too
-late--the torpedo struck the _Housatonic_ just forward of the mainmast,
-on the starboard side, on a line with the magazine. The man who steered
-her (the _Hundley_) knew where the vital spots of the steamer were and
-he did his work well. When the explosion took place the ship trembled
-all over as if by the shock of an earthquake, and seemed to be lifted
-out of the water, and then sank stern-foremost, heeling to port as she
-went down.”
-
-The _Hundley_ was not seen after the explosion, and it was supposed
-that she had backed away and escaped. But when peace came, and
-Charleston Harbor was being cleared of the wrecks with which war had
-clogged it, the divers sent down to inspect the _Housatonic_ found the
-_Hundley_ lying beside her. Sucked in by the rush of the water through
-the hole her torpedo had made, she had been caught and dragged down by
-her own victim. All the _Hundley’s_ crew were found dead within her. So
-perished the first and last submarine to sink a hostile warship, before
-the outbreak of the present war. A smaller underwater boat of the same
-type was privately built at New Orleans at the beginning of the war,
-lost on her trial trip, and not brought up again till after peace was
-declared.
-
-The North had a hand-power submarine, that was built at the Georgetown
-Navy Yard in 1862. It was designed by a Frenchman, whose name is now
-forgotten but who might have been a contemporary of Cornelius Van
-Drebel. Except that its hull was of steel instead of wood and greased
-leather, this first submarine of the United States navy was no better
-than an eel-boat of the seventeenth century. It was propelled by eight
-pairs of oars, with hinged blades that folded up like a book on the
-return stroke. The boat was thirty-five feet long and six in diameter,
-and was rowed by sixteen men. It was submerged by flooding ballast
-tanks. There was an oxygen tank and an apparatus for purifying the
-used air by blowing it over lime. A spar-torpedo was to be run out on
-rollers in the bow.
-
-Ten thousand dollars was paid to the inventor of this medieval
-leftover, and he prudently left the country before he could be called
-on to operate it, though he had been promised a reward of five thousand
-dollars for every Confederate ironclad he succeeded in blowing up. Like
-the first _Monitor_, this nameless submarine was lost in a storm off
-Cape Hatteras, while being towed by a steamer.
-
-After the loss of the _Housatonic_, the North built two
-semi-submersible steam torpedo-boats on the same idea as the _David_,
-but larger and faster. Both were armed with spar-torpedoes and fitted
-with ballast tanks to sink them very low in the water when they
-attacked. The smaller of the two, the _Stromboli_, could be submerged
-till only her pilot-house, smoke-stack, and one ventilator showed above
-the water. The other boat was called the _Spuyten Duyvil_. She could
-be sunk till her deck, which was covered with three inches of iron
-armor, was level with the water, but she bristled with masts, funnels,
-conning-towers, ventilators, and other excrescences that sprouted out
-of her hull at the most unexpected places. Neither of these craft was
-ever used in action.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-THE WHITEHEAD TORPEDO
-
-
-How best to float a charge of explosives against the hull of an enemy’s
-ship and there explode it is the great problem of torpedo warfare.
-The spar-torpedo, that did such effective work in the Civil War, was
-little more than a can of gunpowder on the end of a stick. This stick
-or spar was mounted usually on the bow of a steam-launch, either
-partially submerged, like the _David_, or boldly running on the surface
-over log-booms and through a hail of bullets and grapeshot, as when
-Lieutenant Cushing sank the Confederate ironclad _Albemarle_. Once
-alongside, the spar-torpedo was run out to its full length, raised,
-depressed, and finally fired by pulling different ropes. So small was
-the chance of success and so great the danger to the launch’s crew that
-naval officers and inventors all the world over sought constantly for
-some surer and safer way.
-
-Early in the sixties, an Austrian artillery officer attached to the
-coast defenses conceived the idea of sending out the launch without a
-crew. He made some drawings of a big toy boat, to be driven by steam or
-hot air or even by clockwork, and steered from the shore by long ropes.
-As it would have no crew, this boat could carry the explosives in its
-hull, and the spars which were to project from it in all directions
-would carry no torpedoes themselves but would serve to explode the
-boat’s cargo of guncotton by firing a pistol into it, as soon as one of
-the spars came into contact with the target. Before he could carry out
-his ideas any further, this officer died and his plans were turned over
-to Captain Lupuis of the Austrian navy. Lupuis experimented diligently
-with surface torpedoes till 1864, but found that he would have to
-discover some better steering-device than ropes from the shore and some
-other motive-power than steam or clockwork. So he consulted with Mr.
-Whitehead, the English manager of a firm of engine manufacturers at the
-seaport of Fiume.
-
-Whitehead gave the torpedo a fish-shaped hull, so that it could run
-beneath instead of on the surface. For motive-power he used compressed
-air, which proved much superior to either steam or clockwork. And by
-improving its rudders, he enabled the little craft to keep its course
-without the aid of guide-ropes from the shore. The chief defect of the
-first Whitehead torpedoes, which were finished and tried in 1866, was
-that they kept bobbing to the surface, or else they would dive too
-deep and pass harmlessly under the target. To correct this defect,
-Whitehead invented by 1868 what he called the “balance chamber.” Then,
-as now, each torpedo was divided into a number of separate compartments
-or chambers, and in one of these the inventor placed a most ingenious
-device for keeping the torpedo at a uniform depth. The contents of the
-balance-chamber was Whitehead’s great secret, and it was not revealed
-to the public for twenty years.
-
-The automobile or, as it was then called, the “submarine locomotive”
-torpedo was now a practicable, though by no means perfected, weapon,
-and the Austrian naval authorities gave it a thorough trial at Fiume
-in 1868. Whitehead rigged up a crude ejecting tube on the bow of a
-gunboat, and successfully discharged two of his torpedoes at a yacht.
-The Austrian government promptly adopted the weapon, but could not
-obtain a monopoly of it, for Whitehead was a patriotic Englishman.
-The British admiralty invited him to England two years later, and
-after careful trials of its own, induced the English government to buy
-Whitehead’s secret and manufacturing rights for $45,000. Other nations
-soon added “Whiteheads” to their navies, and in 1873 there was built in
-Norway a large, fast steam launch for the express purpose of carrying
-torpedoes and discharging them at an enemy. Every one began to build
-larger and swifter launches, till they evolved the torpedo-boat and the
-destroyer of to-day.
-
-The torpedo itself has undergone a similar development in size and
-efficiency. The difference between the Whiteheads of forty-five years
-ago and those of to-day is strikingly shown in the following table:
-
- BRITISH NAVAL TORPEDOES OF 1870
-
- _Length, _Diameter, _Charge, _Range, _Speed,
- Feet_ Inches_ Pounds_ Yards_ Knots_
-
- Large 14 16 67 600 7.5
- guncotton
-
- Small 13 10.58 in. 14 18 200 8.5
- dynamite
-
- BRITISH NAVAL TORPEDOES OF 1915
-
- Large 21 21 330 12,000 48
- guncotton
-
- Small 18 18 200 16,000 36
- guncotton
-
-The length of a large modern torpedo, it will be observed, is only
-three inches less than that of Fulton’s famous submarine boat of 1801.
-A Whitehead torpedo is really a small automatic submarine, steered and
-controlled by the most ingenious and sensitive machinery, as surely as
-if it were manned by a crew of Lilliputian seamen.
-
-Projecting from the head is the “striker,” a rod which, when the
-torpedo runs into anything hard, is driven back in against a detonator
-or “percussion-cap” of fulminate of mercury. Just as the hammer of
-a toy “cap-pistol” explodes a paper cap, so the sudden shock of the
-in-driven striker explodes the fulminate, which is instantly expanded
-to more than two thousand times its former size. This, in turn, gives a
-severe blow to the surrounding “primer” of dry guncotton. The primer is
-exploded, and by its own expansion sets off the main charge of several
-hundred pounds of wet guncotton.
-
-The reason for this is that though wet guncotton is safe to handle
-because a very great shock is required to make it explode, dry
-guncotton is much less so, while a shell or torpedo filled with
-fulminate of mercury would be more dangerous to its owners than to
-their enemies, because the slightest jar might set it off prematurely.
-Every precaution is taken to prevent a torpedo’s exploding too soon and
-damaging the vessel from which it is fired.
-
-When the torpedo is shot out of the tube, by compressed air, like a pea
-from a pea-shooter, the striker is held fast by the “jammer”: a small
-propellor-shaped collar, whose blades begin to revolve as soon as they
-strike the water, till the collar has unscrewed itself and dropped off
-after the torpedo has traveled about forty feet. A copper pin that runs
-through the striker-rod is not removed but must be broken short off by
-a blow of considerable violence, such as would be given by running into
-a ship’s hull. As a third safeguard, there is a strong safety-catch,
-that must be released by hand, just before the torpedo is placed in the
-tube.
-
-The explosive charge of two or three hundred pounds of wet guncotton
-is called the “war-head.” In peace and for target-practice it is
-replaced by a dummy head of thick steel. The usual target is the space
-between two buoys moored a ship’s length or less apart. At the end
-of a practice run, the torpedo rises to the surface, where it can be
-recovered and used again. This is distinctly worth while, for a modern
-torpedo costs more than seven thousand dollars.
-
-Back of the war-head is the air-chamber, that contains the motive-power
-of this miniature submarine. The air is either packed into it by
-powerful pumps, on shore or shipboard, or else drawn from one of the
-storage flasks of compressed air, a number of which are carried on
-every submarine. The air-chamber of a modern torpedo is charged at a
-pressure of from 2000 to 2500 pounds per square inch. As the torpedo
-leaves the tube, a lever on its back is struck and knocked over by
-a little projecting piece of metal, and the starting-valve of the
-air-chamber is opened. But if the compressed air were allowed to
-reach and start the engines at once, they would begin to revolve the
-propellors while they were still in the air inside the tube. This would
-cause the screws to “race,” or spin round too rapidly and perhaps
-break off. So there is a “delaying-valve,” which keeps the air away
-from the engines till another valve-lever is swung over by the impact
-of the water against a little metal flap.
-
-As the compressed air rushes through the pipe from the chamber to the
-engine-room, it passes through a “reducing-valve,” which keeps it from
-spurting at the start and lagging at the finish. By supplying the air
-to the engines at a reduced but uniform pressure, this device enables
-the torpedo to maintain the same speed throughout the run. At the same
-time the compressed air is heated by a small jet of burning oil, with a
-consequent increase in pressure, power, and speed, estimated at 30 per
-cent. All these devices are kept not in the air-chamber itself but in
-the next compartment, the balance-chamber.
-
-Here is the famous little machine, once a close-kept secret but now
-known to all the world, that holds the torpedo at any desired depth.
-Think of a push-button, working in a tube open to the sea, with the
-water pressure pushing the button in and a spiral spring inside shoving
-it out. This push-button--called a “hydrostatic valve”--is connected
-by a system of levers with the two diving-planes or horizontal rudders
-that steer the torpedo up or down. By turning a screw, the spring
-can be adjusted to exert a force equal to the pressure of the water
-at any given depth. If the torpedo dives too deep, the increased
-water-pressure forces in the valve, moves the levers, raises the
-diving-planes, and steers the torpedo towards the surface. As the water
-pressure grows less, the spring forces out the valve, depresses the
-diving-planes, and brings the miniature submarine down to its proper
-depth again. When his torpedoes grew too big to be controlled by the
-comparatively feeble force exerted by the hydrostatic valve, Whitehead
-invented the “servo-motor”: an auxiliary, compressed-air engine, less
-than five inches long, sensitive enough to respond to the slightest
-movement of the valve levers but strong enough to steer the largest
-torpedo, exactly as the steam steering-gear moves the huge rudder of an
-ocean liner.
-
-There is also a heavy pendulum, swinging fore and aft and attached to
-the diving-planes, that checks any sudden up-or-down movement of the
-torpedo by inclining the planes and restoring the horizontal position.
-
-Next comes the engine-room, with its three-cylinder motor, capable of
-developing from thirty-five to fifty-five horse-power. The exhaust air
-from the engine passes out through the stern in a constant stream of
-bubbles, leaving a broad white streak on the surface of the water as
-the torpedo speeds to its mark.
-
-The aftermost compartment is called the buoyancy chamber. Besides
-adding to the floatability of the torpedo, this space also holds the
-engine shaft and the gear attaching it to the twin propellors. The
-first Whiteheads were single-screw boats. But the revolution of the
-propellor in one direction set up a reaction that caused the torpedo
-itself to partially revolve or heel over in the other, disturbing its
-rudders and swerving it from its course. This reaction is neutralized
-by using two propellers, one revolving to the right, the other to the
-left. Instead of being placed side by side, as on a steamer, they are
-mounted one behind the other, with the shaft of one revolving inside
-the hollow shaft of the other, and in the opposite direction.
-
-Long after they could be depended on to keep a proper depth, the
-Whiteheads and other self-propelled torpedoes were liable to swing
-suddenly to port or starboard, or even turn completely round. During
-the war between Chile and Peru, in 1879, the Peruvian ironclad
-_Huascar_ discharged an automobile torpedo that went halfway to the
-target, changed its mind, and was coming back to blow up its owners
-when an officer swam out to meet it and succeeded in turning it aside,
-for the torpedoes of that time were slow and small as well as erratic.
-
-Nowadays a torpedo is kept on a straight course by a gyroscope placed
-in the buoyancy chamber. Nearly every boy knows the gyroscopic top,
-like a little flywheel, that you can spin on the edge of a tumbler.
-The upper part of this toy is a heavy little metal wheel, and if you
-try to push it over while it is spinning, it resists and pushes back,
-as if it were alive. A similar wheel, weighing about two pounds, is
-placed in the buoyancy chamber of a Whitehead. When the torpedo starts,
-it releases either a powerful spring or an auxiliary compressed air
-engine that sets the gyroscope to spinning at more than two thousand
-revolutions a minute. It revolves vertically, in the fore-and-aft line
-of the torpedo, and is mounted on a pivoted stand. If the torpedo
-deviates from its straight course, the gyroscope does not, and the
-consequent change in their relative positions brings the flywheel into
-contact with a lever running to the servo-motor that controls the two
-vertical rudders, which soon set the torpedo right again.
-
-[Illustration: Cross-section of a Whitehead Torpedo.
-
-Redrawn from the Illustrated London News.
-
- A, Striker which, when driven in, fires the charge; B, Safety
- pin, which is removed just before the torpedo is discharged;
- C, Detonating charge; D, Explosive-head, or war-head; filled
- with guncotton; E, Primer charge of dry guncotton in cylinder;
- F, Balance chamber; G, Starting pin; H, Buoyancy chamber;
- I, Propellor shaft; J, Vertical rudder; K, Twin screws; L,
- Horizontal rudder; M, Gyroscope controlling torpedo’s course;
- N, Engines propelling machinery; O, Pendulum acting on the
- horizontal rudder which controls the depth of submergence; P,
- Hydrostatic valve; Q, Air-chamber, filled with compressed air;
- provides motive-power for the engines; R, “Jammer” or release
- propellor.
-]
-
-Thus guided and driven, a modern torpedo speeds swiftly and surely to
-its target, there to blow itself into a thousand pieces, with a force
-sufficient to sink a ship a thousand times its size.
-
-The Whitehead is used by every navy in the world except the German,
-which has its own torpedo: the “Schwartzkopf.” This, however, is
-practically identical with the Whitehead, except that its hull is
-made of bronze instead of steel and its war-head is charged with
-trinitrotuluol, or T.N.T., a much more powerful explosive than
-guncotton.
-
-After the Russo-Japanese War, when several Russian battleships kept
-afloat although they had been struck by Japanese torpedoes, many naval
-experts declared that an exploding war-head spent most of its energy in
-throwing a great column of water up into the air, instead of blowing
-in the side of the ship. So Commander Davis of the United States navy
-invented his “gun-torpedo.” This is like a Whitehead in every respect
-except that instead of a charge of guncotton it carries in its head
-a short eight-inch cannon loaded with an armor-piercing shell and a
-small charge of powder. In this type of torpedo, the impact of the
-striker against the target serves to fire the gun. The shell then
-passes easily through the thin side of the ship below the armor-belt
-and through any protecting coal-bunkers and bulkheads it may encounter,
-till it reaches the ship’s vitals, where it is exploded by the delayed
-action of an adjustable time-fuse. What would happen if it burst in
-a magazine or boiler-room is best left to the imagination. Several
-Davis gun-torpedoes have been built and used against targets with very
-satisfactory results, but they have not yet been used in actual warfare.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.
-
-Davis Gun-Torpedo after discharge, showing eight-inch gun forward of
-air-flask.]
-
-Mr. Edward F. Chandler, M.E., one of the foremost torpedo-experts in
-America, is dissatisfied with the compressed-air driven gyroscope,
-both because it does not begin to revolve till after the torpedo has
-been launched and perhaps deflected from its true course, and because
-it cannot be made to spin continuously throughout the long run of a
-modern torpedo. He proposes to remove the compressed-air servo-motors,
-both for this purpose and for controlling the horizontal rudders by
-the hydrostatic valve, and replace them with an electrical-driven
-gyroscope and depth-gear. The increased efficiency of the latter would
-enable him to get rid of the heavy, uncertain pendulum, thus allowing
-for the weight of the storage batteries. Mr. Chandler declares that
-his electrically-controlled torpedo can be lowered over the side of a
-small boat, headed in any desired direction, and started, without any
-launching-tube.[9]
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.
-
-Effect of Davis Gun-Torpedo on a specially-constructed target.]
-
-Though the automobile torpedo has been brought to so high a state
-of perfection, the original idea of steering from the shore has not
-been abandoned. The Brennan and Sims-Edison controllable torpedoes
-were driven and steered by electricity, receiving the current through
-wires trailed astern and carrying little masts and flags above the
-surface to guide the operator on shore. But these also served as a
-warning to the enemy and gave him too good a chance either to avoid the
-torpedo or destroy it with machine-gun fire. Then, too, the trailing
-wires reduced its speed and were always liable to get tangled in the
-propellors. Controllable torpedoes of this type were abandoned before
-the outbreak of the present war and will probably never be used in
-action.
-
-A new and more promising sort of controllable torpedo was immediately
-suggested by the invention of wireless telegraphy. Many inventors have
-been working to perfect such a weapon, and a young American engineer,
-Mr. John Hays Hammond, Jr., seems to have succeeded. From his wireless
-station on shore, Mr. Hammond can make a small, crewless electric
-launch run hither and yon as he pleases about the harbor of Gloucester,
-Massachusetts. The commander and many of the officers of the United
-States coast artillery corps have carefully inspected and tested this
-craft, which promises to be the forerunner of a new and most formidable
-species of coast defense torpedo.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-FREAKS AND FAILURES
-
-
-During the half-century following the death of Fulton, scarcely a
-year went by without the designing or launching of a new man-power
-submarine. Some of these boats, notably those of the Bavarian Wilhelm
-Bauer, were surprisingly good, others were most amazingly bad, but none
-of them led to anything better. Inventor after inventor wasted his
-substance discovering what Van Drebel, Bushnell, and Fulton had known
-before him, only to die and have the same facts painfully rediscovered
-by some one on the other side of the earth.
-
-A striking example of this lack of progress is Halstead’s _Intelligent
-Whale_. Built for the United States navy at New York, in the winter
-of 1864-5, this craft is no more modern and much less efficient
-than Fulton’s _Nautilus_ of 1801. The _Intelligent Whale_ is a fat,
-cigar-shaped, iron vessel propelled by a screw cranked by manpower and
-submerged by dropping two heavy anchors to the bottom and then warping
-the boat down to any desired depth. A diver can then emerge from a
-door in the submarine’s bottom, to place a mine under a hostile ship.
-It was not until 1872 that the _Intelligent Whale_ was sent on a trial
-trip in Newark Bay. Manned by an utterly inexperienced and very nervous
-crew, the clumsy submarine got entirely out of control and had to be
-hauled up by a cable that had been thoughtfully attached to her before
-she went down. Fortunately no lives had been lost, but the wildest
-stories were told and printed, till the imaginary death-roll ran up to
-forty-nine. The _Intelligent Whale_ was hauled up on dry land and can
-still be seen on exhibition at the corner of Third Street and Perry
-Avenue in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
-
-Lack of motive-power was the reason why man-sized submarines lagged
-behind their little automatic brethren, the Whitehead torpedoes.
-Compressed air was just the thing for a spurt, but when two Frenchmen,
-Captain Bourgois and M. Brun, built the _Plongeur_, a steel submarine
-146 feet long and 12 feet in diameter, at Rochefort in 1863, and fitted
-it with an eighty-horse-power, compressed-air engine, they discovered
-that the storage-flasks emptied themselves too quickly to permit a
-voyage of any length.
-
-The _Plongeur_ also proved that while you can sink a boat to the
-bottom by filling her ballast-tanks or make her rise to the surface by
-emptying them, you cannot make her float suspended between two bodies
-of water except by holding her there by some mechanical means. Without
-anything of the kind, the _Plongeur_ kept bouncing up and down like a
-rubber ball. Once her inventors navigated her horizontally for some
-distance, only to find that she had been sliding on her stomach along
-the soft muddy bottom of a canal. Better results were obtained after
-the _Plongeur_ was fitted with a crude pair of diving-planes. But the
-inefficiency of her compressed-air engine caused her to be condemned
-and turned into a water tank.
-
-[Illustration: The _Intelligent Whale_.
-
-Drawn by Lieutenant F. M. Barber, U. S. N., in 1875.]
-
-Electricity was first applied in 1861 by another Frenchman, named
-Olivier Riou. This is the ideal motive-power for underwater boats, and
-it was at this time that Jules Verne described the ideal submarine in
-his immortal story of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.” But
-before we can have a _Nautilus_ like Captain Nemo’s we must discover an
-electric storage battery of unheard-of lightness and capacity.
-
-[Illustration: _Le Plongeur._]
-
-There was a great revival of French interest in electric submarines
-after Admiral Aube, who was a lifelong submarine “fan,” became minister
-of marine in 1886. In spite of much ridicule and opposition, he
-authorized the construction of a small experimental vessel of this type
-called the _Gymnote_. She was a wild little thing that did everything
-short of turning somersaults when she dived, but she was enough of
-a success to be followed by a larger craft named, after the great
-engineer who had designed her predecessor, the _Gustave Zédé_.
-
-“The history of the _Gustave Zédé_ shows how much in earnest the French
-were in the matter of submarines. When she was first launched she was
-a failure in almost every respect, and it was only after some years,
-during which many alterations and improvements were carried out, that
-she became a serviceable craft. At first nothing would induce the
-_Gustave Zédé_ to quit the surface, and when at last she did plunge she
-did it so effectually that she went down to the bottom in 10 fathoms
-of water at an angle of 30 degrees. The committee of engineers were on
-board at the time, and it speaks well for their patriotism that they
-did not as a result of their unpleasant experience condemn the _Gustave
-Zédé_ and advise the government to spend no more money on submarine
-craft.”[10]
-
-Twenty-nine other electric submarines were built for the French navy
-between 1886 and 1901. During the same period, a French gentleman
-named M. Goubet built and experimented with two very small electric
-submarines, each of which was manned by two men, who sat back to back
-on a sort of settee stuffed with machinery. Little or big, all these
-French boats had the same fatal defect: lack of power. Their storage
-batteries, called on to propel them above, as well as below, the
-surface, became exhausted after a few hours’ cruising. They were as
-useless for practical naval warfare as an electric run-about would be
-to haul guns or carry supplies in Flanders.
-
-But if compressed-air and electricity were too quickly exhausted,
-gasoline or petroleum was even less practicable for submarine
-navigation. To set an oil-engine, that derives its power from the
-explosion of a mixture of oil-vapor and air, at work in a small
-closed space like the interior of a submarine, would soon make it
-uninhabitable. While Mr. Holland was puzzling how to overcome
-this difficulty, in the middle eighties, a Swedish inventor named
-Nordenfeldt was building submarines to be run by steam-power.
-
-Mr. Nordenfeldt, who is remembered to-day as the inventor of the famous
-gun that bears his name, had taken up the idea of an English clergyman
-named Garett, who in 1878 had built a submarine called the _Resurgam_,
-or “I Shall Rise.” Garett’s second boat, built a year later, had a
-steam-engine. When the vessel was submerged, the smoke-stack was closed
-by a sliding panel, the furnace doors were shut tight, and the engine
-run by the steam given off by a big tank full of bottled-up hot water.
-Nordenfeldt improved this system till his hot-water tanks gave off
-enough steam to propel his boat beneath the surface for a distance of
-fourteen miles.
-
-He also rediscovered and patented Bushnell’s device for submerging a
-boat by pushing it straight down and holding it under with a vertical
-propellor. His first submarine had two of these, placed in sponsons or
-projections on either side of the center of the hull. The Nordenfeldt
-boats, with their cigar-shaped hulls and projecting smoke-stacks,
-looked like larger editions of the Civil War _Davids_, and like them,
-could be submerged by taking in water-ballast till only a strip of deck
-with the funnel and conning-tower projected above the surface. Then the
-vertical propellors would begin to revolve and force the boat straight
-down on an even keel. Mr. Nordenfeldt insisted with great earnestness
-that this was the only safe and proper way to submerge a submarine. If
-you tried to steer it downward with any kind of driving-planes, he
-declared, then the boat was liable to keep on descending, before you
-could pull its head up, till it either struck the bottom or was crushed
-in by the pressure of too great a depth of water. There was a great
-deal of truth in this, but Mr. Nordenfeldt failed to realize that if
-one of his vertical propellors pushed only a little harder than the
-other, then the keel of his own submarine was going to be anything but
-even.
-
-[Illustration: Steam Submarine _Nordenfeldt II_, at Constantinople,
-1887. Observe vertical-acting propellors on deck.
-
-Reproduced from “Submarine Navigation, Past and Present” by Alan H.
-Burgoyne, by permission of E. P. Dutton & Company.]
-
-The first Nordenfeldt boat was launched in 1886 and bought by Greece,
-after a fairly successful trial in the Bay of Salamis. Two larger and
-more powerful submarines: _Nordenfeldt II_ and _III_, were promptly
-ordered by Greece’s naval rival Turkey. Each of these was 125 feet
-long, or nearly twice the length of the Greek boat, and each carried
-its two vertical propellors on deck, one forward and the other aft.
-Both boats were shipped in sections to Constantinople in 1887, but
-only _Nordenfeldt II_ was put together and tried. She was one of the
-first submarines to be armed with a bow torpedo-tube for discharging
-Whiteheads, and as a surface torpedo-boat, she was a distinct success.
-But when they tried to navigate her under water there was a circus.
-
-No sooner did one of the crew take two steps forward in the engine-room
-than down went the bow. The hot water in the boilers and the cold
-water in the ballast-tanks ran downhill, increasing the slant still
-further. English engineers, Turkish sailors, monkey-wrenches, hot
-ashes, Whitehead torpedoes, and other movables came tumbling after,
-till the submarine was nearly standing on her head, with everything
-inside packed into the bow like toys in the toe of a Christmas
-stocking. The little vertical propellors pushed and pulled and the
-crew clawed their way aft, till suddenly up came her head, down went
-her tail, and everything went gurgling and clattering down to the
-other end. _Nordenfeldt II_ was a perpetual see-saw, and no mortal
-power could keep her on an even keel. Once they succeeded in steadying
-her long enough to fire a torpedo. Where it went to, no man can tell,
-but the sudden lightening of the bow and the recoil of the discharge
-made the submarine rear up and sit down so hard that she began to
-sink stern-foremost. The water was blown out of her ballast tanks by
-steam-pressure, and the main engine started full speed ahead, till
-she shot up to the surface like a flying-fish. The Turkish naval
-authorities, watching the trials from the shores of the Golden Horn,
-were so impressed by these antics that they bought the boat. But it was
-impossible to keep a crew on her, for every native engineer or seaman
-who was sent on board prudently deserted on the first dark night. So
-the _Nordenfeldt II_ rusted away till she fell to pieces, long before
-the Allied fleets began the forcing of the Dardanelles.
-
-Fantastic though their performances seem to us to-day, these submarines
-represent the best work of some of the most capable inventors and naval
-engineers of the nineteenth century. With them deserve to be mentioned
-the boats of the Russian Drzewiecki and the Spaniard Peral. Failures
-though they were, they taught the world many valuable lessons about the
-laws controlling the actions of submerged bodies.
-
-[Illustration: Bauer’s Submarine Concert, Cronstadt Harbor, 1855. See
-footnote, page 120
-
-An original drawing by the author, Alan H. Burgoyne; reproduced from
-“Submarine Navigation, Past and Present,” by permission of E. P. Dutton
-& Company.]
-
-But many of the underwater craft invented between 1850 and 1900 can be
-classified only as freaks. Most of them, fortunately, were designed
-but never built, and those that were launched miraculously refrained
-from drowning any of their crews. There were submarines armed with
-steam-driven gimlets: the
-
- “nimble tail,
- Made like an auger, with which tail she wriggles,
- Betwixt the ribs of a ship and sinks it straight,”
-
-that Ben Jonson playfully ascribed to Van Drebel. Dr. Lacomme, in
-1869, proposed a submarine railroad from Calais to Dover, with tracks
-laid on the bottom of the Channel and cars that could cast off their
-wheels and rise to the surface in case of accident. Lieutenant André
-Constantin designed, during the siege of Paris, a boat to be submerged
-by drawing in pistons working in large cylinders open to the water. A
-vessel was actually built on this principle in England in 1888, and
-submerged in Tilbury Docks, where the soft mud at the bottom choked
-the cylinders so that the pistons could not be driven out again and
-the boat was brought up with considerable difficulty. Two particularly
-delirious inventors claimed that their submarines could also be used as
-dirigible balloons. Boucher’s underwater boat of 1886 was to have gills
-like a fish, so that it need never rise to the surface for air, and was
-further adorned with spring-buffers on the bottom, oars, a propellor
-under the center of the keel, and a movable tail for sculling the
-vessel forward. There were submarines with paddle-wheels, submarines
-with fins, and submarines with wings. A Venezuelan dentist, Señor
-Lacavalerier, invented a double-hulled, cigar-shaped boat, whose outer
-hull was threaded like a screw, and by revolving round the fixed inner
-hull, bored its way through the water. But he had been anticipated and
-outdone by Apostoloff, a Russian, who not only designed a submarine on
-the same principle but intended it to carry a large cabin suspended on
-davits above the surface of the water, and declared that his vessel
-would cross the Atlantic at an average speed of 111 knots an hour.
-
-[Illustration: Apostoloff’s Proposed Submarine.
-
-An original drawing by the author, Alan H. Burgoyne; reproduced from
-“Submarine Navigation, Past and Present,” by permission of E. P. Dutton
-& Company.]
-
-As late as 1898 the Spanish government, neglecting the promising
-little electric boat built ten years before by Señor Peral, was
-experimenting with two highly impossible submarines, one of which was
-to be propelled by a huge clock-spring, while the other was perfectly
-round. Needless to say, neither the sphere nor the toy boat ever
-encountered the American fleet.
-
-At the same time, the United States government declined to accept the
-war services of the already practicable boats of the two American
-inventors who were about to usher in the present era of submarine
-warfare: Simon Lake and John P. Holland.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-JOHN P. HOLLAND
-
-
-When the _Merrimac_ rammed the _Cumberland_, burned the _Congress_, and
-was fought to a standstill next day by the little _Monitor_, all the
-world realized that there had been a revolution in naval warfare. The
-age of the wooden warship was gone forever, the day of the ironclad
-had come. And a twenty-year-old Irish school-teacher began to wonder
-what would be the next revolution; what new craft might be invented
-that would dethrone the ironclad. This young Irishman’s name was John
-P. Holland, and he decided to devote his life to the perfection of the
-submarine.
-
-Like Robert Fulton, Admiral Von Tirpitz, and the Frenchman who built
-the _Rotterdam Boat_ in 1652, Holland relied on submarines to break
-the power of the British fleet. Though born a British subject, in the
-little village of Liscannor, County Clare in the year 1842, he had
-seen too many of his fellow countrymen starved to death or driven into
-exile not to hate the stupid tyranny that characterized England’s
-rule of Ireland in those bitter, far-off days. He longed for the day
-of Ireland’s independence, and that day seemed to be brought much
-nearer by the American Civil War. Not only had many thousand brave
-Irish-Americans become trained veterans but Great Britain and the
-United States had been brought to the verge of war by the sinking of
-American ships by the _Alabama_ and other British-built, Confederate
-commerce-destroyers. When that Anglo-American war broke out, there
-would be an army ready to come over and free Ireland--if only the
-troublesome British navy could be put out of the way. And already the
-English were launching ironclad after ironclad to replace their now
-useless steam-frigates and ships-of-the-line. It is no use trying to
-outbuild or outfight the British navy above water, and John P. Holland
-realized this in 1862, as several kings and emperors have, before or
-since.
-
-[Illustration: The _Holland No. 1_. Designed to carry a torpedo and
-fix it to the bottom of a ship, on the general principle of Bushnell’s
-_Turtle_.
-
-Drawn by Lieutenant F. M. Barber, U. S. N., in 1875.]
-
-Though his friends in Cork kept laughing at him, Holland worked
-steadily on his plans for a submarine boat, throughout the sixties.
-Presently he came to America and obtained a job as school-teacher in
-Paterson, New Jersey. There he built and launched his first submarine
-in 1875. It was a sharp-pointed, little, cigar-shaped affair, only
-sixteen feet long and two feet in diameter amidships. This craft was
-designed to carry a torpedo and fix it to the bottom of a ship, on the
-general principle of Bushnell’s _Turtle_. It was divided into four
-compartments, with air-chambers fore and aft. Air-pipes led to where
-Holland sat in the middle, with his head in a respirator shaped like a
-diver’s helmet, and his feet working pedals that turned the propellor.
-
-There was nothing revolutionary about this _Holland No. 1_. A similar
-underwater bicycle is said to have been invented by Alvary Templo in
-1826, and Drzewiecki used one at Odessa in 1877. But Holland used
-his to teach himself how to build something better. Just as the
-Wright brothers learned how to build and fly aeroplanes by coasting
-down through the air from the tops of the Kitty Hawk sand-hills in
-their motorless “glider,” so John P. Holland found how to make and
-navigate submarines by diving under the surface of the Passaic River
-and adjacent waters, and swimming around there in his _No. 1_ and her
-successors.
-
-The _Holland No. 2_ was launched in 1877 and became immediately and
-prophetically stuck in the mud. She had a double hull, the space
-between being used as a ballast-tank, whose contents leaked constantly
-into the interior, and she was driven intermittently by a four
-horse-power petroleum engine of primitive design. After a series of
-trials that entertained his neighbors and taught the inventor that the
-best place for a single horizontal rudder is the stern, Holland took
-the engine out of the boat and sank her under the Falls Bridge, where
-she lies to this day.
-
-He then entered into negotiations with the Fenian Brotherhood, a secret
-society organized for the purpose of setting up an Irish republic by
-militant methods. Though not a Fenian himself, Holland was thoroughly
-in sympathy with the brotherhood, and offered to show them how they
-could get round, or rather under, the British navy. You may have seen a
-once-familiar lithograph of a green-painted superdreadnought of strange
-design flying the Crownless Harp, and named the Irish battleship
-_Emerald Isle_. The only real Irish warships of modern times, however,
-were the two submarines Holland persuaded the Fenians to have him build
-at their expense.
-
-Rear-Admiral Philip Hichborn, former Chief Constructor, U.S.N., said of
-these two boats:
-
-“She (the earlier one) was the first submarine since Bushnell’s time
-employing water ballast and always retaining buoyancy, in which
-provision was made to insure a fixed center of gravity and a fixed
-absolute weight. Moreover, she was the first buoyant submarine to be
-steered down and up in the vertical plane by horizontal-rudder action
-as she was pushed forward by her motor, instead of being pushed up
-and down by vertical-acting mechanism.[11] Her petroleum engine,
-provided for motive-power and for charging her compressed-air flasks,
-was inefficient, and the boat therefore failed as a practical craft;
-but in her were demonstrated all the chief principles of successful,
-brain-directed, submarine navigation. In 1881, Holland turned out a
-larger and better boat in which he led the world far and away in the
-solution of submarine problems, and for a couple of years demonstrated
-that he could perfectly control his craft in the vertical plane.
-Eventually, through financial complications, she was taken to New
-Haven, where she now is.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Photo by Brown Bros.
-
-The _Fenian Ram_.
-
-(Photographed by Mr. Simon Lake, in the shed at New Haven.)]
-
-Political as well as financial complications caused the internment of
-this submarine, which a New York reporter, with picturesque inaccuracy,
-called the _Fenian Ram_. The Irish at home were by this time thinking
-less of fighting for independence and more for peacefully obtaining
-home rule, while the arbitration and payment of the “Alabama claims” by
-Great Britain had removed all danger of a war between that country and
-the United States. Under these circumstances, many of the Fenians felt
-that it was wasted money for their society to spend any more of its
-funds on warships it could never find use for. This led to dissensions
-which culminated in a party of Fenians seizing the _Ram_ and taking it
-to a shed on the premises of one of their members at New Haven, where
-it has remained ever since.
-
-But the construction and performances of this submarine, and of
-several others which he soon afterwards built for himself, won Holland
-such a reputation that when Secretary Whitney decided in 1888 that
-submarines would be a good thing for the United States navy, the great
-Philadelphia ship-building firm of Cramps submitted two designs:
-Holland’s and Nordenfeldt’s, and the former won the award. But after
-nearly twelve months had been spent in settling preliminary details,
-and when a contract for building an experimental boat was just about to
-be awarded, there came a change of administration and the matter was
-dropped.
-
-This was a great disappointment for Holland, and the next four or five
-years were lean ones for the inventor. He had built five boats and
-designed a sixth without their having brought him a cent of profit.
-It was not until March 3, 1893, that Congress appropriated the money
-for the construction of an experimental submarine, and inventors were
-invited to submit their designs. By this time John P. Holland had
-not only spent all his own money, but all he could borrow from his
-relatives and friends. To make matters worse, the country was then
-passing through a financial panic, when very few people had any money
-to lend or invest. And all the security Holland could offer was his
-faith in the future of the submarine, which at that time was a stock
-joke of the comic papers, together with those other two crack-brained
-projects, the flying-machine and the horseless carriage.
-
-“I know I can win that competition and build that boat for the
-Government,” said Holland to a young lawyer whom he had met at lunch in
-a downtown New York restaurant, “if I can only raise the money to pay
-the fees and other expenses. I need exactly $347.19.”
-
-“What do you want the nineteen cents for?” asked the other.
-
-“To buy a certain kind of ruler I need for drawing my plans.”
-
-“If you’ve figured it out as closely as all that,” replied the lawyer,
-“I’ll take a chance and lend you the money.”
-
-He did so, receiving in exchange a large block of stock in the
-new-formed Holland Torpedo-boat Company. To-day his stock is worth
-several million dollars.
-
-Mr. Holland won the competition and after two years’ delay his
-company began the construction of the _Plunger_. This submarine
-was to be propelled by steam while running on the surface and by
-storage-batteries when submerged. Double propulsion of this type had
-been first installed by a Southerner named Alstitt on a submarine he
-built at Mobile, Alabama, in 1863, and theoretically discussed in a
-book written in 1887 by Commander Hovgaard of the Danish navy. Though
-a great improvement on any type of single propulsion, this system had
-many drawbacks, the chief of which was the length of time--from fifteen
-to thirty minutes--that it took for the oil-burning surface engine
-to cool and rid itself of hot gases before it was safe to seal the
-funnel and dive. Though the _Plunger_ was launched in 1897, she was
-never finished, for Mr. Holland foresaw her defects. He persuaded the
-Government to let his company pay back the money already spent on the
-_Plunger_ and build an entirely new boat.
-
-_Holland No. 8_ was built accordingly, but failed to work properly.
-Finally came the ninth and last of her line, the first of the modern
-submarines, the world-famous _Holland_.
-
-She was a chunky little porpoise of a boat, 10 feet 7 inches deep and
-only 53 feet 10 inches long, and looking even shorter and thicker than
-she was because of the narrow, comb-like superstructure running fore
-and aft along the deck. But her shape and dimensions were the results
-of twenty-five years’ experience. Built at Mr. Lewis Nixon’s shipyards
-at Elizabethport, New Jersey, the _Holland_ was launched in the early
-spring of 1898, between the blowing-up of the _Maine_ and the outbreak
-of the Spanish-American War. But though John P. Holland repeatedly
-begged to be allowed to take his submarine into Santiago Harbor and
-torpedo Cervera’s fleet, the naval authorities at Washington were too
-conservative-minded to let him try.
-
-“United States warship goes down with all hands!” the small boys (I was
-one of them) used to shout at this time, and then explain that it was
-only another dive of the “Holland submarine.” Strictly speaking, the
-_Holland_ was not a United States warship till October 13, 1900, when
-she was formally placed in commission under the command of Lieutenant
-Harry H. Caldwell, who had been on her during many of the exhaustive
-series of trials in which the little undersea destroyer proved to
-even the most conservative officers of our navy that the day of the
-submarine had come at last.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company
-
-U. S. S. _Holland_, in Drydock with the Russian Battleship _Retvizan_.]
-
-Propelled on the surface by a fifty horse-power gasoline motor, the
-_Holland_ had a cruising radius of 1500 miles at a speed of seven knots
-an hour. Submerged, she was driven by electric storage-batteries. This
-effective combination of oil-engines with an electric motor is one of
-John P. Holland’s great discoveries, and is used in every submarine
-to-day. When her tanks were filled till her deck was flush with the
-water, and the two horizontal rudders at the stern began to steer her
-downwards, the _Holland_ could dive to a depth of twenty-eight feet
-in five seconds. She had no periscope, for that instrument was then
-crude and unsatisfactory. To take aim, the captain of the _Holland_
-had to make a quick “porpoise dive,” up to the surface and down again,
-exposing the conning-tower for the few seconds needed to take aim and
-judge the distance to the target. Though by this means the _Holland_
-succeeded in getting within striking-distance of the _Kearsarge_ and
-the _New York_ without being detected, during the summer manœuvers of
-the Atlantic fleet off Newport in 1900, it has proved fatal to the only
-submarine that has tried it in actual warfare (see page 160).
-
-Less than half the length of the _Nordenfeldt II_, the _Holland_ did
-not pitch or see-saw when submerged. Each of her crew of six sat on
-a low stool beside the machinery he was to operate, and there was no
-moving about when below the surface. Neither did the boat stand on her
-tail when a torpedo was discharged from the bow-tube, for the loss of
-weight was immediately compensated by admitting an equivalent amount of
-water into a tank. Originally the _Holland_ had a stern torpedo-tube as
-well, besides a pneumatic gun for throwing eighty pounds of dynamite
-half a mile through the air, but these were later removed.
-
-How the _Holland_ impressed our naval officers at that time is best
-shown in the oft-quoted testimony of Admiral Dewey before the naval
-committee of the House of Representatives in 1900.
-
-“Gentlemen, I saw the operation of the boat down off Mount Vernon the
-other day. Several members of this committee were there. I think we
-were all very much impressed with its performance. My aid, Lieutenant
-Caldwell, was on board. The boat did everything that the owners
-proposed to do. I said then, and I have said it since, that if they had
-had two of those things at Manila, I could never have held it with the
-squadron I had. The moral effect--to my mind, it is infinitely superior
-to mines or torpedoes or anything of the kind. With those craft moving
-under water it would wear people out. With two of those in Galveston
-all the navies of the world could not blockade the place.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Photo by Brown Bros.
-
-John P. Holland.]
-
-The _Holland_ was purchased by the United States Government on April
-11, 1900, for $150,000. She had cost her builders, exclusive of any
-office expenses or salaries of officers, $236,615.43. But it had
-been a profitable investment for the Holland Torpedo-boat Company,
-for on August 25, the United States navy contracted with it for the
-construction of six more submarines. And in the autumn of the same
-year, though it was not announced to the public till March 1, 1901,
-five other _Hollands_ were ordered through the agency of Vickers Sons,
-and Maxim by the British admiralty. Soon every maritime nation was
-either buying _Hollands_ or paying royalties on the inventor’s patents,
-and building bigger, faster, better submarines every year.
-
-The original _Holland_ had outlived her fighting value when she was
-condemned by Secretary Daniels in June, 1915, to be broken up and
-sold as junk. There is still room in the Brooklyn Navy Yard for that
-worthless and meaningless relic, the _Intelligent Whale_, but there was
-none for the _Holland_ submarine, whose place in history is with the
-_Clairmont_ and the _Monitor_.
-
-John P. Holland withdrew in 1904 from the Holland Torpedo-boat Company,
-which has since become merged with the Electric Boat Company, that
-builds most of the submarines for the United States navy, and many for
-the navies of foreign powers. Like most other great inventive geniuses,
-Holland was not a trained engineer, and it was perhaps inevitable that
-disputes should have arisen between him and his associates as to the
-carrying out of his ideas. His last years were embittered by the belief
-that the submarines of to-day were distorted and worthless developments
-of his original type. Whether or not he was mistaken, only time can
-tell. That to John P. Holland, more than to any other man since David
-Bushnell and Robert Fulton, the world owes the modern submarine, cannot
-be denied. His death, on August 12, 1914, was but little noticed in the
-turmoil and confusion of the first weeks of the great European War. But
-when the naval histories of that war are written, his name will not be
-forgotten.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-THE LAKE SUBMARINES
-
-
-John P. Holland was not the only inventor who responded to the
-invitation of the United States navy department to submit designs for
-a proposed submarine boat in 1893. That invitation had been issued and
-an appropriation of $200,000 made by Congress on the recommendation
-of Commander Folger, chief of ordnance, after he had seen a trial
-trip on Lake Michigan of an underwater boat invented by Mr. George C.
-Baker. This was an egg-shaped craft, propelled by a steam engine on the
-surface and storage-batteries when submerged, and controlled by two
-adjustable propellers, mounted on either side of the boat on a shaft
-running athwartship. These screws could be turned in any direction,
-so as to push or pull the vessel forward, downward, or at any desired
-angle. Mr. Baker submitted designs for a larger boat of the same kind,
-but they were not accepted.
-
-The third inventor who entered the 1893 competition was Mr. Simon
-Lake, then a resident of Baltimore. He sent in the plans of the most
-astonishing-looking craft that had startled the eyes of the navy
-department since Ericsson’s original monitor. It had two cigar-shaped
-hulls, one inside the other, the space between being used for
-ballast-tanks. It had no less than five propellors: twin screws aft
-for propulsion, a single screw working in an open transverse tunnel
-forward,[12] to “swing the vessel at rest to facilitate pointing her
-torpedos,” and two downhaul or vertical-acting propellers “for holding
-vessel to depth when not under way.” These were not placed on deck,
-as on the _Nordenfeldt II_, but in slots in the keel. Other features
-of the bottom were two anchor weights, a detachable “emergency keel,”
-and a diving compartment. On deck were a folding periscope and a “gun
-arranged in water-tight, revolving turret for defense purposes or
-attack on unarmored surface craft.” There were four torpedo tubes,
-two forward and two aft, according to the modern German practice.
-The motive-power was the then usual combination of steam and storage
-batteries. But the two remaining features of the 1893 model Lake
-submarine were extremely unusual.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy International Marine Engineering.
-
-Lake 1893 Design as Submitted to the U. S. Navy Department.]
-
-Instead of one pair of horizontal rudders, there were four pairs, two
-large and two small. The latter, placed near the bow and stern, were
-“levelling vanes, designed automatically to hold the vessel on a level
-keel when under way”; while the larger ones were called “hydroplanes”
-and so located and designed as to steer the submarine under, not by
-making it dive bow-foremost but by causing it to submerge on an even
-keel. How this was to be accomplished will be explained presently. The
-other new thing about the Lake boat was that it was mounted on wheels
-for running along the sea-bottom. There were three of these wheels: a
-large pair forward on a strong axle for bearing the vessel’s weight,
-and a small steering-wheel on the bottom of the rudder.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of Mr. Simon Lake.
-
-The _Argonaut Junior_.]
-
-This submarine was never built, however, for the congressional
-appropriation was awarded to the Holland Torpedo-boat Company and Mr.
-Lake had at that time no means for building so elaborate a vessel
-by himself. What he did build was the simplest and crudest little
-submarine imaginable: the _Argonaut Jr._ She was a triangular box of
-yellow pine, fourteen feet long and five feet deep, mounted on three
-solid wooden wheels. She was trundled along the bottom of Sandy Hook
-Bay by one or two men cranking the axle of the two driving wheels. The
-boat was provided with an air-lock and diver’s compartment “so arranged
-that by putting an air pressure on the diver’s compartment equal to
-the water pressure outside, a bottom door could be opened and no water
-would come into the vessel. Then by putting on a pair of rubber boots
-the operator could walk around on the sea bottom and push the boat
-along with him and pick up objects, such as clams, oysters, etc., from
-the sea bottom.”[13]
-
-Enough people were convinced by the performances of this simple
-craft of the soundness of Mr. Lake’s theories that the inventor was
-able to raise sufficient capital to build a larger submarine. This
-boat, which was designed in 1895 and built at Baltimore in 1897, was
-called the _Argonaut_. When launched, she had a cigar-shaped hull
-thirty-six feet long by nine in diameter, mounted on a pair of large
-toothed driving-wheels forward and a guiding-wheel on the rudder. The
-driving-wheels could be disconnected and left to revolve freely while
-the boat was driven by its single-screw propeller. There was a diver’s
-compartment in the bottom and a “lookout compartment in the extreme
-bow, with a powerful searchlight to light up a pathway in front of her
-as she moved along over the waterbed. The searchlight I later found of
-little value except for night work in clear water. In clear water the
-sunlight would permit of as good vision without the use of the light
-as with it, while if the water was not clear, no amount of light would
-permit of vision through it for any considerable distance.”
-
-Storage batteries were carried only for working the searchlight and
-illuminating the interior of the boat. The _Argonaut_ was propelled,
-both above and below the surface, by a thirty horse-power gasoline
-engine, the first one to be installed in a submarine. There was enough
-air to run it on, even when submerged, because the _Argonaut_ was
-ventilated through a hose running to a float on the surface: a device
-later changed to two pipe masts long enough to let her run along the
-bottom at a depth of fifty feet.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of International Marine Engineering.
-
-_Argonaut_ as Originally Built.]
-
-The _Argonaut_ had no hydroplanes or horizontal rudders of any kind.
-She was submerged, like the _Intelligent Whale_, by “two anchor
-weights, each weighing 1000 pounds, attached to cables, and capable of
-being hauled up or lowered by a drum and mechanism within the boat....
-When it is desired to submerge the vessel the anchor weights are first
-lowered to the bottom; water is then allowed to enter the water-ballast
-compartments until her buoyancy is less than the weight of the two
-anchors, say 1500 pounds; the cables connecting with the weights are
-then hauled in, and the vessel is thus hauled to the bottom, until she
-comes to rest on her three wheels. The weights are then hauled into
-their pockets in the keel, and it is evident that she is resting on
-the wheels with a weight equal to the difference between her buoyancy
-with the weights at the bottom, and the weights in their pockets, or
-500 pounds. Now this weight may be increased or diminished, either
-by admitting more water into the ballast tanks or by pumping some
-out. Thus it will be seen that we have perfect control of the vessel
-in submerging her, as we may haul her down as fast or as slow as we
-please, and by having her rest on the bottom with sufficient weight to
-prevent the currents from moving her out of her course we may start up
-our propeller or driving-wheels and drive her at will over the bottom,
-the same as a tricycle is propelled on the surface of the earth in the
-upper air. In muddy bottoms, we rest with a weight not much over 100
-pounds; while on hard bottoms, or where there are strong currents,
-we sometimes rest on the bottom with a weight of from 1000 to 1500
-pounds....
-
-“In the rivers we invariably found a muddy bed; in Chesapeake Bay we
-found bottoms of various kinds, in some places so soft that our divers
-would sink up to their knees, while in other places the ground would
-be hard, and at one place we ran across a bottom which was composed of
-a loose gravel, resembling shelled corn. Out in the ocean, however,
-was found the ideal submarine course, consisting of a fine gray sand,
-almost as hard as a macadamized road, and very level and uniform.”
-
-During this cruise under the waters of Chesapeake Bay, the _Argonaut_
-came on the wrecks of several sunken vessels, which Mr. Lake or some
-member of his crew examined through the open door in the bottom of the
-diving-compartment. The air inside was kept at a sufficiently high
-pressure to keep the water from entering, and the man in the submarine
-could pull up pieces of the wreck with a short boathook, or even reach
-down and place his bare hand on the back of a big fish swimming past.
-Sometimes members of the crew would put on diving-suits and walk out
-over the bottom, keeping in communication with the boat by telephone.
-Telephone stations were even established on the bottom of the bay, with
-cables running to the nearest exchange on shore, and conversations
-were held with people in Baltimore, Washington, and New York. (Perhaps
-the commanders of German submarines in British waters to-day are using
-this method to communicate with German spies in London, Dublin, and
-Liverpool.)
-
-The Spanish-American War was being fought while Mr. Lake was making
-these experiments. The entrance to Hampton Roads was planted with
-electric mines, but though he was forbidden to go too near them, the
-inventor proved that nothing would be easier than to locate the cable
-connecting them with the shore, haul it up into the diver’s compartment
-of the _Argonaut_ and cut it. He did this with a dummy cable of his
-own, and then repeatedly begged the navy department to let him take the
-_Argonaut_ into the harbor of Santiago de Cuba and disable the mines
-that were keeping Admiral Sampson’s fleet from going in and smashing
-the Spanish squadron there. But his offer, like that of John P.
-Holland, was refused.
-
-“In 1898, also,” says Mr. Lake, “the _Argonaut_ made the trip from
-Norfolk to New York under her own power and unescorted. In her original
-form she was a cigar-shaped craft with only a small percentage of
-reserve buoyancy in her surface cruising condition. We were caught
-out in the severe November northeast storm of 1898 in which over two
-hundred vessels were lost and we did not succeed in reaching a harbor
-in the ‘horseshoe’ back of Sandy Hook until three o’clock in the
-morning. The seas were so rough they would break over her conning-tower
-in such masses I was obliged to lash myself fast to prevent being swept
-overboard. It was freezing weather and I was soaked and covered with
-ice on reaching harbor.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of International Marine Engineering.
-
-_Argonaut_ as Rebuilt.]
-
-Mr. Lake then sent the _Argonaut_ to a Brooklyn shipyard, where her
-original cigar-shaped hull was cut in half, and lengthened twenty
-feet, after which a light ship-shaped superstructure was built over
-her low sloping topsides. To keep it from being crushed in by water
-pressure when submerged, scupper-like openings were cut in the thin
-plating where it joined the stout, pressure-resisting hull, so that
-the superstructure automatically filled itself with sea-water on
-submerging and drained itself on rising again. Though uninhabitable,
-its interior supplied useful storage space, particularly for the
-gasoline fuel tanks, which, as Mr. Lake had already discovered, gave
-off fumes that soon rendered the air inside the submarine unbreathable,
-unless the tanks were kept outside instead of inside the hull. The
-swan-bow and long bowsprit of the new superstructure, together with
-the two ventilator-masts, gave the rebuilt _Argonaut_ a schooner-like
-appearance, and her bowsprit has been compared to the whip-socket on
-the dashboard of the earliest automobiles. But Mr. Lake declares that
-this was no useless leftover but a practicable spring-buffer to guard
-against running into submerged rocks, while the bobstay helped the
-_Argonaut_ to climb over the obstruction, as she could over anything
-on the sea-bottom she could get her bows over.
-
-Primarily, the superstructure served to make the submarine more
-seaworthy as a surface craft. Until then, most inventors and designers
-of undersea boats had confined their attentions to the problems of
-underwater navigation only, because, as had been pointed out by the
-monk Mersenne before 1648, even during the most violent storms the
-disturbance is felt but a little distance below the surface. But Mr.
-Lake realized that a submarine, like every other kind of boat, spends
-most of its existence on top of the water and that it is not always
-desirable to submerge whenever a moderate-sized wave sweeps over one
-of the old-fashioned, low-lying, cigar-shaped vessels. With her new
-superstructure, the _Argonaut_ rode the waves as lightly as any yacht
-and ushered in the era of the sea-going submarine.
-
-It was not until a year later that the _Narval_, a large double-hulled
-submarine with a ship-shaped outer shell of light, perforated plating,
-was launched in France. She was propelled by steam on the surface and
-by storage batteries when submerged. To distinguish this sea-going
-torpedo-boat, that could be submerged, from the earlier and simpler
-submarines designed and engined for underwater work only, her designer,
-M. Labeuf, called the _Narval_ a “submersible.” As the old type of
-boat soon became extinct, the distinction was not necessary and the
-old name “submarine” is still applied to all underwater craft. That
-Simon Lake and not M. Labeuf first gave the modern sea-going submarine
-its characteristic and essential superstructure is easily proved by
-dates. The _Narval_ was launched in October, 1899, the _Argonaut_ was
-remodeled in December, 1898, and on April 2, 1897, Mr. Lake applied for
-and was presently granted the pioneer patent on a “combined surface
-and submarine vessel,” the space between its cylindrical hull and the
-superstructure “being adapted to be filled with water when the vessel
-is submerged and thus rendered capable of resisting the pressure of the
-water.”
-
-But though in her remodeled form she became the forerunner of the
-long grim submarine cruisers of to-day, the _Argonaut_ herself had
-been built to serve not as a warship but as a commercial vessel. Like
-her namesakes who followed Jason in the _Argo_ to far-off Colchis for
-the Golden Fleece, she was to go forth in search of hidden treasure.
-She was to have been the first of a fleet of wheeled bottom-workers,
-salvaging the cargoes of wrecked ships; from the mail-bags of the
-latest lost liner to ingots and pieces-of-eight from the sand-clogged
-hulks of long-sunk Spanish galleons, or bringing up sponges, coral, and
-pearls from the depths of the tropic seas. But though he investigated a
-few wrecks and ingeniously transferred a few tons of coal from one into
-a submarine lighter by means of a pipe-line and a powerful force-pump,
-Mr. Lake has done nothing more to develop the fascinating commercial
-possibilities of the submarine since 1901, because he has been kept too
-busy building undersea warships for the United States and other naval
-powers.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of International Marine Engineering.
-
-The Rebuilt _Argonaut_, Showing Pipe-masts and Ship-shaped
-Superstructure.]
-
-Mr. Lake declares that one of his up-to-date wheeled submarines could
-enter a harbor-mouth defended by booms and nettings that would keep out
-either surface torpedo boats or ordinary submarines. The smooth-backed
-bottom-worker of this special type would slip under the netting like a
-cat under a bead portière. If the netting were fastened down, a diver
-would step out through the door in the bottom of the submarine and
-either cut the netting from its moorings or attach a bomb to blow a
-hole for the bottom-worker to go in through. An ordinary submarine,
-entering a hostile harbor, would be in constant danger of running
-aground in shallow water and either sticking there or rebounding to the
-surface, to be seen and fired at by the enemy. Even if its commander
-succeeded in keeping to the deep channel by dead reckoning--a process
-akin to flying blindfolded in an aeroplane up a crooked ravine and
-remembering just when and where to turn--even if he dodged the rocks
-and sand bars, he would be liable to bump the nose of his boat against
-an anchored contact mine (see Chapter XI). But the Lake bottom-worker
-would trundle steadily along, sampling the bottom to find where it was,
-and passing safely under the mines floating far above it. The divers
-would make short work of cutting the mine cables, or they might plant
-mines of their own under the ships in the harbor and blow them up as
-Bushnell tried to. Using electric motors and storage air-flasks, with
-no pipe masts or other “surface-indications” to betray its presence,
-one of these boats could remain snugly hid at the bottom of an enemy’s
-harbor as long as its supplies held out.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of Mr. Simon Lake.
-
-Cross-section of Diving-compartment on a Lake Submarine.]
-
-As yet, however, we have not heard of any such exploits in the present
-war, though they seem perfectly feasible. Mr. Lake sold a boat designed
-for this sort of work and called the _Protector_ to Russia in 1906.
-
-The most characteristic feature of the Lake submarines is not the
-wheels, which are found only on those specially designed for bottom
-working, but the hydroplanes. These are horizontal rudders that are
-so placed and designed as to steer the boat forward and downward, but
-at the same time keeping it on an even keel. Bushnell and Nordenfeldt
-forced their boats straight up and down like buckets in a well, John
-P. Holland made his tip up its tail and dive like a loon, but Mr.
-Lake conceived the idea of having his boat descend like a suitcase
-carried by a man walking down-stairs: the suitcase moves steadily
-forward and downward towards the front door but it remains level. The
-first method with its vertical propellers wasted too much energy, the
-second incurred the risk of diving too fast and too deep, no matter
-whether the single pair of horizontal rudders were placed on the bow,
-or amidships, or on the stern. So Mr. Lake used two pairs of horizontal
-rudders “located at equal distances forward and aft of the center of
-gravity and buoyancy of the vessel when in the submerged condition, so
-as not to disturb the trim of the vessel when the planes were inclined
-down or up to cause the vessel to submerge or rise when under way.”
-These he called hydroplanes, to distinguish them from another set of
-smaller horizontal rudders, which at first he called “leveling-vanes”
-and which were not used to steer the submarine under but manipulated
-to keep her at a constant depth and on a level keel while running
-submerged.
-
-In theory, the early Lake boats were submerged on an even keel; in
-practice, they went under at an angle of several degrees. But they made
-nothing like the abrupt dives of the _Holland_.
-
-“As the Electric Boat Company’s boats (Holland type) increased in
-size,” declares Chief Constructor D. W. Taylor, U.S.N., “bow rudders
-were fitted, and nowadays all submarines of this type in our navy
-are fitted with bow rudders as well as stern rudders. The Lake type
-submarines are still fitted with hydroplanes. But as you may see, means
-for effecting submergence have approached each other very closely: in
-fact, speaking generally, submarines all over the world now have two or
-more sets of diving-rudders; the most general arrangement is one pair
-forward and one pair aft; in some types three pairs are fitted, but
-this arrangement is more unusual.
-
-“In general it may be said then that modern submarines of both types
-submerge in practically the same way. They assume a very slight angle
-of inclination, say a degree and a half or two degrees, and submerge at
-this angle. This may be said to be practically on an even keel.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of International Marine Engineering.
-
-Cross-section of the _Protector_, showing wheels stowed away when not
-running on the sea bottom.]
-
-The credit of originating this now world-wide practice of “level-keel
-submergence” obviously belongs, as “Who’s Who in America” gives it, to
-
-“Lake, Simon, naval architect, mechanical engineer. Born at
-Pleasantville, New Jersey, September 4, 1866; son of John Christopher
-and Miriam M. (Adams) Lake; educated at Clinton Liberal Institute,
-Fort Plain, New York, and Franklin Institute, Philadelphia; married
-Margaret Vogel of Baltimore, June 9, 1890. Inventor of even keel type
-of submarine torpedo boats; built first experimental boat, 1894;
-built _Argonaut_, 1897 (first submarine to operate successfully in the
-open sea); has designed and built many submarine torpedo boats for the
-United States and foreign countries; spent several years in Russia,
-Germany, and England, designing, building, and acting in an advisory
-capacity in construction of submarine boats. Also inventor of submarine
-apparatus for locating and recovering sunken vessels and their cargoes;
-submarine apparatus for pearl and sponge fishing, heavy oil internal
-combustion engine for marine propulsion, etc. Member of the Society of
-Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, American Society of Mechanical
-Engineers, American Society of Naval Engineers, Institute of Naval
-Architects (London), Schiffsbautechnische Gesellschaft (Berlin). Mason.
-_Clubs_, Engineers’ (New York), Algonquin, (Bridgeport, Connecticut).
-_Home_, Milford, Connecticut. _Office_, Bridgeport, Connecticut.”
-
-[Illustration: Mr. Simon Lake.]
-
-When the Krupps first took up the idea of constructing submarines for
-the German and Russian governments, the great German firm consulted
-with Mr. Lake, who was at that time living in Europe. An elaborate
-contract was drawn up between them. The Krupps agreed to employ Mr.
-Lake in an advisory capacity and to build “Lake type” boats, both in
-Russia, where they were to erect a factory and share the profits with
-him, and in Germany, on a royalty basis. Before he could sign this
-contract, Mr. Lake had to obtain the permission of the directors of
-his own company in Bridgeport. In the meanwhile, he gave the German
-company his most secret plans and specifications. But the Krupps never
-signed the contract, withdrew from going into Russia, and their lawyer
-coolly told Mr. Lake that, as he had failed to patent his inventions
-in Germany, his clients were perfectly free to build “Lake type”
-submarines there without paying him anything and were going to do so.
-
-The famous Krupp-built German submarines that are playing so prominent
-a part in the present war are therefore partly of American design.
-Whenever Mr. Lake reads that another one of them has been destroyed by
-the Allies, his emotions must be rather mixed.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-A TRIP IN A MODERN SUBMARINE
-
-
-Lieutenant Perry Scope, commanding the X-class flotilla, was sitting
-in his comfortable little office on the mother-ship _Ozark_, when
-I entered with a letter from the secretary of the navy, giving me
-permission to go on board a United States submarine. Without such
-authorization no civilian may set foot on the narrow decks of our
-undersea destroyers, though he may visit a battleship with no more
-formality than walking into a public park.
-
-“We’re too small and full of machinery to hold a crowd,” explained the
-lieutenant, “and the crowd wouldn’t enjoy it if they came. No nice
-white decks for the girls to dance on or fourteen-inch guns for them
-to sit on while they have their pictures taken. Besides, everything’s
-oily--you’d better put on a suit of overalls instead of those white
-flannels.”
-
-There were plenty of spare overalls on the _Ozark_, for she was the
-mother-ship of a family of six young submarines. Built as a coast
-defense monitor shortly after the Spanish War, she had long since been
-retired from the fighting-line, and was now the floating headquarters,
-dormitory, hospital, machine-shop, bakery, and general store for the
-six officers and the hundred and fifty men of the flotilla.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Photo by Brown Bros.
-
-U. S. Submarine _E-2_.
-
-Note wireless, navigating-bridge, and openings for flooding
-superstructure when submerging.]
-
-Moored alongside the parent-ship, the submarine _X-4_ was filling her
-fuel-tanks with oil through a pipe-line, in preparation for the day’s
-cruise and target-practice I was to be lucky enough to witness. Two
-hundred and fifty feet long, flat-decked and straight-stemmed, she
-looked, except for the lack of funnels, much more like a surface-going
-torpedo-boat than the landsman’s conventional idea of a submarine.
-
-“I thought she would be cigar-shaped,” I said as we went on board.
-
-“She is--underneath,” answered Lieutenant Scope. “What you see is only
-a light-weight superstructure or false hull built over the real one.
-See those holes in it, just above the water line? They are to flood the
-superstructure with whenever we submerge, otherwise the water pressure
-would crush in these thin steel plates like veneering. But it makes
-us much more seaworthy for surface work, gives us a certain amount of
-deckroom, and stowage-space for various useful articles, such as this.”
-
-Part of the deck rose straight up into the air, like the top of a
-freight-elevator coming up through the sidewalk. Beneath the canopy
-thus formed was a short-barreled, three-inch gun.
-
-“Fires a twelve-pound shell, like the field-pieces the landing-parties
-take ashore from the battleships,” explained the naval officer, as
-he trained the vicious-looking little cannon all around the compass.
-“Small enough to be handy, big enough to sink any merchant ship afloat,
-or smash anything that flies.”
-
-Here he pointed the muzzle straight up as if gunning for hostile
-aeroplanes.
-
-“And please observe,” he concluded, as the gun sank down into its
-lair again, “how that armored hatch-cover protects the gun-crew from
-shrapnel or falling bombs.”
-
-I followed him to the conning-tower, or, as he always spoke of it,
-the turret. The little round bandbox of the _Holland_ has developed
-into a tall, tapering structure, sharply pointed fore and aft to
-lessen resistance when running submerged. Above the turret was a small
-navigating-bridge, screened and roofed with canvas, where a red-haired
-quartermaster stood by the steering-wheel, and saluted as we came
-up the ladder. The lieutenant put the engine-room telegraph over to
-“Start,” and a mighty motor throbbed underneath our feet. Then the
-mooring was cast off, the telegraph put over to “Slow Ahead,” and the
-_X-4_ put out to sea.
-
-“How long a cruise could she make?” I asked.
-
-“Four thousand miles is her radius,” answered her commander. “Back in
-1915, ten American-designed submarines crossed from Canada to England
-under their own power.”
-
-“Yet it is only a few years since we were told that submarines could
-only be used for coast defense, unless they were carried inside their
-mother-ships and launched near the scene of battle,” I remarked. “Or
-that each battleship should carry a dinky little submarine on deck and
-lower it over the side like a steam-launch.”
-
-“People said the same thing about torpedo-boats,” agreed the
-lieutenant; “they began as launches--now look at the size of that
-destroyer smoking along over there. Ericsson thought that any ironclad
-bigger than a Civil War monitor would be an unwieldy monster. Even
-John P. Holland fought tooth and nail against increasing the length of
-his submarines. This boat of mine is five times the length of the old
-_Holland_, but she’s only a primitive ancestor of the perfect submarine
-of the future.”
-
-“She isn’t a submarine at all,” I replied presently, as the _X-4_ swept
-on down the coast at a good twenty-two knots, her foredeck buried in
-foam and the sea-breeze singing through the antennæ of her wireless.
-“She’s nothing but a big motor-boat.”
-
-“And she’s got some big motors,” replied the lieutenant. “Better step
-below and have a look at them.”
-
-I went down through the open hatchway to the interior of the boat
-and aft to the engine-room. There I found two long, many-cylindered
-oil-engines of strange design, presided over by a big blond engineer
-whose grease-spotted dungarees gave no hint as to his rating.
-
-“What kind of machines are these?” I shouted above the roar they made.
-“And why do you need two of them?”
-
-“Diesel heavy-oil engines,” he answered. “One for each propeller.”
-
-“What is the difference between one of these and the gasoline engine of
-a motor-car? I know a little about that.”
-
-“Do you know what the carburetor is?” asked the engineer.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of International Marine Engineering.
-
-A Submarine Cruiser, or Fleet Submarine (Lake Type).
-
- The parts indicated by numbers in this illustration are as follows:
- 1, main ballast tanks; 2, fuel tanks; 3, keel; 4, safety drop
- keel; 5, habitable superstructure; 6, escape and safety chambers;
- 7, disappearing anti-air craft guns; 8, rapid fire gun; 9,
- torpedo tubes; 10, torpedoes; 11, twin deck torpedo tubes; 12,
- torpedo firing tank; 13, anchor; 14, periscopes; 15, wireless;
- 16, crew’s quarters; 17, officers’ quarters; 18, war-head
- stowage; 19, torpedo hatch; 20, diving chamber; 21, electric
- storage battery; 22, galley; 23, steering gear; 24, binnacle; 25,
- searchlight; 26, conning-tower; 27, diving station; 28, control
- tank; 29, compressed air flasks; 30, forward engine room and
- engines; 31, after engine room and engines; 32, central control
- compartment; 33, torpedo room; 34, electric motor room; 35,
- switchboard; 36, ballast pump; 37, auxiliary machinery room; 38,
- hydroplane; 39, vertical rudders; 40, signal masts.
-]
-
-“That’s where the gasoline is mixed with air, before it goes into the
-cylinder.”
-
-The engineer nodded.
-
-“The mixture is sucked into the cylinder by the down-stroke of the
-piston. The up-stroke compresses it, and then the mixture is exploded
-by an electric spark from the spark-plug. The force of the explosion
-drives the piston down, and the next stroke up drives out the refuse
-gases. That’s how an ordinary, four-cycle gasoline motor works.
-
-“But the Diesel engine,” he continued, “doesn’t need any carburetor
-or spark-plug. When the piston makes its first upward or
-compression-stroke, there is nothing in the cylinder but pure air. This
-is compressed to a pressure of about 500 pounds a square inch--and when
-you squeeze anything as hard as that, you make it mighty hot--”
-
-“Like a blacksmith pounding a piece of cold iron to a red heat?” I
-suggested. The engineer nodded again.
-
-“That compressed air is so hot that the oil which has been spurted in
-through an injection-valve is exploded, and drives the piston down on
-the power-stroke. The waste gases are then blown out by compressed air.
-There are an air-compressor and a storage tank just for scavenging, or
-blowing the waste gases out of every three power-cylinders.”
-
-“What are the advantages of the Diesel over the gasoline engine?”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.
-
-Auxiliary Switchboard and Electric Cook-stove, in a U. S. Submarine.]
-
-“In the first place, it gives more power. You see, three out of every
-four strokes made by the piston of a gasoline engine--suction-stroke,
-compression-stroke, and scavenging-stroke--waste power instead of
-producing it. But the Diesel is what we call a two-cycle engine; its
-piston makes only two trips for each power-stroke. In the second
-place, it is cheaper, because instead of gasoline it uses heavy,
-low-price oil. And this makes it much safer, for the heavy oil does
-not vaporize so easily. The air in some of the old submarines that
-used gasoline motors would get so that it was like trying to breathe
-inside a carburetor, and there was always the chance of a spark from
-the electric motors exploding the whole business, and your waking up to
-find the trained nurse changing your bandages. The German navy refused
-to build a submarine as long as there was nothing better than gasoline
-to propel it on the surface. They didn’t launch their _U-1_ till
-1906, after Dr. Diesel had got his motor into practicable shape. It
-cost him twenty years of hard work, but without his motor we couldn’t
-have the modern submarine. And they’re using it more and more in ocean
-freighters. There’s a line of motor-ships running to-day between
-Scandinavia and San Francisco, through the Panama Canal.
-
-“Aft of the Diesel, here,” continued the engineer, “is our electric
-motor, for propelling her when submerged. Reverse it and have it driven
-by the Diesel engine, and the motor serves as a dynamo to generate
-electricity for charging the batteries. As long as we can get oil and
-come to the surface to use it, we can never run short of ‘juice.’[14]
-
-“Besides turning the propeller, the electricity from the batteries
-lights the boat, and turns the ventilating fans, works the
-air-compressor for the torpedo-tubes, drives all the big and little
-pumps, runs a lot of auxiliary motors that haul up the anchor, turn the
-rudders, and do other odd jobs, it heats the boat in cold weather--”
-
-“And cooks the grub all the year round, don’t forget that, Joe,” said
-another member of the crew. “Luncheon is served in the palm room.”
-
-We ate from a swinging table let down from the ceiling of the main- or
-living-compartment of the submarine, that extended forward from the
-engine-room to the tiny officers’ cabin and the torpedo room in the
-bows. Tiers of canvas bunks folded up against the walls showed where
-the crew slept when on a cruise. For lunch that day we had bread baked
-on the mother-ship, butter out of a can, fried ham, fried potatoes,
-and coffee hot from a little electric stove such as you can see
-in the kitchenette of a light-housekeeping apartment on shore. The
-lieutenant’s lunch was carried up to him on the bridge. When the meal
-was over, most of the men went on deck, and my friend the engineer put
-a large cigar in his mouth. I took out a box of matches and was about
-to strike one for his benefit when he stopped me, saying,
-
-“Don’t ever strike a light in a submarine or a dynamite factory. It’s
-unhealthy.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.
-
-Forward deck of a U. S. Submarine, in cruising trim.]
-
-I apologized profusely.
-
-“The air is so much better than I had expected that I forgot where I
-was.”
-
-“Yes,” said the engineer, chewing his unlighted cigar, “there is plenty
-of good air in a big modern boat like this, running on the surface in
-calm weather and with the main hatch and all ventilators open. But
-come with us when we’re bucking high seas or running submerged on a
-breathing-diet of canned air flavored with oil, and you’ll understand
-why so many good men have been invalided out of the flotilla with
-lung-trouble. We’re the only warships without any dogs or parrots
-or other mascots on board, for no animal could endure the air in a
-submarine.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.
-
-Same, preparing to submerge. Railing stowed away and bow-rudders
-extended.]
-
-“I thought every submarine carried a cage of white mice, because they
-began to squeak as soon as the air began to get bad and so warned the
-crew.”
-
-“That was a crude device of the early days,” replied the engineer. “We
-don’t carry white mice any more, though I believe they still use them
-in the British navy.”
-
-I went up on deck, to find that the _X-4_ had reached the
-practice-grounds and was being made ready for a dive. Her crew
-were busy dismantling and stowing away the bridge and the light
-deck-railing, hauling down the flag, and closing all ventilators and
-other openings.
-
-“How long has it taken you to get ready?” I asked Lieutenant Scope.
-
-“Twenty minutes,” he answered. “But the real diving takes only two
-minutes. We’ll go below now, sink her to condition, and run her under
-with the diving rudders.”
-
-“What are those things unfolding themselves on either side of the
-bows?” I asked. “I thought the diving rudders were carried astern.”
-
-“Modern submarines are so long that they need them both fore and aft,”
-replied the lieutenant. “As you see, the diving rudders fold flat
-against the side of the boat where they will be out of harm’s way when
-we are running on the surface or lying alongside the mother-ship.
-Better come below now, for we’re going to dive.”
-
-We descended into the turret and the hatch was closed. The Diesel
-engines had already been stopped and the electric motors were now
-turning the propellers.
-
-“Why are those big electric pumps working down there?” I asked.
-
-“Pumping water into the ballast-tanks.”
-
-“But doesn’t the water run into the tanks anyhow, as soon as you open
-the valves?” I asked the lieutenant.
-
-“Turn a tumbler upside down and force it down into a basin of water,”
-he replied, “and you trap some air in the top of the tumbler, which
-prevents the water from rising beyond a certain point. The same thing
-takes place in our tanks, and to fill them we have to force in the
-water with powerful pumps that compress the air in the tanks to a very
-small part of its original bulk. This compressed air acts as a powerful
-spring to drive the water out of the tanks again when we wish to rise.
-By blowing out the tanks, a submarine can come to the surface in twenty
-seconds or one sixth the time it takes to submerge.”
-
-“When are we going under?” I asked him. The lieutenant looked at his
-watch and answered,
-
-“We have been submerged for the last four minutes.”
-
-I experienced a feeling of the most profound disappointment. Ever since
-I had been a very small boy I had been looking forward to the time when
-I should go down in a submarine boat, and now that time had passed
-without my realizing it.
-
-“But why didn’t I feel the boat tilt when she dived?” I demanded.
-
-“Because she went down a very gentle slope, between two and three
-degrees at the steepest. The only way you could have noticed it would
-have been to watch these gages.”
-
-Large dials on the wall of the turret indicated that the _X-4_ was
-running on what was practically an even keel at a depth of sixteen feet
-and under a consequent water-pressure of 1024 pounds on every square
-foot of her hull.
-
-“How deep could she go?”
-
-“One hundred and fifty feet--if she had to. The strong inner hull of a
-modern submarine is built up of three quarter inch plates of the best
-mild steel and well braced and strengthened from within. But as a rule
-there is no need of our diving below sixty feet at the deepest, or far
-enough to clear the keel of the largest ship. You will notice how the
-depth-control man is holding her steady by manipulating the forward
-horizontal rudders, just as an aviator steadies his aeroplane.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.
-
-Depth-control Station, U. S. Submarine.
-
-Wheel governing horizontal rudders, gages showing depth, trim, etc.]
-
-“He must be a strong man to handle those two big horizontal rudders.”
-
-“He has an electric motor to do the hard work for him, as has the
-quartermaster steering the course here with the vertical rudder.”
-
-The same red-headed petty officer that I had noticed on the bridge now
-grasped the spokes of a smaller steering-wheel inside the conning-tower.
-
-“What is that queer-looking thing whirling round and round in front of
-him?” I asked.
-
-“A Sperry gyroscopic compass,” replied the lieutenant. “An ordinary
-magnetic compass could not be relied on to point in any particular
-direction if it was shut up in a steel box full of charged electric
-wires, like the turret of a submarine. We tried to remedy this by
-building conning-towers of copper, till Mr. Sperry perfected a compass
-that has no magnetic needle, but operates on the principle of the
-gyroscope. You know that a heavy, rapidly rotating wheel resists any
-tendency to being shifted relative to space?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-[Illustration: Cross-section of a Periscope.]
-
-“The earth, revolving on its axis, is nothing but a big gyroscope--that
-is why it stays put. The little gyroscope on this compass spins at
-right angles to the revolution of the earth and so keeps in a due north
-and south line. But the frame it is mounted on turns with the ship,
-so the relative positions of the frame and the gyro-axis show in what
-direction the submarine is heading.”
-
-“And you can see what’s ahead of you through the periscope. Who
-invented that?”
-
-“The idea is a very old one. Certain French and Dutch inventors
-designed submarines with periscopes as long ago as the eighteen-fifties.
-In the Civil War, the light-draft river-monitor _Osage_ had attached to
-her turret a crude periscope made by her chief engineer, Thomas Doughty,
-out of a piece of three-inch steam-pipe with holes cut at each of its
-ends at opposite sides, and pieces of looking-glass inserted as
-reflectors. By means of this instrument her captain, now Rear-Admiral,
-Thomas O. Selfridge, was able to look over the high banks of the Red
-River when the _Osage_ had run aground in a bend and was being attacked
-by three thousand dismounted Confederate cavalry, who were repulsed with
-the loss of four hundred killed or wounded by the fire of the monitor’s
-11-inch guns, directed through the periscope.[15]
-
-“But as late as 1900 the periscope was so crude and unsatisfactory an
-instrument that John P. Holland would have nothing to do with it. The
-credit for bringing it to its present efficiency belongs chiefly to
-the Germans, who kept many of their scientists working together on the
-solution of the difficult problems of optics that were involved.
-
-“By turning this little crank,” the lieutenant continued, “I can
-revolve the reflector at the top of the tube. This reflector contains
-a prism which reflects the image of the object in view down through a
-system of lenses in the tube to another prism here at the bottom, where
-the observer sees it through an eyepiece and telescope lenses.”
-
-I looked into the eyepiece, which was so much like that of an
-old-fashioned stereoscope that I felt that it, too, ought to work back
-and forth after the manner of a slide trombone. I found myself looking
-out over the broad blue waters of a sunlit bay. I noticed a squall
-blackening the surface of the water, a catboat running before it, and
-the gleam of the brass instruments of the band playing on the after
-deck of a big white excursion steamer half a mile away.
-
-“I can almost imagine I can hear the music of that band,” I exclaimed.
-“The optical illusion is perfect.”
-
-“It has to be,” rejoined the lieutenant. “If the image were in the
-least distorted or out of perspective, we couldn’t aim straight.”
-
-“What do you do when the periscope is wet with spray?” I asked him.
-
-“Wash the glass with a jet of alcohol and dry it from the inside with
-a current of warm air passing up and down the tube. A periscope-tube
-is double: the outer one passing through a stuffing-box in the hull,
-and the inner tube revolving inside it. The old-fashioned single tubes
-were too hard to revolve and the resistance of the water used to bend
-them aft and cause leakage. We can raise and lower the periscopes at
-will, and all our larger boats have two of them, so that they can keep
-a lookout in two directions at once, besides having a spare eye in case
-the first is put out.”
-
-“What are those two little things that big naval tug is towing over
-there?” I inquired.
-
-“The target for our torpedo practice,” replied Lieutenant Scope. “We
-shall try to put four Whiteheads between those two buoys as the tug
-tows them past at an unknown range and speed. If you step forward to
-the torpedo room you can see them loading the tubes.”
-
-As I walked forward it occurred to me that the twenty-odd men on board
-the _X-4_ seemed to be moving about inside her with perfect freedom,
-without disturbing her trim. I mentioned this to one of the crew.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.
-
- Forward torpedo-compartment, U. S. Submarine, showing
- breech-mechanism of four tubes. Round opening above is the
- escape-hatch.
-]
-
-“It’s the trimming-tanks that keep her level,” he explained. “As we’re
-walking forward, our weight in water is being automatically pumped from
-the trimming-tank in the bow to the one astern. A submarine is just one
-blamed tank after another. Stand clear of that chain-fall, sir; they’re
-loading No. 1 tube.”
-
-Stripped to the waist like an old-time gun-crew, four beautifully
-muscled young gunner’s mates were hoisting, with an ingenious
-arrangement of chains and pulleys, a torpedo from the magazine. The
-breach of the tube was opened and the long Whitehead thrust in, two
-flanges on its sides being fitted into deep grooves in the sides of
-the tube, so that the torpedo would not spin like a rifle-bullet but be
-launched on an even keel. The breach was closed, and the men stood by
-expectantly.
-
-“Skipper’s up in the conning-tower, taking aim through the periscope,”
-explained the man who had told me about trimming-tanks. “The tubes
-being fixed in the bow, he has to train the whole boat like a gun.
-Likewise he’s got to figure out how far it is to the target and how
-fast the tug is towing it, how many seconds it’s going to take the
-torpedo to get there, and how much he’s got to allow for its being
-carried off its course by tide and currents. When he gets good and
-ready, the lieutenant’ll press a little electric button and you’ll
-hear--”
-
-“THUD!” went the compressed air in the tube, and the submarine
-shuddered slightly with the shock of the recoil. But that was all.
-
-“There she goes!” said my friend the tank-expert. “As soon as the
-Whitehead was expelled, a compensation-tank just above the tube was
-flooded with enough water to make good the loss in weight.”
-
-“What keeps the sea-water from rushing into the tube after the torpedo
-leaves it?” I asked.
-
-“A conical-shaped cap on the bow of the boat keeps both tubes closed
-except when you want to fire one of them. Then the cap, which is
-pivoted on its upper edge, swings to port or starboard just long enough
-for the torpedo to get clear and swings back before the water can get
-in.”
-
-Four of the ten torpedoes carried in the magazine were sped on their
-way to the unseen target. I returned to the turret as the wireless
-operator entered and handed a typewritten slip to Lieutenant Scope, who
-smiled happily and said to me,
-
-“The captain of the tug reports that all four shots were hits and all
-four torpedoes have been safely recovered.”
-
-I was too astonished to congratulate him on his marksmanship, as I
-should have done.
-
-“How in the name of miracles!” I gasped. “Can you receive a wireless
-telegram under the sea?”
-
-“By the Fessenden oscillator,” he replied, and added to the wireless
-man,
-
-“Take this gentleman below and show him how it works.”
-
-“Did you ever have another chap knock two stone together under water
-when you were taking a dive?” asked the operator. I nodded in vivid
-recollection.
-
-“Then you have some idea how sounds are magnified under water. It is an
-old idea to put submarine bells down under lighthouses and fit ships
-with some kind of receiver so that the bells can be heard and warning
-given when it is too foggy to see the light. The advantage over the
-old-style bell-buoy lies in the fact that sound travels about four
-times as fast through water as through air,[16] and goes further and
-straighter because it isn’t deflected by winds or what the aviators
-call ‘air-pockets.’ The man who knows most about these things is
-Professor Fessenden, of the Submarine Signal Company of Boston, who
-first realized the possibility of telegraphing through water.[17]
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the American Magazine.
-
-Fessenden oscillator outside the hull of a ship. The “ear” of a modern
-vessel.]
-
-“Fastened outside the hull of this boat is one of the Fessenden
-oscillators: a steel disk eighteen inches in diameter, that can be
-vibrated very rapidly by electricity. These vibrations travel through
-the water, like wireless waves through the ether, till they strike the
-oscillator on another vessel and set it to vibrating in sympathy. To
-send a message, I start and stop the oscillator with this key so as
-to form the dots and dashes of the Morse code. To receive, I sit here
-with these receivers over my ears and ‘listen in,’ just like a wireless
-operator, till I pick up our call ‘X-4,’ ‘X-4.’”
-
-“How far can you send a message under water?”
-
-“Ten miles is the furthest I’ve ever sent one. Professor Fessenden has
-sent messages more than thirty miles. The invention only dates back to
-1913 and what it will do in the future, there is no telling.”
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the American Magazine.
-
-Professor Fessenden receiving a message sent through several miles of
-sea-water by his “Oscillator.”]
-
-“Even now, couldn’t a surface vessel act as eyes for a whole flotilla
-of submarines and tell them where to go and when to strike by coaching
-them through the Fessenden oscillator?”
-
-The operator nodded.
-
-“We’re doing it to-day, in practice. But don’t forget that an enemy’s
-ship carrying a pair of oscillators can hear a submarine coming two
-miles away. You can make out the beat of a propeller at that distance
-every time.”
-
-“But how can you tell how far away and in what direction it is?”
-
-“I can’t, with a single oscillator like ours. But a ship carries two
-of them, one on each side of the hull, like the ears on a man’s head.
-And just as a man knows whether a shout he hears comes from the right
-or left, because he hears it more with one ear than the other, so the
-skipper of a surface craft can look at the indicator that registers the
-relative intensity of the vibrations received by the port and starboard
-oscillators and say,
-
-“‘There’s somebody three points off the starboard bow, mile and three
-quarters away, and heading for us. Nothing in sight, so it must be one
-of those blamed submarines.’
-
-“And away he steams, full speed ahead and cutting zigzags. Or maybe
-he gets his rapid-fire guns ready and watches for Mr. Submarine to
-rise--like the _X-4_’s doing now.”
-
-Freed of the dead weight of many tons of sea water blown from her
-ballast-tanks by compressed air, the submarine rose to the surface like
-a balloon. Ventilators and hatch-covers were thrown open and we swarmed
-up on deck to fill our grateful lungs with the good sea air. Three
-motor-boats from the tug throbbed up alongside with the four torpedoes
-we had discharged.
-
-“Those boats wait, one this side of the target, one near it and the
-third over on the far side, to mark the shots and catch the torpedoes
-after they rise to the surface at the end of their run,” said
-Lieutenant Scope. “We very seldom lose a torpedo nowadays. They tell a
-story about one that dived to the bottom and was driven by the force of
-its own engines into forty feet of soft mud, where it stayed till it
-happened to be dug up by a dredger.”
-
-The four torpedoes were hoisted aboard, drained of the sea water that
-had flooded their air-chambers, cleaned and lowered through the torpedo
-hatch forward down into the magazine. By this time the bridge and
-railing were again in place and the flags fluttering over the taffrail
-as the _X-4_, her day’s work done, sped swiftly up the coast to home
-and mother-ship.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-ACCIDENTS AND SAFETY DEVICES
-
-
-The following submarines, with all or part of their crews, have been
-accidentally lost in time of peace:
-
- _Date_ _Name_ _Nationality_ _Men Lost_
- March 18, 1904 A-1 British 11
- June 20, 1904 Delfin Russian 26
- June 8, 1905 A-8 British 14
- July 6, 1905 Farfadet French 14
- October 16, 1906 Lutin French 13
- April 26, 1909 Foca Italian 13
- June 12, 1909 Kambala Russian 20
- July 14, 1909 C-11 British 13
- April 15, 1910 No. 6. Japanese 14
- May 26, 1910 Pluviôse French 26
- January 17, 1911 U-3 German 3
- February 2, 1912 A-3 British 14
- June 8, 1912 Vendémiaire French 24
- October 4, 1912 B-2 British 15
- June 8, 1913 E-5 British 3
- December 10, 1913 C-14 British none
- January 16, 1914 A-7 British 11
- March 25, 1915 F-4 American 21
-
-The _A-1_ was engaged in manœuvers off Spithead, England, when she rose
-to the surface right under the bows of the fast-steaming Union Castle
-Liner _Berwick Castle_. Before anything could be done, the sharp prow
-of the steamer had cut a great gash in the thin hull of the submarine
-and sent her to the bottom with all her crew. This was in broad
-daylight; her sister-ship _C-11_ was rammed and sunk by another liner
-three years later, at night. The _Pluviôse_ of the French navy escaped
-the bow of an on-coming cross-channel steamer when the submarine came
-up at the entrance to Calais Harbor, only to have her topsides crushed
-in by a blow from one of the paddle-wheels. Collisions like these are
-less likely to happen nowadays, for the navigating officer of a modern
-submarine can take a look round the horizon through the periscope from
-a depth sufficient to let most steamers pass harmlessly over him, and
-in case of darkness or fog, he can detect the vibrations of approaching
-propellers by means of the Fessenden oscillator or some similar device.
-Yet the frequency with which submarines have been intentionally rammed
-and sunk in the present war shows that they would still be liable to
-rise blindly to their destruction in time of peace.
-
-The vapor from a leaking fuel-tank, making an explosive mixture with
-the air inside the submarine and set off by a spark from the electrical
-machinery, has caused many accidents of another kind. Such an explosion
-took place on the original _Holland_, shortly after she was taken into
-the government service, but fortunately without killing any one. As the
-crew of the British _A-5_ were filling the fuel tanks of their vessel
-with gasoline, some of them were blown up through the open hatchway
-and into the sea by a burst of flaming vapor that killed six men and
-terribly injured twelve more. A rescue party that entered the boat to
-save the men still left aboard had several of its own members disabled
-by a second explosion. The vessel itself, however, was almost unharmed.
-But not long afterwards, another submarine of the same ill-fated
-class, the _A-8_, was lying off Plymouth breakwater with her hatches
-open, when the people on shore heard three distinct explosions on board
-her and saw her suddenly submerge. Her crew evidently got the hatches
-closed before she went down, as they sent up signals that they were
-alive but unable to rise. Two hours later a fourth explosion took place
-and all hope was abandoned.
-
-This danger has been guarded against by better construction of tanks
-and valves, and very greatly lessened by the substitution of the
-heavy oil used in the Diesel engines for the more costly and volatile
-gasoline.
-
-Besides igniting explosive oil vapors with their sparks, the
-old-fashioned sulphuric acid and lead storage batteries still used in
-many submarines are a great source of danger in themselves. The jars
-are too easily broken, and the leaking acid eats into the steel plating
-of the boat, weakening it if not actually letting in the sea water.
-And if salt water comes in contact with a battery of this type, then
-chlorin gas--the same poisonous gas that the Germans use against the
-Allies’ trenches--is generated and the crew are in very great danger
-of suffocation. The new Edison alkali storage battery, besides being
-lighter and more durable, uses no acid and cannot give off chlorin when
-saturated with sea water.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Redrawn from the London Sphere.
-
-Side-elevation of a Modern Submarine,
-
-A, Running on the surface; B, In awash condition; C, Submerging; D,
-Exposing periscope; E, Fully submerged; F, Resting on the bottom.]
-
-The remaining great danger is that a submarine may get out of control
-and submerge too quickly, so that it either strikes the bottom, at
-the risk of being crushed in or entangled, or descends to so great
-a depth that its sides are forced in by the pressure of the water
-outside, which also prevents the submarine from discharging the water
-in its ballast tanks and escaping to the surface. Detachable safety
-weights and keels to lighten the boat in such an emergency date back
-to the time of Bushnell and J. Day. A more modern device is to have a
-hydrostatic valve (see page 51) set to correspond with the pressure of
-a certain depth of water, so that if the submarine goes below this the
-valve will be forced in and automatically “blow the tanks.”
-
-A submarine that sank too deep was the _No. 6_, of the Imperial
-Japanese navy, which disappeared while manœuvering in Hiroshima Bay, on
-April 15, 1910. When she was found, her entire crew lay dead at their
-stations, and in the conning-tower, beside the body of the commander,
-was the following letter written by that officer, Lieutenant Takuma
-Faotomu:
-
-“Although there is indeed no excuse to make for the sinking of his
-Imperial Majesty’s boat, and for the doing away of subordinates through
-my heedlessness, all on board the boat have discharged their duties
-well and in everything acted calmly until death. Although we are dying
-in the pursuance of our duty to the State, the only regret we have is
-due to anxiety lest the men of the world misunderstand the matter,
-and that thereby a blow may be given to the future development of the
-submarine.
-
-“Gentlemen, we hope you will be increasingly diligent and not fail
-to appreciate the cause of the accident, and that you will devote
-your entire energy to investigate everything and so secure the future
-development of submarines. If this be done we have nothing to regret.
-
-“While going through gasoline submerged exercises we submerged too far,
-and when we attempted to shut the sluice-valve, the chain broke.
-
-“Then we tried to close the sluice-valve by hand, but it was too late,
-for the afterpart was full of water, and the boat sank at an angle
-of about twenty-five degrees. The boat came to rest at an incline of
-about twelve degrees, pointing towards the stern. The switchboard being
-under water the electric lights went out. Offensive gas developed and
-breathing became difficult. The boat sank about 10 A.M. on the 15th,
-and though suffering at the time from this offensive gas, we endeavored
-to expel the water by hand pumps. As the vessel went down we expelled
-the water from the main tank. As the light has gone out the gage cannot
-be seen, but we know the water has been expelled from the main tank.
-
-“We cannot use the electric current at all. The battery is leaking but
-no salt water has reached it and chlorin gas has not developed. We only
-rely on the hand pump now.
-
-“The above was written under the light of the conning-tower, at about
-11.45 o’clock. We are now soaked by the water that has made its way
-in. Our clothes are wet and we feel cold. I had been accustomed to
-warn my shipmates that their behavior (in an emergency) should be calm
-and deliberate, as well as brave, yet not too deliberate, lest work be
-retarded. People may be tempted to ridicule this after this failure,
-but I am perfectly confident that my words have not been mistaken.
-
-“The depth gage of the conning-tower indicates 52 feet, and despite our
-efforts to expel the water the pump stopped and would not work after 12
-o’clock. The depth in this neighborhood being ten fathoms, the reading
-may be correct.
-
-“The officers and men of submarines should be chosen from the bravest
-of the brave or there will be annoyances in cases like this. Happily
-all the members of this crew have discharged their duties well and I am
-satisfied. I have always expected death whenever I left my home, and
-therefore my will is already in the drawer at Karasaki. (This remark
-applies only to my private affairs and is really superfluous. Messrs.
-Taguchi and Asami will please inform my father of this.)
-
-“I respectfully request that none of the families left by my
-subordinates suffer. The only thing I am anxious about is this.
-
-“Atmospheric pressure is increasing and I feel as if my tympanum were
-breaking.
-
-“12.30 o’clock. Respiration is extraordinarily difficult. I mean I am
-breathing gasoline. I am intoxicated with gasoline.
-
-“It is 12.40 o’clock.”
-
-Those were the last words written by Lieutenant Takuma Faotomu, bravest
-of the brave.
-
-Very many ingenious devices have been invented to enable the crew of
-a stranded submarine to escape. The best-known and most widely used
-is some form of the air-lock or diver’s chamber, as described in the
-chapter on the Lake boats. Through this the crew can pass in succession
-to the water outside and swim to the surface. If the depth is so great
-that an unprotected swimmer would be crushed by the weight of water
-above him, there is a great variety of safety-helmets, and of jackets
-with mouth-pieces leading to tanks containing enough air under moderate
-pressure to inflate the lungs and cheeks so that the internal pressure
-of the body will counteract that of the water. An escaping seaman,
-burdened with such a device, cannot rise unaided to the surface but
-must climb or be hauled up by a rope let down from above. Moreover,
-he must not ascend too rapidly, or the pressure within his body will
-dangerously exceed that without, as if he had been suddenly picked up
-at the seashore and carried to the top of the Andes. The human body is
-too delicate and elaborate a structure to be carelessly turned into
-a compressed-air tank. The surplus oxygen forms bubbles which try to
-force their way out through the tissues of the body, causing intense
-pain, and possibly paralysis or death. To avoid this, divers are
-brought up from any great depth by slow and careful stages, unless they
-can be placed at once in specially-constructed tanks on shore, where
-the pressure they are under can be gradually reduced to normal.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Scientific American.
-
-One Type of Safety-jacket.]
-
-A covered lifeboat carried in a socket on the submarine’s deck, so that
-in case of accidental stranding the crew could get into the small boat
-from below, close the hatch cover, release the lifeboat from within,
-and rise safely and comfortably to the surface, was an attractive
-feature of the _Plongeur_ in 1863, and of many projected but unbuilt
-submarines since then. A detachable conning-tower, containing a small
-lifeboat that could be launched after the safety compartment had risen
-to the surface, has also been designed and patented more than once.
-Theoretically, these devices seem admirable but naval architects will
-have none of them. The reason for this is very simple. A submarine is
-primarily a warship, an instrument of destruction, and its carrying
-capacity is too limited to permit several hundredweight of torpedoes or
-supplies being crowded out by a lifeboat or a score of safety-helmets.
-A divers’ compartment and one or two ordinary diving-suits--for these
-things are of military value--and a buoy that can be sent up to mark
-the spot where the boat has gone down are as much as you can expect to
-find in the average naval submarine.
-
-One of the most instructive accidents that ever happened to an undersea
-boat was the loss and rescue of the German _U-3_. She sank to the
-bottom of Kiel Harbor on January 17, 1911. A small spherical buoy
-was released and rose to the surface, where it was picked up and a
-telephone attached to the end of the thin wire cable.
-
-“Hello!”
-
-“Hello! This is the captain of the _U-3_ speaking. We cannot rise, but
-we are resting easy and have air enough to last forty-eight hours.”
-
-“Good. The steam salvage-dock _Vulcan_ has been sent for and will be
-here before then, Herr Kapitan.”
-
-But before the _Vulcan_ arrived, it occurred to some one in authority
-to attempt to raise the _U-3_ with a large floating crane then
-available. The strong steel chain ready coiled at the lower end of the
-buoy-line was drawn up and made fast to the crane, which could not
-lift the 300-ton submarine bodily, but succeeded in hauling up its bow
-sufficiently for the twenty-seven petty officers and seamen on board
-the _U-3_ to be shot up through the torpedo tube to the surface. The
-captain and his two lieutenants chose to remain. Shortly afterwards
-the chain slipped and broke off one of the boat’s ventilators, letting
-water into the hull and drowning all three officers.
-
-Then the sea-going, steam salvage-dock _Vulcan_ reached the scene and
-brought the _U-3_ to the surface in three hours.
-
-“The _Vulcan_ is a double-hulled vessel, 230 feet in length with a
-lifting capacity of 500 tons. The width between the two hulls is
-sufficient to admit with good clearance the largest submarines. At
-a suitable height a shelf is formed along each wall of the interior
-opening, and upon this rests the removable floor of the dock. The two
-hulls of the ship are each built with water-tight compartments of large
-capacity, similar to those which are found in the side walls of the
-ordinary floating dock. When a sunken submarine is to be raised, the
-_Vulcan_ steams to the wreck and is moored securely in position above
-it. Spanning the well between the two hulls are two massive gantry
-cranes, each provided with heavy lifting tackle driven by electric
-motors. The first operation is to fill the compartments until the
-vessel has sunk to the required depth. The floor of the dock is then
-moved clear of the well. The lifting tackles are now lowered and made
-fast, either to chains which have been slung around the body of the
-submarine, or to two massive eyebolts which are permanently riveted
-into the submarine’s hull. At the order to hoist away, the submarine
-is lifted free from the mud and drawn up within the well, until its
-bottom is clear of the supporting shelves on the inner faces of the two
-hulls, above referred to. The dock floor is then placed in position on
-the shelves, the water is pumped out of the two hulls, and the _Vulcan_
-rises, lifting the submarine and the dock floor clear of the water.”[18]
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Courtesy of the Scientific American.
-
-The _Vulcan_ salvaging the _U-3_.]
-
-A similar vessel was built by the French government as a result of
-public indignation over the delay in raising the sunken _Pluviôse_.
-Great Britain has a salvage dock with a lifting capacity of 1000
-tons. But the most remarkable craft of this kind belongs to Italy and
-was designed by the famous engineer Major Cesare Laurenti, technical
-director of the Fiat-San Giorgio works, builders of some of the world’s
-best submarines. She is a twin-hulled vessel, fitted not only to pick
-a sunken submarine from the sea bottom, but to care for it in every
-way, for she is also a floating dry-dock, capable of repairing two of
-the largest submarines, besides being a fully equipped mother-ship for
-a flotilla of six. With the ends of her central tunnel closed by a
-false stem and stern, and propelled by twin screws driven by powerful
-Diesel engines, she is a fast and seaworthy vessel, capable of keeping
-company with her flotilla on a surface cruise. She carries a sufficient
-armament of quick-firing guns to beat off a hostile destroyer. But the
-most noteworthy feature of the Laurenti dock is a long steel cylinder,
-capable of enduring great pressure from within, that is used to test
-the resisting strength of new submarines. A new boat, or a section of a
-proposed new type, is placed in this tube, which is filled with water
-that is then compressed by pumps, reproducing the effect of submergence
-to any desired depth.
-
-The United States navy tests each new submarine built for it by
-actually lowering the boat, with no one in it, to a depth of 200 feet.
-We have no Laurenti dock, no _Vulcan_, no sea-going salvage dock of any
-kind. The tender _Fulton_ has a powerful crane, but she cannot be on
-the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Far East, simultaneously.
-
-“The difficulties encountered in raising the sunken British submarine
-_A-3_,” wrote Mr. R. G. Skerrett in the “Scientific American” some
-years ago, “have in them a note of warning for us. We are steadily
-adding to our flotilla of under-water boats, and yet we have no proper
-facilities in the government service for the prompt salvage of any of
-these boats should they be carried suddenly to the bottom. We have been
-fortunate so far in escaping serious accidents, but that is no reason
-for assuming that we are any more likely to be immune from disaster
-than any other naval service. We should profit by the catastrophes
-which have befallen England, Russia, France, Germany, and Japan, and no
-longer continue unprepared for kindred mishaps.”[19]
-
-We refused to profit and we continued unprepared. Then came a brief
-official cablegram from Hawaii, “Honolulu, March 25, 1915. U. S.
-submarine _F-4_ left tender at 9 A.M. for submerged run. Failed to
-return to surface.”
-
-The other two submarines on the station and motor-boats from the
-tender _Alert_ cruised about till they found the spot where oil and
-air-bubbles were coming to the surface. Two tugs then swept the bottom
-with a two-thousand foot sweep of chains and wire cables, which caught
-early the next morning on what proved to be the lost submarine, in
-three hundred feet of water, about a mile and a half outside the
-entrance to Honolulu Harbor.
-
-For twenty-four hours or so the navy department held out the hope
-that the men on board her were still alive and might be rescued. But
-there was nothing ready to rescue them with. Three weeks were spent
-in building the windlasses for an improvised salvage-dock made out of
-two mud scows. In the meanwhile, a detachment of the department’s most
-skilled divers were sent out from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. With their
-aid, strong wire cables were passed under the submarine’s hull. While
-engaged on this work, one of the divers, Chief Gunner’s Mate Frank
-Crilley, broke all deep submergence records by descending to a depth
-of 288 feet. As a result, his lungs were severely injured and he soon
-afterwards developed pneumonia.
-
-The wire ropes chafed through and were replaced by chains. Then the
-_F-4_ was lifted from the bottom and towed inshore to a depth of fifty
-feet. Here a heavy storm set in and the lines had to be cast off. Six
-big cylindrical-shaped pontoons were then built at San Francisco and
-brought out to Honolulu on the cruiser _Maryland_. Divers passed fresh
-chains under the _F-4_, the pontoons were sunk on either side of her,
-and coupled together. Then the water was blown out of the pontoons
-by compressed-air piped down from above, the _F-4_ was raised to the
-surface, and towed into dry dock.
-
-No decipherable written record was discovered inside her hull, which
-was filled with sand washed in through a large hole made in the plating
-by the chafing of the chains. But the story of the disaster was written
-in the plates and rivets of the vessel herself, and skilfully deduced
-and reconstructed by a board of inquiry, headed by Rear-Admiral
-Boush. Their report, which was not made public till October 27, told
-dramatically how the corroded condition of the lead lining in the
-battery tanks had let the acid eat away the rivets in the port wall
-of the forward tank. Salt water thus entered part of the battery,
-producing chlorin gas, which exploded violently, admitting more water,
-till the submarine began to sink by the head, in spite of the raising
-of her diving-rudders.
-
-“Automatic blow was tripped, and blow valve on auxiliary tank opened
-in the endeavor to check downward momentum. Manœuvering with propellers
-probably took place. The appreciable length of time requisite for air
-to build up in ballast tanks for the expulsion of sufficient quantities
-of water resulted in the vessel reaching crushing depth.
-
-“Seams of the vessel began to open, and probably through open torpedo
-tubes and seams water entered the vessel and a condition of positive
-buoyancy was never attained.
-
-“There followed actual disaster. The vessel began filling with water.
-The personnel abandoned stations and many sought refuge in the engine
-room, closing the door. Under great pressure the engine room bulkhead
-failed suddenly, leaving the vessel on the bottom, completely flooded.”
-
-All the boats of the “F” class had already been withdrawn from the
-service, by order of Secretary Daniels. Their place at Honolulu was
-taken by four boats of the “K” class, which made the 2100 mile voyage
-out from San Francisco under their own power.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-MINES
-
-THE MINE SWEEPERS
-
- “‘Ware mine!”
- “Starboard your helm.”... “Full speed ahead!”
- The squat craft duly swings--
- A hand’s breadth off, a thing of dread
- The sullen breaker flings.
-
- Carefully, slowly, patiently,
- The men of Grimsby Town
- Grope their way on the rolling sea--
- The storm-swept, treacherous, gray North Sea--
- Keeping the death-rate down.
-
- --H. INGAMELLS, in the “London Spectator.”
-
-
-A mine is a torpedo that has no motive-power of its own but is either
-anchored or set adrift in the supposed path of an enemy’s ship. We have
-already seen how Bushnell used drifting mines at Philadelphia in 1777.
-Anchored mines are among the many inventions of Robert Fulton. The
-following description of the original type, illustrated by an engraving
-made by himself, is taken from Fulton’s “Torpedo War and Submarine
-Explosions.”
-
-[Illustration: Fulton’s Anchored Torpedoes.]
-
-“Plate II represents the anchored torpedo, so arranged as to blow
-up a vessel which should run against it; _B_ is a copper case two
-feet long, twelve inches diameter, capable of containing one hundred
-pounds of powder. _A_ is a brass box, in which there is a lock similar
-to a common gun lock, with a barrel two inches long, to contain a
-musket charge of powder: the box, with the lock cocked and barrel
-charged, is screwed to the copper case _B_. _H_ is a lever which has a
-communication to the lock inside of the box, and in its present state
-holds the lock cocked and ready to fire. _C_ is a deal box filled with
-cork, and tied to the case _B_. The object of the cork is to render
-the torpedo about fifteen or twenty pounds specifically lighter than
-water, and give it a tendency to rise to the surface. It is held down
-to any given depth under water by a weight of fifty or sixty pounds
-as at _F_: there is also a small anchor _G_, to prevent a strong tide
-moving it from its position. With torpedoes prepared, and knowing
-the depth of water in all our bays and harbors, it is only necessary
-to fix the weight _F_ at such a distance from the torpedo, as when
-thrown into the water, _F_ will hold it ten, twelve, or fifteen feet
-below the surface at low water, it will then be more or less below the
-surface at high water, or at different times of the tide; but it should
-never be so deep as the usual draft of a frigate or ship-of-the-line.
-When anchored, it will, during the flood tide, stand in its present
-position; at slack water it will stand perpendicular to the weight _F_,
-as at _D_; during the ebb it will be at _E_. At ten feet under water
-the waves, in boisterous weather, would have little or no tendency to
-disturb the torpedo; for that if the hollow of a wave should sink ten
-feet below what would be the calm surface, the wave would run twenty
-feet high, which I believe is never the case in any of our bays and
-harbors. All the experience which I have on this kind of torpedo is,
-that in the month of October, 1805, I had one of them anchored nine
-feet under water, in the British Channel near Dover; the weather was
-severe, the waves ran high, it kept its position for twenty-four hours,
-and, when taken up, the powder was dry and the lock in good order. The
-torpedo thus anchored, it is obvious, that if a ship in sailing should
-strike the lever _H_, the explosion would be instantaneous, and she
-be immediately destroyed; hence, to defend our bays or harbors, let
-a hundred, or more if necessary, of these engines be anchored in the
-channel, as for example, the Narrows, to defend New York.
-
-“The figure to the right of the plate is an end view of the torpedo.
-_H-H_ shews its lever forked, to give the better chance of being struck.
-
-“Having described this instrument in a way which I hope will be
-understood,” continues Fulton, “I may be permitted to put the following
-question to my reader, which is: Knowing that the explosion of one
-hundred pounds of powder, or more if required, under the bottom of a
-ship-of-the-line, would destroy her, and seeing, that if a ship in
-sailing should strike the lever of an anchored torpedo, she would be
-blown up, would he have the courage, or shall I say the temerity,
-to sail into a channel where one or more hundred of such engines
-were anchored? I rely on each gentleman’s sense of prudence and
-self-preservation, to answer this question to my satisfaction. Should
-the apprehension of danger become as strong on the minds of those who
-investigate this subject as it is on mine, we may reasonably conclude
-that the same regard to self-preservation will make an enemy cautious
-in approaching waters where such engines are placed; for however brave
-sailors may be, there is no danger so distressing to the mind of a
-seaman, or so calculated to destroy his confidence, as that which is
-invisible and instantaneous destruction.”
-
-But Admiral Farragut at Mobile Bay, half a century later, did have the
-“temerity to sail into a channel where one or more hundred of such
-engines were anchored.” The monitor _Tecumseh_ struck and exploded a
-mine that sent her to the bottom with almost her entire crew. The
-rest of the fleet began to waver when, from the main-rigging of the
-_Hartford_ Farragut shouted his immortal command:
-
-“Full steam ahead! Damn the torpedoes!”
-
-[Illustration: Sinking of the U. S. S. _Tecumseh_, by a Confederate
-mine, in Mobile Bay.]
-
-As the flagship led the way through the mine-field, those on board
-heard mine after mine bump against her bottom, but though the levers
-were struck and the primers snapped, the powder-charges failed to
-explode. Hastily improvised out of beer-kegs and other receptacles,
-with tin or iron covers that became rusty and useless soon after they
-were placed under water, many of the Confederate mines were in this
-respect inferior to the well-built copper torpedoes of Fulton. Yet
-crude as they were, they destroyed more than forty Northern warships,
-transports, and supply vessels.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From Scharf’s History of the Confederate States Navy.
-
-A Confederate “Keg-Torpedo.”]
-
-Percussion-caps instead of flintlocks were now used to explode contact
-mines. A new type of anchored torpedo, set off by an electric spark
-through a wire running to an operator on shore, was also a favorite
-with the Confederates. Because they are exploded not by contact with
-the ship’s hull but by the closing of the circuit by the operator
-when he observes an enemy’s vessel to be above one of them, these are
-called “observation mines.” In the Civil War, many effective mines
-of this sort were made out of whisky demijohns. One of these blew up
-the gunboat _Cairo_, in the Yazoo River, in the autumn of 1862. The
-double-ended, river gunboat _Commodore Jones_ was blown to pieces by an
-observation mine, whose operator was subsequently captured and tied to
-the cut-water of another Federal gunboat as a warning and a hostage.
-During the bombardment of Fort Sumter by the United States fleet in
-1863, the _New Ironsides_ lay for an hour directly above an observation
-mine made of boiler iron and containing a ton of gunpowder but which
-failed to explode despite all the efforts of the operator. He was
-naturally accused of treachery and it would have gone hard with him had
-it not been discovered, soon after the _New Ironsides_ ceased firing
-and stood out to sea, that the shore end of the wire had been severed
-by the wheel of an ammunition wagon.
-
-[Illustration: U. S. IRON-CLAD “CAIRO” (BLOWN UP BY CONFEDERATE
-TORPEDO).
-
- From Scharf’s History of the Confederate States Navy.
-
-First Warship Destroyed by a Mine.]
-
-During the Franco-Prussian War, the powerful French fleet blockaded the
-German coast but did not attack the shore batteries, which were well
-protected by mines. After peace was declared the foreign consuls at one
-of the North German seaports congratulated the burgomaster on having
-planted and taken up so many mines without a single accident. Unknown
-to any one, the prudent burgomaster had unloaded them first, and they
-kept the French away just as well.
-
-In the Spanish-American War, Admiral Dewey was able to enter Manila
-Bay and destroy the Spanish squadron there because its commander “had
-repeatedly asked for torpedoes (mines) from Madrid, but had received
-none and his attempts to make them had been failures.”[20] It was the
-mine-fields and not the feeble shore batteries that kept Sampson’s
-fleet out of Havana and Santiago. At Guantanamo, now a United States
-naval station, the _Texas_ and the _Marblehead_ each “struck her
-propeller against a contact mine, which failed to explode only because
-it was incrusted with a thick growth of barnacles. Gratitude for the
-vessels’ escape may fairly be divided between divine care to which the
-gallant and devout Captain Philip attributed it in his report, and the
-Spaniards’ neglect to maintain a proper inspection of these defenses.
-A number of these torpedoes, which were of French manufacture, and
-contained forty-six and a half kilograms (one hundred and two pounds)
-of guncotton, were afterward dragged up in the channel.”[21]
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From Scharf’s History of the Confederate States Navy.
-
-A Confederate “Buoyant Torpedo” or Contact-mine.]
-
-At the siege of Port Arthur in 1904, the Japanese fleet planted mines
-outside the harbor to keep the Russians in, and the Russians came out
-and planted mines of their own to entrap the blockaders. While engaged
-in this work, the Russian mine-layer _Yenisei_ had a mine which
-had just been lowered through her specially constructed sternports
-thrown by a wave against her rudder, and was blown to atoms by the
-consequent explosion of three hundred more in her hold. The flagship
-_Petropavlosk_, returning from a sortie on April 13, struck a Japanese
-contact-mine and went down with the loss of six hundred men, including
-Vereshchagin, the famous painter of war-scenes, and Admiral Makaroff,
-who was not only the commander but the heart and soul of the Russian
-fleet.[22] A month later, another mine cost the Japanese their finest
-battleship, the _Hatsuse_. Nor was the loss confined either to the
-belligerents or to the duration of the war. Nearly one hundred Chinese
-and other neutral merchant vessels were sunk by some of the many mines
-torn loose from their anchors by storms to drift, the least noticeable
-and most terrible of derelicts, over all the seas of the Far East, long
-after peace was declared.
-
-The same thing on a larger scale will doubtless take place as a result
-of the present European War. From the Baltic to the Dardanelles, both
-sides have sown the waters thick with contact mines, hundreds of which
-have already broken loose and been cast up on the shores of Denmark,
-Holland, and other neutral lands. How many more have been picked up
-on the coasts of the different belligerent countries, the military
-censors have naturally kept a close secret; how many of these infernal
-machines are now drifting about the North Sea, the North Atlantic, and
-the Mediterranean it is impossible to compute. Scarcely a week passes
-without the publication of such news items as the following extracts
-from “Current events in Norway,” in the “American-Scandinavian Review”
-for July-August, 1915:
-
-“One hundred and fifty mines had been brought into Bergen up to April
-12. The steamer _Caprivi_ of Bergen, which sank after being struck
-by a mine off the coast of Ireland, was on its way from Baltimore
-with a cargo of 4150 tons of grain, the property of the Norwegian
-government.... The German government has declared its willingness to
-comply with the demand of the Norwegian government for compensation for
-the _Belridge_, provided it be proved that the sinking of the steamer
-was the result of a German torpedo. The pieces of the shell found in
-the side of the vessel are to be sent to the German government, and
-in case there should be any disagreement about the facts they will be
-submitted to arbitration.”
-
-Unfortunately in most cases where a neutral ship is so sunk, the
-exploding mine automatically destroys all evidence of its own origin,
-and each belligerent promptly and positively declares that it must have
-been planted, if not deliberately set adrift, by the other side. The
-neutral is left to get what satisfaction he can out of the ruling of
-the last Hague Conference that all contact mines must be so constructed
-as to become harmless after breaking loose from their moorings. There
-is nothing mechanically difficult about installing such a safety
-device, and all the great powers now at war with each other solemnly
-pledged themselves to do so. But the temptation of perhaps destroying a
-hostile battleship as the _Hatsuse_ was destroyed, by a drifting mine,
-has apparently been too great.
-
-Premature explosion of the mine during handling and planting, such
-as caused the destruction of the _Yenisei_ is, of course, carefully
-guarded against. One of the simplest and most effective safety devices
-is that used in the British navy, where the external parts of the
-exploding apparatus are sealed with a thick layer of sugar, which is
-dissolved by the sea-water after being submerged for a few minutes.
-By then the mine-laying vessel has had time to get safely out of the
-neighborhood.
-
-Modern mines are of various shapes and sizes but are as a rule either
-spherical or shaped like a pear with the stem down. The anchor is a
-hollow, flat-bottomed cylinder, containing its own anchor cable wound
-on a windlass, and making a convenient base or stand for the explosive
-chamber or mine proper, so that the whole apparatus can be stood or
-trundled about the deck of a mine-layer like a barrel. Once placed in
-the water either by being dropped through the overhanging stern-ports
-of a large sea-going mine-planter like the U.S.S. _San Francisco_, or
-lowered over the side of a smaller craft by a derrick boom, the weight
-of its anchor causes the mine to assume an upright position. This
-releases a small weight or plummet at the end of a short line attached
-to a spring that keeps the windlass inside the anchor from revolving.
-When the plummet has sunk to the end of its cord, its weight pulls
-down the spring, and the windlass begins to revolve and unreel the
-cable, the end of which is, of course, made fast to the bottom of the
-mine. This causes the anchor, which has been held up by the buoyancy
-of the mine, to sink, and follows the plummet till the latter touches
-the bottom. Freed of the plummet’s weight, the spring now flies up and
-stops the windlass. But the hollow anchor is now filled with water,
-whose additional weight drags the mine under. When the anchor rests on
-the bottom, the mine will be at the same distance beneath the surface
-of the water as the anchor had to sink after the windlass stopped, or
-the length of the plummet’s line. By regulating that, a mine can be
-made automatically to set itself at any desired depth.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- (Redrawn from the London Sphere.)
-
-Modern Contact-Mine.
-
- A, Mine-Planter; B, Mine being dropped overboard; C, Plummet-line
- extended; D, Anchor sinking; E, Plummet touching bottom; F, Mine
- submerged and anchored; G, Battleship striking mine; 1, The
- “Striker”; 2, Charge of Explosives; 3, Air-space, for Buoyancy;
- 4, Mine-case; 5, Anchor; 6, Plummet.
-]
-
-Mines are almost never laid singly but in groups, the area of water so
-planted being called a “mine field.” A secret, zigzag channel is often
-left clear for the benefit of friendly craft. The rows of mines are
-usually “staggered” or placed like the men on a checker-board, so that
-if a hostile vessel passes through an opening in the first row she will
-strike a mine in the second. Another device is to couple together the
-mooring cables of two or more mines so that a ship passing between them
-will draw them in against her sides.
-
-Contact may cause explosion in any one of several different ways. The
-head or sides of the mine may be studded with projecting rods like the
-striker on the nose of a Whitehead, to be either driven directly in
-against a detonating charge of fulminate or else open the jaws of a
-clutch and release the spring of a firing-pin. Such external movable
-parts, however, are too prone to become overgrown and clogged with
-barnacles and the like. A more modern way is to have the shock of the
-collision with the ship’s hull dislodge a heavy ball held in a cup
-inside the mine. The fall of this weight sets in motion machinery which
-fires the detonating charge. Or the device may not be mechanical but
-electrical, as in the type of mine that, when drawn far enough over
-to one side by a vessel passing over it, spills a cupful of mercury.
-This stream of liquid metal closes an electric circuit, so that an
-electric current passes through a piece of platinum wire embedded in
-fulminate and heats it red-hot, with obvious results. This current may
-be obtained either from a storage-battery carried in the mine itself,
-or through a wire running down the mooring cable and over the bottom
-to the shore. Most shore-control mines are so designed that they can
-either be fired by observation, or else turned into electro-contact
-mines of the above-mentioned type by arranging the switches in the
-controlling station. It is also possible to have the contact serve
-to warn the operator on shore by ringing a bell and indicating the
-position of the intruding ship in the mine-field.
-
-Just as barbed-wire entanglements on land are blown out of the way by
-small charges of high explosives, so mined areas of the sea can be
-cleared by “counter-mining.” One or more strings of linked-together
-mines, of a small, easily-handled type, are carefully placed by
-light-draft vessels in the waters already planted by the enemy.
-When these are exploded together, the concussion is enough to
-destroy any anchored mines near at hand, either by setting off their
-exploding-devices or causing their cases to leak, so that they will be
-filled with water and sink harmlessly to the bottom. Or a channel may
-be cleared by “sweeping” it with a drag-rope towed along the bottom
-by two small steamers, exploding the mines or tearing them up by the
-roots. Very effective work of this kind has been done by the small
-steam-trawlers used by the North Sea fishermen, and if anything of the
-sort is ever necessary in American waters we may be thankful for the
-powerful sea-going tugs now towing strings of barges up and down our
-coasts.
-
-[Illustration: U. S. Mine-planter _San Francisco_.]
-
-But even a light field-piece on shore can shell and sink the sort
-of small, unarmored craft that must be used for mine-sweeping. When
-a fleet attacks a channel or harbor entrance properly defended by
-both mine-fields and batteries, each supporting the other, there
-comes a time when the naval forces must wait till troops can be
-landed to drive away the forces protecting the rear of the batteries,
-so that the mine-sweepers can advance and clear a channel for the
-superdreadnoughts. The most striking example of this is the holding of
-the Allied fleet by the Turks at the Dardanelles.
-
-There, too, effective use is being made of the latest, which is an
-adaptation of the oldest type of torpedo: the drifting mine.[23] This
-twentieth-century improvement on Bushnell’s “kegs charged with powder”
-floats upright, with a vertical-acting propeller on top and another on
-its bottom, and a hydrostatic valve set to maintain it at any desired
-depth. Should it rise or sink, the change in pressure will cause the
-valve to act on the principle already explained in connection with
-the Whitehead torpedo (see page 44). Controlled by the valve, the
-little compressed-air motor attached to the vertical propellers will
-cause them to make a few revolutions, just enough to keep the mine
-at a constant depth beneath the surface of the Dardanelles, as the
-four-mile-an-hour current carries it down against the Anglo-French
-fleet. Within a few hours of each other, during the furious bombardment
-of the forts on March 18, 1915, the French battleship _Bouvet_ was
-struck by one of these drifting mines and went down stern-foremost,
-then H.M.S. _Ocean_ was sunk by another, and the _Irresistible_ forced
-to run ashore to escape sinking, only to be pounded to pieces by the
-guns of the forts. A feature of this type of mine is that its size and
-shape enable it to be launched through a torpedo tube, either from a
-surface craft or from a submarine.
-
-Ordinary contact-mines, without anchors and attached to floats that
-held them a few feet below the surface of the water, are sometimes
-dropped overboard from a vessel closely pursued by an enemy. A small
-mine so dropped by a German light cruiser returning from an attempted
-raid on the English coast, early in the war, was struck by the pursuing
-British submarine _D-5_ and sent her to the bottom. The _D-5_ was
-running awash at the time and only two officers and two seamen were
-saved.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-THE SUBMARINE IN ACTION
-
- “Hit and hard hit! The blow went home
- The muffled knocking stroke,
- The steam that overrides the foam,
- The foam that thins to smoke,
- The smoke that cloaks the deep aboil,
- The deep that chokes her throes,
- Till, streaked with ash and sleeked with oil,
- The lukewarm whirlpools close!”
-
- --KIPLING.
-
-
-The first submarine in history to sink a hostile warship without also
-sinking herself is the _E-9_ of the British navy. Together with most
-of her consorts, she was sent, at the outbreak of the present war, to
-explore and reconnoiter off the German coast and the island fortress
-of Heligoland to find where the enemy’s ships were lying, how they
-were protected and how they might be attacked. After six weeks of
-such work, the _E-9_ entered Heligoland Bight on September 13, 1914,
-and discharged two torpedoes at the German light cruiser _Hela_. One
-exploded against her bow and the other amidships, and the cruiser went
-down almost immediately, drowning many of her crew.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Copyright, London Sphere & N. Y. Herald.
-
-English Submarine Rescuing English Sailors.]
-
-Another British submarine had already appeared in action off Heligoland
-but as a saver instead of a destroyer of human life. On the 28th
-of August a number of German torpedo-craft and light cruisers
-were decoyed out to sea by the appearance and pretended flight of
-some English destroyers. (It has been declared but not officially
-confirmed that the “bait” consisted not of destroyers but two British
-submarines, which rose to the surface where one of them pretended to
-be disabled and was slowly towed away by the other till their pursuers
-were almost within range, when the line was cast off and both boats
-dived to safety.) The Germans found themselves attacked by a larger
-British flotilla and a confused sort of battle followed. During the
-mêlée, an English cruiser lowered a whaleboat that picked up several
-survivors of a sunken German vessel. The cruiser was then driven away
-by a more powerful German ship, and the crew of the whaleboat found
-themselves left in the enemy’s waters without arms, food, or navigating
-instruments. Suddenly a periscope rose out of the water alongside,
-followed by the conning-tower and hull of the British submarine _E-4_,
-which took the Englishmen on board and left the Germans the whaleboat,
-after which both parties went home rejoicing.
-
-Shortly after this, the German submarine _U-15_ boldly attacked a
-British squadron, but revealed herself by the white wake of her
-periscope as it cut through the calm water. A beautifully aimed shot
-from the cruiser _Birmingham_ smashed the periscope. The submarine
-dived, temporarily safe but blinded, for she was an old-fashioned craft
-with only one observation instrument. Her commander now essayed a swift
-“porpoise dive” up to the surface and down again, exposing only the
-conning-tower for a very few seconds. But a broadside blazed from the
-_Birmingham_, a shell struck squarely against the conning-tower, and
-the sea poured in through the ragged death-wound in the deck of the
-_U-15_.
-
-[Illustration: Copyright, London Sphere & N. Y. Herald.
-
-Engagement between the _Birmingham_ and the _U-15_.
-
- 1. Submarine’s periscope shot away.
- 2. Submarine dives, temporarily safe but blinded.
- 3. Submarine exposes conning-tower.
- 4. Conning-tower shot away, _U-15_ sinking.
-]
-
-But these early affairs were now overshadowed as completely as the
-first Union victories in West Virginia were overshadowed by Bull Run.
-Another British squadron encountered another German submarine and this
-time the periscope was not detected. Lieutenant-Commander Otto von
-Weddigen had had ample time to take up an ideal position beside the
-path of his enemies, who passed in slow and stately procession before
-the bow torpedo-tubes of the _U-9_. The German officer pressed a button
-and saw through his periscope the white path of the “Schwartzkopf” as
-it sped straight and true to the tall side of the _Aboukir_. He saw
-the cruiser heaved into the air by the shock of the bursting war-head,
-then watched her settle and go down. Round swung her nearest consort
-to the rescue, lowering her lifeboats as she came. But scarcely had
-the survivors of the _Aboukir’s_ company set foot on the deck of the
-_Hogue_ than she, too, was torpedoed, and the half-naked men of both
-crews went tumbling down the slope of the upturned side as she rolled
-over and sank. Up steamed the _Cressy_, her gun-crews standing by their
-useless pieces, splendid in helpless bravery. Half reluctantly, von
-Weddigen sent his remaining foe to the bottom and slipped away under
-the waves, the victor of the strangest naval battle in history.
-
-Not a German had received the slightest injury; fourteen hundred
-Englishmen had been killed. It was the loss of these trained officers
-and seamen, and not that of three old cruisers that would soon have
-been sent to the scrap heap, that was felt by the British navy.
-Realizing that no fears for their own lives would keep the officers of
-a British ship from attempting to rescue the drowning crew of another,
-the Admiralty issued the following order:
-
-“It has been necessary to point out for the future guidance of his
-Majesty’s ships that the conditions that prevail when one vessel of
-a squadron is injured in a mine-field or exposed to submarine attack
-are analogous to those which occur in an action and that the rule of
-leaving disabled ships to their own resources is applicable, so far at
-any rate as large vessels are concerned. No act of humanity, whether to
-friend or foe, should lead to a neglect of the proper precautions and
-dispositions of war, and no measures can be taken to save life which
-prejudice the military situation.”
-
-Another old cruiser, the _Hermes_, that had been turned into a floating
-base for sea-planes, was torpedoed off Dunkirk by a German submarine,
-most of the crew being rescued by French torpedo boats. On New Year’s
-day, 1915, the battleship _Formidable_ was likewise sent to the
-bottom of the English Channel. She too was a rather old ship, of the
-same class as the _Bulwark_, which had been destroyed by an internal
-explosion two weeks earlier in the Medway, and the _Irresistible_,
-afterwards sunk by a mine in the Dardanelles.
-
-But there was nothing small or old about the _Audacious_. She was--or
-is--a 24,800 ton superdreadnought, launched in 1911 and carrying ten
-thirteen-and-a-half-inch guns. This stupendous war-engine was found
-rolling helpless in the Irish Sea, her after compartments flooded by
-a great hole made either by a drifting mine or, what is more likely
-considering its position, by a torpedo from a German submarine. The
-White Star liner _Olympic_, which had been summoned by wireless,
-took the disabled warship in tow for several hours, after which the
-_Audacious_ was cast off and abandoned. A photograph taken by one of
-the _Olympic’s_ passengers and afterwards widely circulated shows
-the huge ironclad down by the stern, listing heavily to one side,
-and apparently on the point of sinking. But her loss has never been
-admitted by the British Admiralty, and it has been repeatedly declared
-by reputable persons that the _Audacious_ was kept afloat till the
-_Olympic_ was out of sight, and was then towed by naval vessels into
-Belfast, where she was drydocked and repaired at Harland and Wolff’s
-shipyard to be sent back to the fighting line. Her fate is one of the
-most interesting of the many mysteries of the war and will probably not
-be made clear till peace has come. The silence of the British Admiralty
-is explained by the standing orders forbidding the revealing of the
-whereabouts of any of his Majesty’s ships, particularly when helpless
-and disabled. It should be noted in this connection that the German
-government has never admitted the loss of the battleship _Pommern_
-which the Russians insist was sunk by one of their submarines in the
-Baltic.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Copyright, Illustrated London News & N. Y. Sun.
-
-Sinking of the _Aboukir_, _Cressy_, and _Hogue_.]
-
-Because the overwhelming strength of the Allied fleet has kept
-the German and Austrian battleships safely locked up behind shore
-batteries, mine-fields and nettings, the Allies’ submarines have had
-comparatively few targets to try their skill on. The activity of
-the British submarines in the North Sea at the outbreak of the war
-has already been referred to, and a year later they found another
-opportunity in the Baltic. There the German fleet had the same
-preponderance over the Russian as the English had over the German
-battleships in the North Sea, but the British dreadnoughts could not be
-sent through the long tortuous passage of the Skagerrack and Cattegat,
-thick-sown with German mines, without cutting the British fleet in half
-and giving the Germans a splendid chance to defeat either half and then
-slip back through the Kiel Canal and destroy the other. So England
-sent some of her submarines instead. One of these joined the Russian
-squadron defending the Gulf of Riga against a German fleet and decided
-the fight by disabling the great battle-cruiser _Moltke_. Another,
-the _E-13_, ran ashore on the Danish island of Saltholm on August 19,
-1915, and was warned by the commander of a Danish torpedo-boat that she
-would be allowed twenty-four hours to get off. Before the time-limit
-had expired and while three Danish torpedo-boats were standing by, two
-German destroyers steamed up, torpedoed the _E-13_, and killed half her
-crew by gun-fire: an outrageous violation of Denmark’s neutrality.[24]
-
-Daredevil deeds have been done by the submarines of both sides in the
-Dardanelles. The little _B-11_ swam up the straits, threading her way
-through mine-field after mine-field, her captain keeping his course by
-“dead-reckoning” with map and compass and stop watch. To have exposed
-his periscope would have drawn the fire of the many shore batteries, to
-have dived a few feet too far in those shallow waters would have meant
-running aground, to have misjudged the swirling, changing currents
-might have meant annihilation. But Commander Holbrook brought his
-vessel safely through, torpedoed and sank the guard-ship _Messudieh_,
-a Turkish ironclad of the vintage of 1874, and returned to receive
-the Victoria Cross from his king and a gigantic “Iron Cross” from his
-brother officers. The _E-11_ went up even to Constantinople, torpedoed
-a Turkish transport within sight of the city and threw the whole
-waterfront into a panic. More transports and store-ships were sunk or
-driven on shore in the Sea of Marmora, a gunboat was torpedoed, and
-then the _Kheyr-el-din_, an old 10,000 ton battleship that had been the
-_Kurfürst Freiderich Wilhelm_ before the kaiser sold her to Turkey,
-was sent to the bottom of the same waters by British submarines. One
-of them the _E-15_ ran aground in the Dardanelles and was forced to
-surrender to the Turks, but before they could float her off and make
-use of her, two steam launches dashed upstream through the fire of the
-shore batteries and torpedoed the stranded submarine as Cushing blew
-up the _Albemarle_.
-
-But on the same day as the _E-11’s_ first exploit--May 25, 1915, the
-British battleship _Triumph_ went down with most of her crew off
-Gallipoli, torpedoed by a German submarine. The _U-51_ had made the
-2400 mile trip from the North Sea, using as tenders a number of small
-tank steamers flying the Spanish flag. These vessels intentionally
-drew the attention of the cordon of British destroyers drawn across
-the Straits of Gibraltar and were captured, while the submarine swam
-safely through and traversed the Mediterranean to the Dardanelles.
-Two days after her first exploit, the _U-51_ or perhaps one of her
-Austrian consorts, sank another British battleship, the _Majestic_, off
-Gallipoli. The _U-51_ has been reported sunk by Russian warships in the
-Black Sea.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Copyright, London Sphere & N. Y. Herald.
-
-Tiny target afforded by Periscopes in rough weather.]
-
-If they could sink two battleships in three days, why didn’t the German
-undersea boats sink a dozen or so more and raise the siege of the
-Dardanelles? Enver Pasha, the Turkish minister of war, declared that
-“the presence of the submarines destroyed all hopes of Russia’s ever
-effectively landing troops on the coast north of Constantinople.” Then
-why did they permit the landing of British, Australian, New Zealand,
-and French troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula and the plains of ancient
-Troy? It was not until August, 1915, that the transport _Royal Edward_
-was sunk in the Mediterranean by an Austrian submarine. Perhaps before
-this war is over some British transport may be torpedoed in the North
-Sea or the English Channel, but for more than a year and a half since
-its outbreak, troop-ships and store-ships have been crossing to
-France as if there were not a hostile “U-boat” in the world. Equally
-mysterious has been the immunity of the light-draft monitors and
-obsolescent gunboats off the Flemish coast, where their heavy guns did
-so much to check the first German drive on Calais, and have harassed
-the invaders’ right flank ever since. Many of these are mere floating
-platforms for one or two modern guns, all are slow-steaming, and they
-are not always in water too shallow for an undersea boat to swim in,
-yet none have been sunk by a submarine since the loss of the _Hermes_,
-in the autumn of 1914. Zeebrugge, the Belgian port that has been made
-the headquarters for German submarines in the North Sea, has been
-several times bombarded by the British fleet and, according to reports
-from Amsterdam, half-built submarines on the shore there have been
-destroyed by shell-fire. Why did the completed undersea boats in the
-harbor fail to come out and torpedo or drive away the attacking fleet?
-We have been shown what modern submarines can do; what prevents them
-from doing much more?
-
-Shortly after von Weddigen’s great exploit, a German submarine rose
-to the surface so near the British destroyer _Badger_ that before the
-undersea boat could submerge again she was rammed, cut open and sunk.
-One of the most picturesque and least expected features of this war has
-been the revival of old ways; soldiers are again wearing breastplates
-and metal helmets and fighting with crossbows and catapults, while
-against the modern submarine, seamen are effectively using the most
-ancient of all naval weapons: the ram. It takes two minutes for the
-average undersea boat to submerge, during which time a thirty-knot
-destroyer can come charging up from a mile away, with a good chance
-of scoring a hit with her forward 3- or 4-inch gun, even if she gets
-there too late to ram. In the case of the _U-12_, the submarine dived
-deep enough to get her hull and superstructure out of harm’s way, only
-to have the top of her conning-tower crushed in by the destroyer as it
-passed over her. When the inrush of water forced the _U-12_ to rise
-to the surface and surrender, her crew discovered that the main hatch
-could not be opened because one of the periscopes had been bent down
-across it. Some of them succeeded in climbing out of the torpedo-hatch
-and jumping overboard before the _U-12_ went down for good. As she sank
-stern-foremost, it was observed that both of her bow-tubes were empty;
-evidence that she had vainly launched two torpedoes at the British
-flotilla that were hunting her down. Though several British destroyers
-and torpedo-boats have been sent to the bottom by German submarines,
-and the English _E-9_ has sunk the German destroyer _S-126_, yet the
-nimble surface torpedo-craft have usually proved too difficult for
-the undersea boats to hit with their fixed tubes that can only fire
-straight ahead or astern.
-
-It has been pointed out that the _Aboukir_, _Cressy_ and _Hogue_, the
-_Formidable_, and the _Audacious_ were all moving slowly and unescorted
-by any destroyers when they were attacked and sunk. The same was
-true of the _Leon Gambetta_ and the _Giuseppe Garibaldi_, when they
-were sent to the bottom of the Mediterranean by Austrian submarines.
-Under modern conditions, such isolated big ships are in much the
-same perilous position as would have been a lonely battery of Union
-artillery marching through a country swarming with Confederate cavalry.
-While an escort of destroyers is no sure guarantee against submarine
-attack, their presence certainly seems to act as a powerful deterrent.
-
-Waters suspected of containing hostile submarines are swept, very much
-as they would be for mines, by pairs of destroyers or steam trawlers,
-dragging an arrangement of strong cables between them. Sometimes this
-is festooned with explosives to blow in the side of any undersea boat
-it may touch. Usually the vessels engaged in this work use a large net.
-When they feel the weight of a catch, it is said that they let go the
-ends and leave it to the submarine’s own twin propellers to entangle
-themselves thoroughly. An undersea boat so entrapped is helpless to do
-anything but either sink or else empty her tanks and try to rise and
-surrender. A submarine in trouble usually sends up notification in the
-form of large quantities of escaping oil and gas.
-
-Inventors have been busy devising new kinds of traps, snares, and
-exaggerated lobster-pots to be placed in the waters about the British
-Isles. How many German submarines have poked their noses into these
-devices probably not even the British Admiralty could tell, if it
-was so minded, but the traps are said to have been put down very
-plentifully and most of the published designs are extremely ingenious.
-
-Individual torpedo-nets for ships have rather gone out of fashion, but
-the most effective way of keeping submarines out of a harbor is to
-close its entrance with booms and nettings. The principal naval bases
-on both sides are undoubtedly so protected. It has been persistently
-reported that the immunity of British transports crossing the channel
-is due to a double line of booms, nets and mines stretching from one
-shore to the other, and enclosing a broad, safe channel outside which
-the “U-boats” roam hungrily. There would seem to be no great difficulty
-in building such a barrier, but it would be extremely difficult to keep
-intact in heavy weather and for that reason most of our naval officers
-are skeptical of its existence.
-
-Microphones which have been placed under water off the coasts of
-France, Great Britain, and Ireland have succeeded in detecting the
-presence of submarines at a distance of fifty-five miles. This device
-has been perfected by the joint labors of an American electrical
-engineer, Mr. William Dubilier, and Professor Tissot of the French
-Academy of Science. These two gentlemen, experimenting with microphones
-and a submarine placed at their disposal by the French government,
-“discovered in the course of the tests that the underwater craft were
-sources of sound waves of exceedingly high frequency, quite distinctive
-from any other subaqueous sounds. While the cause of the high-pitched
-sound is known to the inventors, it cannot be divulged since it would
-then be possible for German submarine constructors to eliminate the
-source of the tell-tale sound waves, and thus render void the purpose
-of the detector installation.”[25]
-
-These microphones, it is believed, are usually arranged in a
-semicircle. Each instrument records sound waves best when they come
-from one particular direction. The operator on shore, listening to
-a device that eliminates all other sounds coming in from under the
-sea, can tell by the way a passing submarine affects the different
-microphones in the semicircle how far off and in what direction it is
-moving, and so warns and summons the ever-watchful patrol boats.
-
-Air craft are doubtless being much used in the hunt for submarines,
-for an aviator at a height of several hundred feet can distinctly see
-a submarine swimming beneath him in clear water with a good light
-reflected from the bottom. Early in the war, the pilot and observer
-of a “Taube” that was brought down in the North Sea were rescued by
-a British submarine. In the attack on Cuxhaven a combined force of
-submarines, sea-planes, and light cruisers was resisted by the German
-shore-batteries, destroyers, “U-boats”, aeroplanes and Zeppelins. As
-the British sea-planes returned from dropping bombs on the Cuxhaven
-navy yard or taking observations above the Kiel Canal, some of them
-were shot down by the Germans but the aviators were picked up, as had
-been arranged beforehand, by English submarines. In the spring of 1915
-there was an engagement between a Zeppelin and a British submarine in
-which each side claimed the victory. On August 26 of the same year the
-secretary of the British Admiralty announced:
-
-“Squadron Commander Arthur Bigsworth, R.N., destroyed single-handed a
-German submarine this morning by bombs dropped from an aeroplane. The
-submarine was observed to be completely wrecked, and sank off Ostend.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Copyright, Illustrated London News & Flying.
-
-Photograph of a submarine, twenty feet below the surface, taken from
-the aeroplane, whose shadow is shown in the picture.]
-
-“It is not the practice of the Admiralty to publish statements
-regarding the losses of German submarines, important though they have
-been, in cases where the enemy has no other source of information as
-to the time and place at which these losses have occurred. In the case
-referred to above, however, the brilliant feat of Squadron Commander
-Bigsworth was performed in the immediate neighborhood of the coast in
-occupation of the enemy and the position of the sunken submarine has
-been located by a German destroyer.”
-
-“This is inexact,” replied the German Admiralty. “The submarine was
-attacked but not hit and returned to port undamaged. One of our
-submarines on August 16 destroyed by gunfire the benzol factory with
-the attached benzol warehouses and coke furnaces near Harrington,
-England. The statement of the English press that the submarine attacked
-the open towns of Harrington, Parton, and Whitehaven is inexact.”
-
-Equally interesting but unfortunately lacking in details are the
-reports from the Adriatic of submarines fighting submarines. There have
-been three such duels, in one an Austrian sank an Italian submarine,
-in another the Italian was victorious, while after the third both were
-found lying on the bottom, each torn open by the other’s torpedo.
-As it is a physical impossibility for the pilot of one submarine to
-see another under the water, it would seem as if at least one of the
-combatants in each of these fights must have been running on the
-surface at the time.
-
-Both Mr. Simon Lake and the late John P. Holland were absolutely
-confident that submarines could not fight submarines, that surface
-craft would be utterly unable to injure or resist them, and that
-therefore the submarine boat would make naval warfare impossible and do
-more than anything else to bring about permanent peace.
-
-All that can be said at present is that the actual situation is much
-more complex than had been expected. Submarines have sunk many surface
-warships but have suffered heavily themselves. The German government
-has admitted the loss of over a dozen “U-boats,” while the unofficial
-estimates of their enemies’ run as high as thirty-five or fifty German
-submarines destroyed or captured. Admiral Beatty’s victorious squadron,
-pursuing the German battle-cruisers after the second North Sea fight,
-turned and retreated at the wake of a single torpedo and the glimpse of
-hostile periscopes. But the submarine has not yet driven the surface
-warship from the seas and it has signally failed against transports.
-Its moral effect has been very great: British submarines have
-terrorized the citizens of Constantinople; while the victories of their
-beloved “U-boats” have cheered the German people as the victories of
-our frigates cheered us in 1812, and have been a somewhat similar shock
-to the nerves of the British navy. But that sturdy organization has
-recovered from more than one attack of nerves. And as the war goes on,
-it becomes increasingly clear that it is unfair to expect unsupported
-submarines, any more than unsupported frigates a century ago, to do the
-work of an entire navy. Like the aeroplane, the submarine was first
-derided as useless, next hailed as a complete substitute for all other
-arms, then found to be an indispensable auxiliary, whose scope and
-value are now being determined.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-THE SUBMARINE BLOCKADE
-
- “It is true that submarine boats have improved, but they are
- as useless as ever. Nevertheless, the German navy is carefully
- watching their progress, though it has no reason to make
- experiments itself.”
-
- ADMIRAL VON TIRPITZ, in 1901.
-
- “DANGER!
-
- Being the Log of Captain John Sirius
- by
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.”
-
-
-If you have not read the above-mentioned story by the author of
-Sherlock Holmes, I advise you to go to the nearest public library and
-ask for it. For those that cannot spare the time to do this, here are a
-brief outline and a few quotations.
-
-Captain John Sirius is supposed to be chief of submarines in the navy
-of Norland, a small European kingdom at war with England. With only
-eight submarines, he establishes a blockade of Great Britain and begins
-sinking all ships bringing in food. He enters a French harbor, though
-France is at peace with his country, and sinks three British ships that
-have taken refuge there.
-
-“I suppose,” says the captain, “they thought they were safe in French
-waters but what did I care about three-mile limits and international
-law! The view of my government was that England was blockaded, food
-contraband, and vessels carrying it to be destroyed. The lawyers could
-argue about it afterwards. My business was to starve the enemy any way
-I could.”
-
-Presently he overtook an American ship and sank her by gunfire as her
-skipper shouted protests over the rail.
-
-“It was all the same to me what flag she flew so long as she was
-engaged in carrying contraband of war to the British Isles.... Of
-course I knew there would be a big row afterwards and there was.”
-
-“The terror I had caused had cleared the Channel.”
-
-“There was talk of a British invasion (of Norland) but I knew this to
-be absolute nonsense, for the British had learned by this time that it
-would be sheer murder to send transports full of soldiers to sea in the
-face of submarines. When they have a Channel tunnel, they can use their
-fine expeditionary force upon the Continent but until then it might not
-exist so far as Europe is concerned.”
-
-“Heavens, what would England have done against a foe with thirty or
-forty submarines?”
-
-The British navy could do nothing to stop Captain John Sirius. One
-of his submarines was sunk by an armed liner, but with the remaining
-seven he sank the _Olympic_ and so many other vessels that no one
-dared try to bring food into Great Britain. At the end of six weeks,
-fifty thousand people there had died of starvation and the British
-government had to make peace with Norland and pay for all the damage
-the submarines had done to neutrals.
-
-As a warning to his countrymen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote this
-story in May, 1914. Before it was published,[26] England was at war
-with Germany. On February 4, 1915, the famous “War Zone Decree” was
-published in Berlin.
-
-“The waters around Great Britain, including the whole of the English
-Channel, are declared hereby to be included within the zone of war, and
-after the 18th inst, all enemy merchant vessels encountered in these
-waters will be destroyed, even if it may not be possible always to save
-their crews and passengers.
-
-“Within this war-zone neutral vessels are exposed to danger since, in
-view of the misuse of the neutral flags ordered by the government of
-Great Britain on the 31st ult., and of the hazards of naval warfare,
-neutral ships cannot always be prevented from suffering from the
-attacks intended for enemy ships.
-
-“The routes of navigation around the north of the Shetland Islands in
-the eastern part of the North Sea and in a strip thirty miles wide
-along the Dutch coast are not open to the danger-zone.”
-
-But those routes had been closed three months before by the British
-government, which declared that it had had the North Sea planted with
-anchored contact mines, but that all ships trading to neutral ports
-would, if they first called at some British port, be given safe conduct
-to Holland or Scandinavia, by way of the English Channel. This way
-would run through the proposed “war-zone.”
-
-International law says nothing about either “war-zones” or submarines.
-In all probability, special rules for undersea warfare will be drawn
-up by a conference of delegates from the leading countries of the
-world soon after the end of the present war. But till then, no such
-conference can be held, and the United States has always maintained,
-even when it has been to its disadvantage to do so, that no one nation
-can change international law to suit herself. We insist that the game
-be played according to the rules. A submarine has no more rights than
-any other warship. It may sink a merchantman if the latter tries
-to fight or escape. If the captured vessel is found to be carrying
-contraband to the enemy’s country, the warship may either take her into
-port as a prize or, if this is impracticable, sink her. But before an
-unarmed and unresisting merchant vessel can be sunk, the passengers and
-crew must be given time and opportunity to escape.
-
-President Wilson gave notice on February 10, 1915, that if, by act of
-the commander of any German warship, an American vessel or the lives of
-American citizens should be lost on the high seas, the United States
-“would be constrained to hold the Imperial government of Germany to
-a strict accountability for such acts of their naval authorities and
-to take any steps that might be necessary to safeguard American lives
-and property and to secure to American citizens the full enjoyments of
-their acknowledged rights on the high seas.”
-
-On the same day, a note to Great Britain voiced our objection to the
-“explicit sanction by a belligerent government for its merchant ships
-generally to fly the flag of a neutral power within certain portions
-of the high seas which are presumed to be frequented with hostile
-warships.”
-
-To this Sir Edward Grey replied that “the British government have no
-intention of advising their merchant shipping to use foreign flags as a
-general practice or resort to them otherwise than for escaping capture
-or destruction.”
-
-Such “sailing under false colors” to fool the enemy’s cruisers is an
-old and well-established right of merchantmen of belligerent countries.
-Its abuse, under present-day conditions, however, might have given the
-German submarine commanders a plausible excuse for sinking neutral
-vessels. To avoid this, neutral shipowners began to paint the name,
-port, and national colors on the broadside of each of their steamers,
-plain enough to be read from afar through a periscope.
-
-Then the time came for the war-zone decree to be put into effect, and
-the world watched with great interest and no little apprehension to see
-what the submarine blockaders could do.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- Copyright, London Sphere & N. Y. Herald.
-
-German Submarine Pursuing English Merchantman.
-
-(Note stern torpedo-tubes, and funnel for carrying off exhaust from
-Diesel engine.)]
-
-Seven British ships were sunk during the first six days. Then came
-a lull, followed by the announcement by the British Admiralty that
-between February 23 to March 3, 3805 transoceanic ships had arrived
-at British ports, 669 had cleared and none had been lost, while two
-German submarines had been sunk. During the eleven weeks between the
-establishing of the blockade and the sinking of the _Lusitania_,
-forty-two oversea vessels and twenty-eight fishing boats of British
-registry had been sunk by the submarines, but 16,190 liners and
-freighters had safely run the blockade. The largest number of vessels
-sunk by the “U-boats” in any one week was thirty-six, between June 23
-and 30; while nineteen British merchantmen, with a total tonnage of
-76,000, and three fishing vessels were destroyed either by submarines
-or mines during the week ending August 25. The total number sunk in
-the first six months was 485. But with more than fifteen hundred ships
-coming and going every week, the submarine blockade of the British
-Isles was obviously a failure.
-
-It was a costly failure from the military point of view. The
-expenditure of torpedoes alone must have been considerable and a modern
-Whitehead or Schwartzkopf costs from five to eight thousand dollars and
-takes several months to build. How many of the “U-boats” themselves
-have fallen prey to the British patroling craft, traps, mines, and
-drag-nets cannot be computed with any accuracy, but by the first of
-September, 1915, the number declared to be lost “on the authority of
-a high official in the British Admiralty” ran anywhere from thirty to
-fifty. Even if she has been completing a new submarine every week since
-the war began, Germany cannot afford the loss of so much material,
-and still, less, of so many trained men. Captain Persius, one of
-the foremost German writers on naval affairs, pointed this out in a
-newspaper article that brought a hurricane of angry criticism about
-his ears. How great has been the wear and tear on the nervous systems
-of the submarine crews is shown by the following extract from the
-statement of Captain Hansen of the captured _U-16_.
-
-“It is fearfully trying on the nerves. Not every man can endure it.
-While running under the sea there is deathlike stillness in the boats,
-as the electrical machinery is noiseless.... As the air becomes heated
-it gets poor and mixed with the odor of oil from the machinery. The
-atmosphere becomes fearful. An overpowering sleepiness often attacks
-new men and one requires the utmost will power to keep awake. I have
-had men who did not want to eat during the first three days out because
-they did not want to lose that amount of time from sleep. Day after day
-spent in such cramped quarters, where there is hardly room to stretch
-your legs, and remaining constantly on the alert, is a tremendous
-strain on the nerves.”
-
-But if there is discomfort below the surface there is peril of death
-above. Yet a submarine must spend as much time as possible on top of
-the water, even off the enemy’s coast, to spare the precious storage
-batteries and let the Diesel engines grind oil into electricity
-by using the electric motor as a dynamo. If she could renew her
-batteries under water or pick up a useable supply of current as she
-can pick up a drum of oil from a given spot on the sea-bottom, then
-the modern submarine would indeed be a hard fish to catch. As it is,
-great ingenuity has been shown by the German skippers in minimizing
-the dangers of surface cruising and at the same time stalking their
-prey. One big submarine masqueraded as a steamer, with dummy masts and
-funnel. Innocent-looking steam trawlers flying neutral flags acted as
-screens and lookouts, besides carrying supplies. One of these boldly
-entered a British harbor, where it was noticed that her decks were
-cumbered with very many coils of rope. The authorities investigated
-and found snugly stowed in the center of each a large can of fuel-oil.
-Another trawler, flying the Dutch flag, was stopped in the North Sea
-by a British cruiser and searched by a boarding-party. They were going
-back into their boat, after finding everything apparently as it should
-be, when one of the Englishmen noticed a mysterious pipe sticking out
-of the trawler’s side. They swarmed on board again and discovered
-that the fishing-boat had a complete double hull, the space between
-being filled with oil. The trawler’s crew were removed to the cruiser
-and a strong detachment of bluejackets left in their place. A few
-hours afterwards, there was a swirl of water alongside and a German
-submarine came up for refreshments. It was promptly captured and so was
-another that presently followed it: a good day’s catch for one small
-fishing-boat.
-
-Because of the uncertainty and danger of depending on underwater caches
-and tenders, each blockader usually returned at the end of two or three
-weeks to Heligoland, Zeebruge, Ostend, or some other base to take on
-supplies, report progress and rest the crew. This of course reduces
-the number of submarines actually on guard. How large that number may
-have been at any particular time since the blockade began is unknown to
-everybody except a few persons in Berlin. At the outbreak of the war,
-Germany had between twenty and twenty-five submarines in commission
-and a dozen or so under construction. If, as is claimed, the Germans
-have been completing a new undersea boat every week since the war
-began, that would have given them by August 1, 1915, a flotilla of
-seventy-seven, exclusive of losses. If only thirty had been lost, that
-would have left fewer than fifty submarines to blockade more than
-fifty seaports, great and small, scattered over more than twenty-five
-hundred miles of coast.
-
-Moreover, these widely scattered blockaders would have to be on duty
-by night as well as by day. But at night or in fog the periscope is
-useless; to intercept an incoming steamer, running swiftly and without
-lights, the submarine must rise and cruise on the surface. It cannot
-use a searchlight to locate the blockade-runner without consuming
-much precious voltage and at the same time attracting the nearest
-patrol-boat.
-
-The same disadvantages apply to sending wireless messages from one
-blockading submarine to another. And as the wireless apparatus of an
-undersea boat is necessarily low-powered and has a narrow radius, while
-“oscillators,” bells, and other underwater signaling devices are still
-in their infancy, it would seem as if the German “U-boats” in British
-waters must have been suffering from lack of coöperation and team-play.
-If the captain of a Union gunboat, lying off Charleston during the
-Civil War, caught a glimpse of a blockade runner, he could alarm the
-rest of the fleet with rockets and signal guns, but the commander of
-the _U-99_ off Queenstown cannot count on his consorts if he himself
-fails to sink an approaching liner.
-
-Perhaps the most notable shortcoming of the submarine blockade has
-been its failure to inspire terror. Contrary to the expectations of
-nearly every forecaster from Robert Fulton to Conan Doyle, the sinking
-of the first merchant vessels by submarines failed to frighten away
-any others. Cargo rates are high in war-time and insurance covers the
-owners’ risk, so few sailing orders were canceled. As for the captains,
-they are not noted for timidity, and professional pride is strong among
-them; most of them have families to provide for, and every one of
-them knows that behind him stands an eager young mate with a master’s
-ticket, ready to take the risk and take out the ship if the skipper
-quits. So the merchant marine accepted the submarine as one of the
-risks of the trade.
-
-When a big German submarine rose up off the Irish coast within easy
-gunshot of the homeward-bound British steamer _Anglo-Californian_ and
-signaled for her to heave to, the plucky English skipper slammed his
-engine-room telegraph over to “Full speed ahead.” Away dashed the
-steamer and after her came the submarine,[27] making good practice
-with her 8.8 centimeter gun. Twenty shrapnel shells burst over the
-_Anglo-Californian_, riddling her upper works, slaughtering thirty of
-her cargo of horses, killing seven of her crew and wounding eight more.
-Steering with his own hands, Captain Archibald Panlow held his vessel
-on her course till a shrapnel bullet killed him, when the wheel was
-taken by his son, the second mate, who brought the _Anglo-Californian_
-safely into Queenstown. It is men of this breed who have kept Admiral
-von Tirpitz from saying, in the words of the fictitious Captain John
-Sirius,
-
-“The terror I had caused had cleared the channel.”
-
-But because the “Campaign of Frightfulness” has failed and a few score
-of unsupported submarines have been unable to blockade the British
-Isles, it is stupid to pretend that there has been no progress since
-1901 and say as Admiral von Tirpitz said then,
-
-“Submarines are as useless as ever.”
-
-Like every other type of naval craft, submarines are useful but not
-omnipotent. We have seen what they can do in action and what they have
-failed to do. As scouts in the enemy’s waters they are invaluable. As
-commerce destroyers, they do the work of the swift-sailing privateers
-of a century ago. In the fall of 1915, British submarines in the
-Baltic almost put a stop to the trade between Germany and Sweden. But
-to blockade a coast effectively, submarines must have tenders, which
-must have destroyers and light cruisers to defend them, which in turn
-require the support of battle-cruisers and dreadnoughts, with their
-attendant host of colliers, hospital ships and air-scouts. Nor can a
-coast be long defended by submarines, mine-fields and shore-batteries,
-if there are not enough trained troops to keep the enemy, who can
-always land at some remote spot, from marching round to the rear of
-the coast-defenses. This war is simply repeating the old, old lesson
-that there are no cheap and easy substitutes for a real army and a real
-navy.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-THE SUBMARINE AND NEUTRALS
-
-
-Both Admiral von Tirpitz and the Austrian Admiralty seem to have begun
-their submarine campaigns after the method of Captain John Sirius: to
-starve the enemy any way they could and let the lawyers argue about it
-afterwards. From the beginning of the blockade, Scandinavian, Dutch,
-and Spanish vessels, even when bound from one neutral port to another,
-were torpedoed and sunk without warning by the German submarines. Their
-governments protested vigorously but without effect. Then came the turn
-of the United States.
-
-The _Falaba_, a small British passenger steamer outward bound from
-Liverpool to the west coast of Africa was pursued and overtaken off
-the coast of Wales on March 28, 1915, by the fast German submarine
-_U-28_. Realizing that their vessel would be sunk but expecting that
-their lives would be spared, the crew and passengers began filling
-and lowering away the boats as rapidly as possible but without panic.
-The wireless operator had been sending calls for help but ceased when
-ordered to by the captain of the _U-28_. No patrol boats were in sight
-and the submarine was standing by on the surface, with both gun and
-torpedo-tubes trained on the motionless steamer and in absolute command
-of the situation. Without the slightest excuse or warning, a torpedo
-was then discharged and exploded against the _Falaba’s_ side, directly
-beneath a half-lowered and crowded lifeboat. The lifeboat was blown to
-pieces and the steamer sunk, with the loss of one hundred and twelve
-lives, including that of an American citizen, Mr. Leon C. Thrasher, of
-Hardwick, Massachusetts.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- _Photo by Brown Bros._
-
-British Submarine, showing one type of disappearing deck-gun now in
-use.]
-
-This cold-blooded slaughter of the helpless horrified the rest of the
-world and did Germany’s cause an incalculable amount of harm. The
-German people were in no state of mind to realize this, for they had
-gone literally submarine-mad. They rejoiced in the cartoons depicting
-John Bull marooned on his island or dragged under and drowned by the
-swarming “U-boats.” They sincerely believed that within a few months
-the power of the British navy would be broken forever and that in
-the meanwhile the German submarines could do no wrong. This feeling
-was presently intensified by the loss of their hero, the gallant von
-Weddigen. Decorated, together with every man of his crew, with the Iron
-Cross and promoted to the command of a fine new submarine, the _U-29_,
-he did effective work as a blockader and captured and sank several
-prizes, but only after carefully removing those on board. Then the
-_U-29_ was sunk with all hands, by an armed patrol boat, the British
-declare: treacherously, the German people believe, by a merchant ship
-whose crew von Weddigen was trying to spare.[28]
-
-No attempt was made to warn the American tank steamer _Gulflight_,
-bound for Rouen, France, with a contraband cargo of oil, when she was
-torpedoed by a German submarine on May 1. The vessel stayed afloat but
-the wireless operator and one of the sailors, terrified by the shock,
-jumped overboard and were both drowned, while the captain died of heart
-failure a few hours later on board the British patrol boat that took
-off the crew and brought the _Gulflight_ into port.
-
-On the same day that the _Gulflight_ was torpedoed, these two
-advertisements appeared together in the New York newspapers:
-
-[Illustration:
-
- OCEAN STEAMSHIPS.
-
- CUNARD
-
- EUROPE VIA LIVERPOOL
-
- LUSITANIA
-
- Fastest and Largest Steamer
- now in Atlantic Service Sails
- SATURDAY, MAY 1, 10 A. M.
-
- Transylvania, Fri., May 7, 5 P. M.
- Orduna, Tues., May 18, 10 A. M.
- Tuscania, Fri., May 21, 5 P. M.
- LUSITANIA, Sat., May 29, 10 A. M.
- Transylvania, Fri., June 4, 5 P. M.
-
- Gibraltar--Genoa--Naples--Piraeus
- S.S. Carpathia, Thur., May 13, Noon.
-
- ROUND THE WORLD TOURS
-
- Through bookings to all principal Ports of the World.
- Company’s Office, 21-24 State St., N. Y.
-
- NOTICE!
-
- TRAVELERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are
- reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and
- her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the
- zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British
- isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by
- the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag
- of Great Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to
- destruction in those waters and that travelers sailing in
- the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do
- so at their own risk.
-
- IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY,
- WASHINGTON, D. C., APRIL 22, 1915
-]
-
-This warning was not taken seriously. It was pointed out that the
-German submarines had sunk only comparatively small and slow steamers,
-and generally believed that it would be impossible for them to hit a
-fast-moving vessel. Not a single passenger canceled his passage on the
-_Lusitania_, though all admitted that the Germans would have a perfect
-right to sink her if they could, as she was laden with rifle-cartridges
-and shell-cases for the Allies. But every passenger knew that he had a
-perfect right to be taken off first, and trusted to the Government that
-had given him his passports to maintain it.
-
-The _Lusitania_ left New York on the first of May. At two o’clock
-on the afternoon of Friday, May 7, she was about ten miles from the
-Irish coast, off the Old Head of Kinsale, and running slowly to avoid
-reaching Queenstown at an unfavorable turn of the tide, when Captain
-Turner and many others saw a periscope rise out of the water about half
-a mile away.
-
-“I saw a torpedo speeding toward us,” declared the captain afterwards,
-“and immediately I tried to change our course, but was unable to
-manœuver out of the way. There was a terrible impact as the torpedo
-struck the starboard side of the vessel, and a second torpedo followed
-almost immediately. This one struck squarely over the boilers.
-
-“I tried to turn the _Lusitania_ shoreward, hoping to beach her, but
-her engines were crippled and it was impossible.
-
-“There has been some criticism because I did not order the lifeboats
-out sooner, but no matter what may be done there are always some to
-criticize. Until the _Lusitania_ came to a standstill it was absolutely
-impossible to launch the boats--they would have been swamped.”
-
-The great ship heeled over to port so rapidly that by the time she
-could be brought to a stop it was no longer possible to lower the boats
-on the starboard side. There was no panic-stricken rush for the boats
-that could be lowered; all was order and seemliness and quiet heroism.
-Alfred Vanderbilt stripped off the lifebelt that might have saved him
-and buckled it about a woman; Lindon Bates, Jr., was last seen trying
-to save three children. Elbert Hubbard, Charles Klein, Justus Miles
-Forman, and more than a hundred other Americans died, and died bravely.
-As the _Lusitania_ went down beneath them, Charles Frohman smiled at
-his companion and said:
-
-“Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure of life.”
-
-“I turned around to watch the great ship heel over,” said a passenger
-who had dived overboard and swum to a safe distance.
-
-“The monster took a sudden plunge, and I saw a crowd still on her
-decks, and boats filled with helpless women and children glued to her
-side. I sickened with horror at the sight.
-
-“There was a thunderous roar, as of the collapse of a great building
-on fire; then she disappeared, dragging with her hundreds of
-fellow-creatures into the vortex. Many never rose to the surface, but
-the sea rapidly grew thick with the figures of struggling men and women
-and children.”
-
-The total number of deaths was more than a thousand.
-
-The most fitting comment on the sinking of the _Lusitania_ were the
-words of Tinkling Cloud, a full-blooded Sioux Indian:
-
-“Now you white men can never call us red men savages again.”
-
-Resting its case on “Many sacred principles of justice and humanity,”
-refusing to accept the warning published in the advertising columns
-of the newspapers by the German embassy either “as an excuse or
-palliation,” and assuming that the commanders of submarines guilty of
-torpedoing without warning vessels carrying non-combatants had acted
-“under a misapprehension of orders,” the United States concluded its
-note to Germany, six days after the sinking of the _Lusitania_, with
-these words of warning:
-
-“The Imperial German government will not expect the government of the
-United States to omit any word or act necessary to the performance of
-its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its
-citizens and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment.”
-
-Before any reply had been made to this, a German submarine torpedoed
-without warning the American freight steamer _Nebraskan_, on May 25,
-a few hours after she had left Liverpool in ballast for the United
-States. Fortunately no lives were lost, and although the _Nebraskan’s_
-bows had been blown wide open by the explosion, she remained afloat
-and was brought back to Liverpool under her own steam. The attack was
-tardily admitted by Germany and explained by the fact that it had been
-made at dusk, when the commander of the submarine had been unable to
-recognize the steamer’s nationality.
-
-On the last day of May, Germany’s answer was received. The Imperial
-government declared that the _Lusitania_ had not been an unarmed
-merchantman but an auxiliary cruiser of the British navy. That she
-had had masked guns mounted on her lower deck, that she had Canadian
-troops among her passengers, and that in violation of American law she
-had been laden with high explosives which were the real cause of her
-destruction because they were set off by the detonation of the single
-torpedo that had been discharged by the submarine.
-
-To these allegations, unaccompanied by the slightest proof and
-contradicted by the testimony both of British and American
-eye-witnesses, the United States replied calmly and categorically. It
-was pointed out that if the German ambassador at Washington or the
-German consul at New York had complained to the Federal authorities
-before the _Lusitania_ sailed and either guns or troops had been found
-concealed on her, she would have been interned. The statement of Mr.
-Dudley Field Malone, collector of the Port of New York, that the
-_Lusitania_ was not armed, may be accepted as final. Gustav Stahl, the
-German reservist who signed an affidavit that he had seen guns on board
-her, later pleaded guilty to a charge of perjury and was sentenced to
-eighteen months in a Federal penitentiary. As for her cargo, every
-passenger train and steamer in this country is allowed to transport
-boxes of revolver and rifle cartridges--the only explosives carried
-on the _Lusitania_--because it is extremely difficult to set off any
-number of them together, either by heat or concussion.
-
-Dropping these points, Germany then pledged the safety of American
-ships in the war zone, if distinctly marked, and to facilitate American
-travel offered to permit the United States to hoist its flag on four
-belligerent passenger steamers. This, if accepted, would by implication
-have made Americans fair game anywhere else on the high seas, and was
-accordingly rejected in the strong American note of July 21.
-
-“The rights of neutrals in time of war,” declared President Wilson
-through the medium of Secretary Lansing, “are based upon principle, not
-upon expediency, and the principles are immutable. It is the duty and
-obligation of belligerents to find a way to adapt the new circumstances
-to them.
-
-“The events of the past two months have clearly indicated that it is
-possible and practicable to conduct such submarine operations as have
-characterized the activity of the Imperial German naval commanders
-within the so-called war-zone in substantial accord with the accepted
-practices of regulated warfare. The whole world has looked with
-interest and increasing satisfaction at the demonstration of that
-possibility by German naval commanders. It is manifestly possible,
-therefore, to lift the whole practice of submarine attack above the
-criticism which it has aroused and remove the chief causes of offense.”
-
-Repetition by the commanders of German naval vessels of acts
-contravening neutral rights “must be regarded by the Government of the
-United States, where they effect American citizens, as deliberately
-unfriendly.”
-
-On July 9, a German submarine discharged a torpedo at the west-bound
-Cunard liner _Orduna_, narrowly missed her, rose to the surface
-and fired some twenty shells before the steamer got out of range.
-Fortunately, none of these took effect. There were American passengers
-on board and nothing but bad marksmanship averted another _Lusitania_
-horror.
-
-Three days later, another German submarine stopped an American freight
-steamer, the _Leelanlaw_, and had her visited and searched by a
-boarding party, who reported that she was carrying contraband to Great
-Britain. Because the vessel could not be taken into a German port and
-there was no time to throw her cargo overboard, the crew were taken off
-and she was sunk.
-
-Here was a perfectly proper procedure, where no neutral lives had been
-endangered and the question of the damage to property could be settled
-amicably in a court of law. It was to the practice in the _Leelanlaw_
-case that President Wilson referred to so hopefully in his note of
-July 21. Though the weeks went by without any answer from Germany, it
-was hoped that the Imperial government had quietly amended the orders
-to its submarine commanders and that no more passenger ships would be
-attacked without warning.
-
-But on the 19th of August, the White Star liner _Arabic_ sighted and
-went to the rescue of a sinking ship. This proved to be the British
-steamer _Dunsley_, which had been torpedoed by a German submarine.
-As the _Arabic_ came up and prepared to lower her boats, another
-torpedo from the same submarine exploded against the liner’s side,
-killing several of her crew and sending her to the bottom in eleven
-minutes. She went down within fifty miles of the resting place of the
-_Lusitania_. She was sunk without warning and without cause, for she
-had been bound to New York, with neither arms nor ammunition on board,
-nor had she made the slightest attempt either to escape or attack
-the submarine. She carried one hundred and eighty-one passengers,
-twenty-five of whom were Americans. Two Americans were drowned.
-
-The German government at once asked for time in which to explain, and
-the Imperial chancellor hinted that the commander of the submarine that
-sank the _Arabic_ might have “gone beyond his instructions, in which
-case the Imperial government would not hesitate to give such complete
-satisfaction to the United States as would conform to the friendly
-relations existing between both governments.”
-
-Great was the rejoicing on the first of September, when Ambassador von
-Bernstorff declared himself authorized to say to the State Department
-that:
-
-“Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without
-safety of the lives of non-combatants, provided that the liners do not
-try to escape or offer resistance.”
-
-But only three days afterwards, the west-bound Canadian liner
-_Hesperian_ was sunk by the explosion of what seemed to have been a
-torpedo launched without warning from a hostile submarine. And on top
-of this disturbing incident came the German note on the sinking of the
-_Arabic_, the perusal of which sent a chill through every peace-lover
-in America. Affirming that the captain of the _Arabic_ had tried to
-ram the submarine, the note declared that orders had been issued to
-commanders of German submarines not to sink liners without provocation,
-but added that if by mistake or otherwise liners were sunk without
-provocation, Germany would not be responsible.
-
-“The German government,” it ran, “is unable to acknowledge any
-obligation to grant indemnity in the matter, even if the commander
-should have been mistaken as to the aggressive intention of the
-_Arabic_.
-
-“If it should prove to be the case that it is impossible for the German
-and American governments to reach a harmonious opinion on this point,
-the German government would be prepared to submit the difference
-of opinion, as being a question of international law, to The Hague
-Tribunal for arbitration....
-
-“In so doing, it assumes that, as matter of course, the arbitral
-decision shall not be admitted to have the importance of a general
-decision on the permissibility ... under international law of German
-submarine warfare.”
-
-Assuming that this extraordinary stand was based on a misapprehension
-of the facts, the United States submitted to Germany the testimony of
-American passengers on the _Arabic_, and the sworn affidavits of her
-officers, that the submarine had not been sighted from the steamer and
-that no attempt had been made to ram the undersea boat or do anything
-but rescue the crew of the _Dunsley_.
-
-By this time a change had come over the spirit of the Imperial German
-government. It realized that the submarine blockade of the British
-Isles had broken down, and that further examples of “Frightfulness” on
-the high seas would do Germany no good and would probably force the
-United States into the ranks of Germany’s enemies. The sensible and
-obvious thing to do was to take the easy and honorable way out the
-American government was holding open. On October 6, Ambassador von
-Bernstorff gave out the following statement:
-
-“Prompted by the desire to reach a satisfactory agreement with regard
-to the _Arabic_ incident, my government has given me the following
-instructions:
-
-“The order issued by His Majesty the Emperor to the commanders of the
-German submarines, of which I notified you on a previous occasion, has
-been made so stringent that the recurrence of incidents similar to the
-_Arabic_ case is considered out of the question.
-
-“According to the report of Commander Schneider of the submarine which
-sank the _Arabic_, and his affidavit, as well as those of his men,
-Commander Schneider was convinced that the _Arabic_ intended to ram the
-submarine.
-
-“On the other hand, the Imperial government does not doubt the good
-faith of the affidavit of the British officers of the _Arabic_,
-according to which the _Arabic_ did not intend to ram the submarine.
-The attack of the submarine was undertaken against the instructions
-issued to the commander. The Imperial government regrets and disavows
-this act, and has notified Commander Schneider accordingly.
-
-“Under these circumstances, my government is prepared to pay an
-indemnity for American lives which, to its deep regret, have been lost
-on the _Arabic_. I am authorized to negotiate with you about the amount
-of this indemnity.”
-
-In the meantime, fragments of the metal box of high explosives that had
-blown in the side of the _Hesperian_ had been picked up on her deck,
-and forwarded by the British government to America. United States naval
-experts examined the twisted bits of metal and declared them to have
-been pieces, not of a mine, as the German government insists, but of an
-automobile torpedo. However, in view of the fact that the _Hesperian_
-was armed with a 4.7 gun, and because of the happy outcome of the
-_Arabic_ affair, it seems unlikely that anything will be done about it.
-
-But only a month later there was begun another “Campaign of
-Frightfulness,” this time by Austrian submarines in the Mediterranean.
-As the passengers on the Italian liner _Ancona_, one day out from
-Naples to New York, were sitting at luncheon on November 7th,
-they “felt a tremor through the ship as her engines stopped and
-reversed.”[29] Then, while we were stopping, there was an explosion
-forward. A shell had struck us.
-
-“When I reached the deck,” continues Dr. Greil, “shell was fairly
-pouring into us from the submarine, which we could see through the fog,
-about 100 yards away. I hurried below to pack a few things in my trunk.
-As I was standing over it, a shell came through the porthole and struck
-my maid, who was standing at my side. It tore away her scalp and part
-of her skull and went on through the wall, bursting somewhere inside
-the ship.
-
-“When I went on deck again I found the wildest excitement. It was like
-the old-time stories one used to read of shipwrecks at sea. I will not
-say anything about the crew because I could not say anything good.
-They launched fifteen boats but only eight got away. I was in one of
-these.... I do not believe the submarine fired deliberately on the
-lifeboats. They were trying to sink the _Ancona_ with shells, but they
-finally used a torpedo to send her to the bottom. I looked at my watch
-when she took her last plunge. It was 12.45. We were picked up by the
-French cruiser _Pluton_ about midnight.”
-
-The commander of the submarine declared, in his official report, that
-he had fired only because the _Ancona_ had tried to escape, that he had
-ceased firing as soon as she came to a stop, that the loss of life was
-due to the incompetence of the panic-stricken crew of the liner, whom
-the Austrian officer allowed forty-five minutes in which to launch the
-lifeboats. He admitted, however, that at the expiration of this time he
-had torpedoed and sunk the _Ancona_, while there were still a number of
-people on her decks.
-
-About two hundred of the passengers and crew were drowned or killed by
-shellfire. Among them were several American citizens.
-
-“The conduct of the commander,” declared the strongly-worded American
-note of December 6th, “can only be characterized as wanton slaughter
-of defenseless non-combatants.”... The government of the United States
-is unwilling ... to credit the Austro-Hungarian government with an
-intention to permit its submarines to destroy the lives of helpless
-men, women, and children. It prefers to believe that the commander of
-the submarine committed this outrage without authority and contrary to
-the general or special instructions which he had received.
-
-“As the good relations of the two countries must rest upon a common
-regard for law and humanity, the government of the United States
-cannot be expected to do otherwise than to denounce the sinking of
-the _Ancona_ as an illegal and indefensible act, and to demand that
-the officer who perpetrated the deed be punished, and that reparation
-by the payment of an indemnity be made for the citizens of the United
-States who were killed or injured by the attack on the vessel.”
-
-This undiplomatic language caused no little resentment in Vienna. But
-after a restatement of the Austrian case, and a much milder rejoinder
-from Washington, the American demands were apparently acceded to. In
-the second Austro-Hungarian note, which was published in America on
-January 1st, 1915, the government of the Dual-Monarchy disavowed the
-act of its submarine commander, declared that he had acted in violation
-of his orders and would be punished therefore, and agreed to pay an
-indemnity for the American citizens who had been killed or injured.
-
-“The Imperial and Royal Government,” the note continued, “agrees
-thoroughly with the American Cabinet that the sacred commandments
-of humanity must be observed also in war.... The Imperial and Royal
-Government can also substantially concur in the principle expressed
-... that private ships, in so far as they do not attempt to escape or
-offer resistance, may not be destroyed without the persons aboard being
-brought into safety.”
-
-Like the settlement of the _Arabic_ case, this was hailed as a great
-diplomatic victory for the United States. Unlike it, there was no
-question of sharing the credit with the anti-submarine activities
-of the Allies, whose merchant ships in the Mediterranean were being
-torpedoed with startling frequency. On December 21st, the new 12,000
-ton Japanese liner _Yasaka Maru_ was sunk without warning, near Port
-Said. Thanks to the splendid discipline of her crew, no lives were
-lost. There was an alleged American on board, but there was some
-irregularity about his citizenship papers. Nor were there any Americans
-aboard the French passenger ship _Ville de la Ciotat_, torpedoed on
-Christmas Eve, with the loss of seventy lives. There was nothing to mar
-the smug satisfaction of the American people on New Year’s Day.
-
-Then came the news of the sinking of the Peninsular and Oriental liner
-_Persia_, on December 30th, off the Island of Crete.
-
-“I was in the dining room of the _Persia_ at 1.05 P.M.,” declares Mr.
-Charles Grant of Boston, who was one of the two Americans on board. “I
-had just finished my soup, and the steward was asking me what I would
-take for my second course, when a terrific explosion occurred.
-
-“The saloon became filled with smoke, broken glass and steam from the
-boiler, which appeared to have burst. There was no panic on board. We
-went on deck as though we were at drill, and reported at the lifeboats
-on the starboard side, as the vessel had listed to port....
-
-“The last I saw of the _Persia_, she had her bow in the air, five
-minutes after the explosion....
-
-“Robert McNeely, American Consul at Aden, sat at the same table with me
-on the voyage. He was not seen, probably because his cabin was on the
-port side.
-
-“It was a horrible scene. The water was black as ink. Some passengers
-were screaming, others were calling out good-by. Those in one boat sang
-hymns.”
-
-The _Persia_ was apparently torpedoed, without warning. Like the
-_Hesperian_, she was armed with a 4.7 gun. One of the ship’s officers
-saw the white wake of the torpedo. But no one saw the submarine.
-
-The commander of that submarine evidently believed, like Captain
-Sirius, in striking first and letting the lawyers talk about it
-afterwards.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX
-
-
- _A-1_, 124.
-
- _A-3_, 124, 135.
-
- _A-5_, 125.
-
- _A-7_, 124.
-
- _A-8_, 124, 126.
-
- _Aboukir_, 160, 169.
-
- Accidents, 124.
-
- Aeroplanes, 17, 71, 172.
-
- Air-chamber, 47.
-
- _Alabama_, 70.
-
- _Albemarle_, 43, 166.
-
- _Alert_, 136.
-
- Alkmaar, 4.
-
- Alstitt’s submarine, 75.
-
- _Ancona_, 202.
-
- _Anglo-Californian_, 187.
-
- Apostoloff’s submarine, 66.
-
- _Arabic_, 198, 205.
-
- _Argo_, 92.
-
- _Argonaut_, 85, 92, 98.
-
- _Argonaut Jr._, 85.
-
- _Argus_, 34.
-
- _Asia_, 12.
-
- Aube, Admiral, 59.
-
- _Audacious_, 161, 169.
-
- Awash condition, 127.
-
-
- _B-2_, 124.
-
- _B-11_, 165.
-
- _Badger_, 168.
-
- Baker’s submarine, 82.
-
- Balance-chamber, 44, 48.
-
- Ballast-tanks, 16, 38, 57, 82, 111, 138.
-
- _Baralong_ case, 164, note.
-
- Barber, Lieutenant F. M., 16.
-
- Barlow, Joel, 26, 34.
-
- Bates, Jr., Lindon, 194.
-
- “Battle of the Kegs,” 23.
-
- Bauer, Wilhelm, 56, 65, 120, note.
-
- Beatty, Admiral, 175.
-
- Beauregard, General, 39.
-
- _Belridge_, 148.
-
- _Berwick Castle_, 124.
-
- Bigskorth, Squadron Commander, 172.
-
- _Birmingham_, 159.
-
- Blake, Mr., 10.
-
- Blockade, 177 _et seq._
-
- “Blowing the tanks,” 63, 112, 122, 128.
-
- Booms, 92, 171.
-
- Borelli, 10.
-
- Boucher’s submarine, 66.
-
- Bourgois, Captain, 57.
-
- Bourne, William, 4.
-
- Boush, Rear-Admiral, 137.
-
- _Bouvet_, 154.
-
- Boyle, Robert, 7.
-
- British Hollands, 80.
-
- British Navy, 30, 70, 72, 175, 178.
-
- Brun, Monsieur, 57.
-
- _Bulwark_, 161.
-
- Buoyancy chamber, 49.
-
- Bushnell, David, 6, 13 to 25, 28, 95, 128, 154.
-
-
- _C-11_, 124.
-
- _C-14_, 124.
-
- Cable-cutting, 89, 95.
-
- _Cairo_, 144.
-
- Caldwell, Lieutenant H. C., 78, 79.
-
- _Caprivi_, 148.
-
- Carlson, Captain, 40.
-
- _Cerberus_, 22.
-
- Chandler, Mr. Edward F., 53.
-
- Chlorin gas, 126, 129, 137.
-
- _Clairmont_, 34, 81.
-
- _Commodore Jones_, 144.
-
- Compass, 18, 113.
-
- Compensation-tank, 79, 118.
-
- Compressed-air tank, 30, 57, 131.
-
- Conning-tower, 12, 15, 28, 78, 103, 113.
-
- Constantin’s submarine, 66.
-
- Cooking, 108.
-
- Copper sheathing, 18, 35.
-
- _Cressy_, 160, 169.
-
- Crilley, Frank, 137.
-
- Cushing, Lieutenant, 43, 166.
-
-
- _D-5_, 155.
-
- Daniels, Secretary, 81, 138.
-
- Dardanelles, the, 64, 147, 154, 165.
-
- _David_, 36, 43, 61.
-
- Davis, Commander, 52.
-
- Day, J., 10, 128.
-
- Delaying-valve, 47.
-
- _Demologos_, 35.
-
- Depth-control, 113.
-
- Destroyers, 35, 104, 168, 170.
-
- _Delfin_, 124.
-
- Dewey, Admiral, 79, 145.
-
- _Diable Marin_, 65, 120, note.
-
- Diesel, Dr., 108.
-
- Diesel engines, 104, 135, 184.
-
- Divers, 14, 40, 56, 136.
-
- Diving-bells, 4.
-
- Diving compartment, 83, 88, 94, 130, 132.
-
- Diving-planes, 28, 38, 48, 71, 72, 78, 111.
-
- Dixon, Lieutenant, 40.
-
- _Dorothea_, 32.
-
- Doughty, Thomas, 115.
-
- Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, 178, 186.
-
- Drzewiecki, 64, 71.
-
- _Dunsely_, 198.
-
- Dubilier, Mr. W., 171.
-
-
- _E-4_, 160.
-
- _E-5_, 124.
-
- _E-9_, 156.
-
- _E-11_, 165.
-
- _E-13_, 164.
-
- _E-15_, 165.
-
- _Eagle_, 12, 18.
-
- Edison battery, 126.
-
- Eel-boats, 4, 14.
-
- Electric Boat Company, 81, 96.
-
- Electric motors, 108, 184.
-
- Electric submarines, 59, 60, 66, 83, note.
-
- _Emerald Isle_, 72.
-
- Emergency drop-keel, 10, 15, 83, 128.
-
- Enver Pasha, 166.
-
- Ericsson, John, 82, 104.
-
- Escape from sunken submarine, 130.
-
- Even-keel submergence, 61, 96.
-
-
- _F-4_, 124, 136.
-
- _Falaba_, 189.
-
- Faotomu, Lieutenant Takuma, 128.
-
- _Farfadet_, 124.
-
- Farragut, Admiral, 142.
-
- Fenian Brotherhood, 71.
-
- _Fenian Ram_, 73.
-
- Fessenden oscillator, 119, 125.
-
- Fishing for submarines, 170, 183.
-
- _Foca_, 124.
-
- Folger, Commander, 82.
-
- Forman, Justus Miles, 194.
-
- _Formidable_, 162, 169.
-
- Frohman, Charles, 194.
-
- _Fulton_, 135.
-
- Fulton, Robert, 26 to 35, 69, 139, 186.
-
-
- Gages, 20, 112, 129.
-
- Garett, Rev. Mr., 61.
-
- Gasoline engines, 86, 105.
-
- Gasoline fumes, 90, 107, 125.
-
- German contributions, 107, 115.
-
- Gimlets, 16, 18, 64.
-
- Goubet submarines, 60.
-
- Grant, Charles, 205.
-
- Greased leather, 6, 9.
-
- Greil, Dr. Cecile L., 202.
-
- _Giuseppe Garibaldi_, 169.
-
- _Gulflight_, 191.
-
- Guns, 83, 102, 174, 187, 202.
-
- Guncotton, 46.
-
- _Gustave Zédé_, 59.
-
- _Gymnote_, 59.
-
- Gyroscope, 50, 53, 114.
-
- Gyroscopic compass, 113.
-
-
- Hague Tribunal, 148, 200.
-
- Halstead, 56.
-
- Hammond, Jr., Mr. John Hays, 55.
-
- Hanson, Captain, 183.
-
- Harsdoffer, 5, 6.
-
- _Hatsuse_, 147.
-
- Hautefeullie, Abbé de, 7.
-
- _Hela_, 155.
-
- _Hermes_, 161, 168.
-
- _Hesperian_, 199, 202, 206.
-
- _Hogue_, 160, 169.
-
- Holbrook, Commander, 165.
-
- Holland, John P., 68 to 81, 95, 104, 115, 175.
-
- _Holland_, 76 to 81, 86, 103, 104, 125.
-
- _Holland No. 1_, 70.
-
- _Holland No. 2_, 71.
-
- _Holland No. 8_, 76.
-
- Holland Torpedo-boat Company, 75, 79, 81.
-
- “Horn of the Nautilus,” 29.
-
- _Housatonic_, 40.
-
- Howard, Ensign, 36.
-
- Hovgaard, Commander, 75.
-
- _Huascar_, 50.
-
- Hubbard, Elbert, 194.
-
- _Hundley_, 38 to 41.
-
- Hydroplanes, 84, 95.
-
- Hydrostatic valve, 48, 128, 154.
-
-
- _Intelligent Whale_, 56, 81, 86.
-
- International law, 178, 179, 200.
-
- _Irresistible_, 154, 161.
-
-
- James I, 5.
-
- “Jammer,” the, 46.
-
- Jefferson, Thomas, 14, 16, 22, 25.
-
- Jonson, Ben, 3, 64.
-
-
- _K_-class, 138.
-
- _Kambala_, 124.
-
- _Kearsarge_, 78.
-
- _Kheyr-el-din_, 165.
-
- Klein, Charles, 194.
-
- Krupps, the, 99.
-
-
- Labeuf, Monsieur, 91.
-
- Lacavalerier, Señor, 66.
-
- Lacomme, Dr., 64.
-
- Lake, Mr. Simon, 82 to 99, 175.
-
- Laurenti, Major Cesare, 134.
-
- Laurenti dock, 134.
-
- Le Son, 9.
-
- Lee, Ezra, 15 to 22.
-
- _Leelanlaw_, 198.
-
- _Leon Gambetta_, 169.
-
- Leveling-vanes, 96.
-
- Lifeboats, 131.
-
- List, Carl Frank, 187, 191.
-
- Lord St. Vincent, Admiral, 32.
-
- Lupuis, Captain, 44.
-
- _Lusitania_, 181, 192 to 198.
-
- _Lutin_, 124.
-
-
- McNeely, Robert, 206.
-
- _Maine_, 76.
-
- _Majestic_, 166.
-
- Makaroff, Admiral, 147.
-
- Malone, Mr. Dudley Field, 196.
-
- _Marblehead_, 146.
-
- _Maryland_, 137.
-
- _Merrimac_, 69.
-
- Mersenne, 6, 91.
-
- _Messudieh_, 165.
-
- Microphones, 171.
-
- Mines, Confederate, 143, 154, note.
- contact, 139, 144, 148 to 155, 179.
- drifting, 23, 139, 154.
- electric, 89, 144, 151.
- observation, 144.
-
- Mine-field, 151, 165.
-
- Mine-planter, 146, 149.
-
- Mine-sweeping, 139, 152.
-
- _Moltke_, 164.
-
- _Monitor_, 42, 69, 81.
-
- Mother-ship, 100, 111, 135.
-
- _Mute_, 35.
-
-
- Napier, John, 4.
-
- Napoleon, 27, 32, 33.
-
- _Narval_, 91.
-
- _Nautilus_, Fulton’s, 27 to 31, 56, 72.
-
- _Nautilus_, Jules Verne’s, 59.
-
- Navigating bridge, 103, 111.
-
- _Nebraskan_, 195.
-
- Nemo, Captain, 59.
-
- _New Ironsides_, 36, 144.
-
- _New York_, 78.
-
- Nordenfeldt, 28, 61, 74, 95.
-
- _Nordenfeldt II_, 62, 78, 83.
-
- Notes, American, 180, 195 to 197, 200, 203.
- Austrian, 204.
- British, 181.
- German, 191, 199.
-
- _No. 6_, 124, 128.
-
-
- Oars, 6, 9, 16, 17, 66.
-
- _Ocean_, 154.
-
- Oil-engine, 60, 78, 104.
-
- _Olympic_, 162, 178.
-
- _Orduna_, 198.
-
- _Osage_, 115.
-
- Oxygen, 7, 131.
-
- _Ozark_, 100.
-
-
- Panlow, Captain Archibald, 187.
-
- Panoramas, 26.
-
- Payne, Lieutenant, 39.
-
- Pendulum, 49, 53.
-
- _Peral_, 64, 66.
-
- “Peripatetic Coffin,” 39.
-
- _Persia_, 205.
-
- Persius, Captain, 183.
-
- Periscope, 78, 83, 114, 125, 186.
-
- _Petropavlosk_, 147.
-
- Philip, Captain, 146.
-
- Phosphorescence, 6, 19.
-
- Pipe-masts, 86, 95.
-
- Pitt, 32.
-
- _Plongeur_, 57, 132.
-
- _Plunger_, 75.
-
- _Pluton_, 203.
-
- _Pluviôse_, 124, 125, 134.
-
- Pneumatic gun, 79.
-
- _Pommern_, 163.
-
- “Porpoise dive,” 78, 160.
-
- Porter, Admiral David, 40.
-
- “Primer,” the, 46.
-
- Propellers, adjustable, 82.
- primitive, 16, 28.
- transverse, 83.
- vertical-acting, 16, 28, 61, 83, 95 154.
-
- _Protector_, 95.
-
- Pumps, 16, 28, 111.
-
-
- _Ramillies_, 35.
-
- Ramming, 124, 168, 200.
-
- Reducing-valve, 48.
-
- Rescuing, 125, 156.
-
- _Resurgam_, 61.
-
- Riou, Olivier, 59.
-
- Rogers, Commodore, 34.
-
- _Rotterdam Boat_, 9, 14, 69.
-
- _Royal Edward_, 166.
-
- Rudders, bow, 96, 111.
- horizontal (see diving-planes).
-
-
- _S-126_, 169.
-
- _San Francisco_, 149.
-
- Safety-buoy, 132.
- catch, 47.
- helmets, 130.
- jackets, 130.
-
- Sails, 29, 31.
-
- Salvage docks, 134.
-
- Sampson, Admiral, 89, 146.
-
- Schneider, Commander, 201.
-
- Scope, Lieutenant Perry, 100.
-
- Searchlight, 86, 186.
-
- Selfridge, Rear-admiral, 115.
-
- Servo-motor, 49, 53.
-
- Sirius, Captain John, 177, 187, 189, 206.
-
- Skerrett, Mr. R. G., 135.
-
- _Spuyten Duyvil_, 42.
-
- Stahl, Gustav, 196.
-
- “Staple of News, the,” 3.
-
- Steam submarine, 61.
-
- Steamboat, 32, 34.
-
- Storage-batteries, 59, 126, 184.
-
- “Striker,” the, 46.
-
- _Stromboli_, 42.
-
- Submarine fighting submarine, 174.
-
- Submarine railroad, 64.
-
- Submersible, 91.
-
- Superstructure, 90, 102.
-
- Symons’s submarine, 9.
-
-
- Taylor, D. W., Chief Constructor, U. S. N., 96.
-
- Telephoning from submarines, 88, 132.
-
- _Tecumseh_, 142.
-
- Templo, Alvary, 71.
-
- _Texas_, 146.
-
- Thrasher, Leon C., 190.
-
- Tinkling Cloud, 195.
-
- Tissot, Professor, 171.
-
- Torpedo, automobile, 44 to 55.
- boats, 45, 103.
- Brennan, 59.
- Chandler, 53.
- controllable, 43, 54, 55.
- cost of, 47, 103.
- Davis gun-, 52.
- Fulton’s anchored, 139.
- Hammond wireless, 55.
- Torpedo-nets, 34, 170.
- origin of name, 29.
- practice, 116.
- recovering, 47, 123.
- Schwartzkopf, 52, 160.
- Sims-Edison, 54.
- spar, 37, 43.
- tubes, 45, 46, 63, 117, 118, 133, 138.
- wake of, 49, 206.
-
- “Torpedo War and Submarine Explosions,” 35, 139.
-
- Torpedo, Whitehead, 44 to 52, 117.
-
- Transports, 166, 171, 178.
-
- Trim, 96.
-
- Trimming-tanks, 117.
-
- Trinitrotuluol, 52.
-
- _Triumph_, 166.
-
- Trumbull, Governor, 14.
-
- Turner, Captain, 193.
-
- _Turtle_, 12, 14 to 22.
-
-
- _U-1_, 108.
-
- _U-3_, 124, 132.
-
- _U-9_, 160.
-
- _U-12_, 169.
-
- _U-15_, 159.
-
- _U-16_, 183.
-
- _U-28_, 189.
-
- _U-29_, 191.
-
- _U-39_, 187, note.
-
- _U-51_, 166.
-
-
- Vanderbilt, Alfred, 194.
-
- Vand der Wonde, Cornelius, 6.
-
- Van Drebel, Cornelius, 4 to 9, 41.
-
- _Vendémiaire_, 124.
-
- Vereshchagin, 147.
-
- Vickers Sons & Maxim, 80.
-
- _Ville de la Ciotat_, 205.
-
- Von Weddigen, Lieutenant-commander, 18, 160, 191.
-
- Von Bernstorff, Ambassador, 199.
-
- Von Tirpitz, Admiral, 69, 177, 187, 189.
-
- _Vulcan_, 132.
-
-
- Waddington, Mr. J. F., 83, note.
-
- War-head, 47, 52.
-
- War Zone, 30, 179.
-
- Washington, George, 13, 17, 25.
-
- Wheeled submarines, 84.
-
- White mice, 13, 110.
-
- Whitehead, Mr., 44.
-
- Whitney, Secretary, 74.
-
- Wilson, President, 180, 197, 198.
-
- Wright brothers, 71.
-
-
- _X-4_, 102 to 123.
-
-
- _Yasaka Maru_, 205.
-
- _Yenisei_, 146.
-
-
- Zeppelins, 172.
-
-
-
-
-FOOTNOTES
-
-
-[1] Also spelled Van Drebbel, Drebell, Dreble, and Trebel. He is the
-man Ben Jonson calls “Cornelius’ son.”
-
-[2] Harsdoffer.
-
-[3] “New Experiments touching the Spring of the Air and its Effects,”
-by Robert Boyle, Oxford, 1662, p. 188.
-
-[4] The only submarine built before this for military purposes,
-the _Rotterdam Boat_, remained private property, and King James’s
-“eel-boats” were merely pleasure craft.
-
-[5] Sergeant Ezra Lee’s letter to Gen. David Humphreys, written in
-1815. Published in the “Magazine of American History,” Vol. 29, p. 261.
-
-[6] “General Washington and his associates in the secret took their
-stations upon a house in Broadway, anxiously awaiting the result.” From
-Ezra Lee’s obituary, New York “Commercial Advertiser,” November 15,
-1821.
-
-[7] According to Bushnell, the screw struck an iron bar securing the
-rudder.
-
-[8] This survivor was examined by the captain of the _Cerberus_, who
-reported that the schooner’s crew had drawn the machine on board and by
-rashly tampering with its mechanism caused it to explode.
-
-[9] See the “Scientific American,” August 7, 1915.
-
-[10] Herbert C. Fyfe, “Submarine Warfare,” p. 269.
-
-[11] But Fulton’s _Nautilus_ could not possibly have made the dives
-with which she is credited except by the use of the horizontal rudders
-which she possessed in conjunction with the push of her man-power
-propellor. Holland had carefully studied the plans and letters of
-Bushnell and Fulton.
-
-[12] Mr. J. F. Waddington used vertical propellers in tubes through the
-vessel for keeping her on an even keel or submerging when stationary,
-on a small electric submarine he invented, built and demonstrated at
-Liverpool in 1886.
-
-[13] Quotations in this chapter are from Mr. Lake’s articles published
-in “International Marine Engineering,” and are here reprinted by his
-kind permission.
-
-[14] Electric current.
-
-[15] From an article by Admiral Selfridge in the “Outlook.”
-
-[16] The velocity of sound in dry air at a temperature of 32 degrees
-Fahrenheit is about 1087 feet a second, in water at 44 degrees, about
-4708 feet a second.
-
-[17] The sound of the first gun of the salute fired by the Russian
-fleet in Cronstadt harbor to celebrate the coronation of Alexander II
-in 1855 was the signal for the crew of the submerged submarine _Le
-Diable Marin_ to begin singing the National Anthem. Their voices,
-accompanied by a band of four pieces, were distinctly heard above
-the surface. This novel concert had been planned by Wilhelm Bauer,
-the designer of the submarine and one of the earliest students of
-under-water acoustics. He succeeded in signaling from one side of the
-harbor to another by striking a submerged piece of sheet-iron with a
-hammer.
-
-[18] “Scientific American,” January 28, 1911, page 87.
-
-[19] “Scientific American,” November 23, 1912.
-
-[20] Titherington’s History of the Spanish-American War, p. 139.
-
-[21] _Ibid._, page 202.
-
-[22] He had done notable work with mines himself, during the
-Russo-Turkish War of 1878.
-
-[23] This was a very popular type with the Confederate Torpedo Service
-in the Civil War.
-
-[24] London, Jan. 4.--A British official statement issued to-day says:
-
-“Sir Edward Grey, secretary for foreign affairs, has answered the
-complaint by the Germans through the American embassies regarding the
-destruction off the coast of Ireland of a German submarine and crew,
-by the British auxiliary _Baralong_, by referring to various German
-outrages.
-
-“Sir Edward Grey offers to submit such incidents, including the
-_Baralong_ case, to an impartial tribunal composed, say, of officers of
-the United States navy.
-
-“The Foreign Office has presented to the House of Commons the full
-correspondence between Ambassador Page and Sir Edward Grey concerning
-the case. A memorandum from Germany concerning the sinking of the
-submarine includes affidavits from six Americans who were muleteers
-aboard the steamer _Nicosian_ and witnessed the _Baralong’s_
-destruction of the submarine. A further affidavit from Larimore
-Holland, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, who was a member of the crew of the
-_Baralong_, was submitted. All the affidavits speak of the _Baralong_
-as disguised and flying the American flag.”
-
-[25] “Scientific American,” October 16, 1915.
-
-[26] In “Collier’s Weekly,” August 22, and 29, 1914.
-
-[27] This submarine was the _U-39_. On board her was an American boy,
-Carl Frank List, who was taken off a Norwegian ship and spent eleven
-days on the _U-39_, during which time she sank eleven ships. In each
-case the crew were given ample time to take to the boats. List’s
-intensely interesting narrative appeared in the “New York American” for
-September 3, 5, and 7, 1915.
-
-[28] “Von Weddigen, I was told, met his death chasing an armed British
-steamer. Commanding the _U-29_, he went after a whale of a British
-freighter in the Irish Sea, signaled her to stop. She stopped but
-hoisted the Spanish flag. As he came alongside, the steamer let
-drive with her two four-point-sevens at the submarine, sinking it
-immediately.” Statement of Carl Frank List.
-
-[29] Statement of Dr. Cecile L. Greil, the only native-born American on
-board.
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s Notes
-
-
-Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
-predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not
-changed.
-
-Words spelled differently in quoted passages than in the author’s own
-text have not been changed.
-
-Simple typographical errors were silently corrected; occasional
-unbalanced quotation marks retained.
-
-Chapter II’s footnotes originally skipped number “3”. The omission is
-not apparent in this eBook, in which all footnotes are in a single
-ascending sequence.
-
-Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
-
-For consistency, all occurrences of “bow-foremost” and “stern-foremost”
-are hyphenated in this eBook.
-
-Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of the Submarine, by Farnham Bishop
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Submarine, by Farnham Bishop
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: The Story of the Submarine
-
-Author: Farnham Bishop
-
-Release Date: November 30, 2015 [EBook #50582]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF THE SUBMARINE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chris Curnow, Charlie Howard, and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<div class="transnote covernote">
-<p class="center">Cover created by Transcriber and placed in the Public Domain.</p>
-</div>
-
-<h1>THE STORY OF THE<br />
-SUBMARINE</h1>
-
-<div id="ip_1" class="newpage p4 figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_001.jpg" width="600" height="333" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.</div>
- <div class="caption">U. S. Submarine <i>M-1</i>.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="newpage p4 center xxlarge gesperrt">
-THE STORY OF<br />
-THE SUBMARINE</p>
-
-<p class="p2 center"><span class="larger">BY</span><br />
-<span class="large">FARNHAM BISHOP</span><br />
-Author of “Panama, Past and Present,” etc.</p>
-
-<p class="p2 center larger"><i>ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS<br />
-AND DRAWINGS</i></p>
-
-<div id="ip_2" class="figcenter" style="width: 75px;">
- <img src="images/i_002.jpg" width="75" height="74" alt="" /></div>
-
-<p class="p2 center larger">NEW YORK<br />
-<span class="larger">THE CENTURY CO.</span><br />
-1916
-</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p class="newpage p4 center larger">
-Copyright, 1916, by<br />
-<span class="smcap">The Century Co.</span><br />
-<br />
-<i>Published, February, 1916</i>
-</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p class="newpage p4 center larger">
-To<br />
-MY MOTHER
-</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii">vii</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p>This book has been written for the nontechnical reader&mdash;for
-the man or boy who is interested in submarines
-and torpedoes, and would like to know something about
-the men who invented these things and how they came
-to do it. Much has been omitted that I should have
-liked to have put in, for this is a small book and the
-story of the submarine is much longer than most people
-realize. It is perhaps astonishing to think of the launching
-of an underseaboat in the year the Pilgrims landed
-at Plymouth Rock, or George Washington watching his
-submarine attack the British fleet in 1776. But are
-these things as astonishing as the thought of European
-soldiers wearing steel helmets and fighting with crossbows
-and catapults in 1916?</p>
-
-<p>The chapter on “A Trip in a Modern Submarine” is
-purely imaginative. There is no such boat in our submarine
-flotilla as the <i>X-4</i>. We ought to have plenty of
-big, fast, sea-going submarines, with plenty of big, fast
-sea-planes and battle-cruisers, so that if an invading army
-ever starts for this country we can meet it and smash it
-while it is cooped up on transports somewhere in mid-ocean.
-There, and not in shallow, off-shore waters,
-cumbered with nets and mines, is the true battlefield of
-the submarine.</p>
-
-<p>The last part of this book has a broken-off and fragmentary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii">viii</a></span>
-appearance. This is almost unavoidable at a
-time when writing history is like trying to make a statue
-of a moving-picture. I have tried to do justice to both
-sides in the present war.</p>
-
-<p>I wish to express my thanks to those whose kindness
-and courtesy have made it possible for me to write this
-book. To Mr. Kelby, Librarian of the New York Historical
-Society, I am indebted for much information about
-Bushnell’s <i>Turtle</i>, and to Mrs. Daniel Whitney, of Germantown,
-Pa., a descendant of Ezra Lee, for the portrait
-of her intrepid ancestor. Both the Electric Boat
-Company and Mr. Simon Lake have supplied me most
-generously with information and pictures. The Bureau
-of Construction, United States Navy, E.&nbsp;P. Dutton &amp;
-Company, publishers of Mr. Alan H. Burgoyne’s “Submarine
-Navigation Past and Present”; the American
-Magazine, Flying, International Marine Engineering, the
-<i>Scientific American</i>, and the <i>New York Sun</i> have cheerfully
-given permission for the reproduction of many pictures
-of which they hold the copyright. Albert Frank
-&amp; Company have given the cut of the advertisement of
-the last sailing of the <i>Lusitania</i>. Special thanks are due
-to Mr. A. Russell Bond, Associate Editor of the <i>Scientific
-American</i>, for expert advice and suggestion.</p>
-
-<p>Some well-known pictures of submarines are herein
-credited for the first time to the man who made them:
-Captain Francis M. Barber, U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;N. (retired). This
-officer published a little pink-backed pamphlet on submarine
-boats&mdash;the first book devoted exclusively to this
-subject&mdash;in 1875.</p>
-
-<p>“The last time I heard of that pink pamphlet,” writes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix">ix</a></span>
-Captain Barber from Washington, “was when I was
-Naval Attache at Berlin in 1898. Admiral von Tirpitz
-was then head of the Torpedo Bureau in the Navy Department,
-and he was good enough to say that it was the
-foundation of his studies&mdash;and look what we have now
-in the terrible German production.”</p>
-
-<p class="sigright"><span class="smcap">Farnham Bishop.</span></p>
-
-<p class="in0">
-New York,<br />
-<span class="in2">January, 1916.</span></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi">xi</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table summary="Contents">
- <tr class="small">
- <td class="tdr">CHAPTER</td>
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">I</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">In the Beginning</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">3</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">II</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">David Bushnell’s “Turtle”</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">12</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">III</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Robert Fulton’s “Nautilus”</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">26</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">IV</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Submarines in the Civil War</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">36</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">V</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Whitehead Torpedo</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">43</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">VI</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Freaks and Failures</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">56</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">VII</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">John P. Holland</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">69</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">VIII</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Lake Submarines</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">82</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">IX</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Trip in a Modern Submarine</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">100</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">X</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Accidents and Safety Devices</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">124</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">XI</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Mines</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">139</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">XII</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Submarine in Action</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">156</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">XIII</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Submarine Blockade</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">177</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr top">XIV</td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Submarine and Neutrals</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">189</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Index</span></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#INDEX">207</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiii">xiii</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="List_of_Illustrations"></a>List of Illustrations</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table summary="List of Illustrations">
- <tr class="small">
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">U. S. Submarine <i>M-1</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_1"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Cornelius Van Drebel</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_5">5</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The <i>Rotterdam Boat</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_8">8</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Symons’s Submarine</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_10">10</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The Submarine of 1776</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_13">13</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The Best-known Picture of Bushnell’s <i>Turtle</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_16">16</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Another Idea of Bushnell’s <i>Turtle</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_19">19</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Ezra Lee</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_21">21</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The <i>Nautilus</i> Invented by Robert Fulton</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_28">28</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Destruction of the <i>Dorothea</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_33">33</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Views of a Confederate <i>David</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_37">37</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">C.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;S. <i>Hundley</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_38">38</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Cross-section of a Whitehead Torpedo</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_51">51</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Davis Gun-torpedo After Discharge, Showing Eight-inch Gun Forward of Air-flask</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_53">53</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Effect of Davis Gun-torpedo on a Specially-constructed Target</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_54">54</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The <i>Intelligent Whale</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_58">58</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl"><i>Le Plongeur</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_59">59</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Steam Submarine <i>Nordenfeldt II</i>, at Constantinople, 1887</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_62">62</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Bauer’s Submarine Concert, Cronstadt Harbor, 1855</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_65">65</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Apostoloff’s Proposed Submarine</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_67">67</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The <i>Holland No. 1</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_70">70</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The <i>Fenian Ram</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_73">73</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiv">xiv</a></span></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;S. <i>Holland</i>, in Drydock with the Russian Battleship <i>Retvizan</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_77">77</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">John P. Holland</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_80">80</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Lake 1893 Design as Submitted to the U.&nbsp;S. Navy Department</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_83">83</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The <i>Argonaut Junior</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_84">84</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl"><i>Argonaut</i> as Originally Built</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_87">87</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl"><i>Argonaut</i> as Rebuilt</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_90">90</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The Rebuilt <i>Argonaut</i>, Showing Pipe-masts and Ship-shaped Superstructure</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_93">93</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Cross-section of Diving-compartment on a Lake Submarine</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_94">94</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Cross-section of the <i>Protector</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_97">97</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Mr. Simon Lake</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_98">98</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">U. S. Submarine <i>E-2</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_101">101</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">A Submarine Cruiser, or Fleet Submarine (Lake Type)</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_105">105</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Auxiliary Switchboard and Electric Cook-stove, in a U.&nbsp;S. Submarine</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_107">107</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Forward Deck of a U. S. Submarine, in Cruising Trim</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_109">109</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Same, Preparing to Submerge</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_110">110</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Depth-control Station, U. S. Submarine</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_113">113</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Cross-section of a Periscope</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_114">114</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Forward Torpedo-compartment, U.&nbsp;S. Submarine</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_117">117</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Fessenden Oscillator Outside the Hull of a Ship</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_120">120</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Professor Fessenden Receiving a Message Sent Through Several Miles of Sea-water by His “Oscillator”</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_121">121</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Side-elevation of a Modern Submarine</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_127">127</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">One Type of Safety-jacket</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_131">131</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The <i>Vulcan</i> Salvaging the <i>U-3</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_134">134</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xv">xv</a></span></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Fulton’s Anchored Torpedoes</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_140">140</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Sinking of the U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;S. <i>Tecumseh</i>, by a Confederate Mine, in Mobile Bay</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_143">143</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">A Confederate “Keg-torpedo”</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_144">144</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">First Warship Destroyed by a Mine</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_145">145</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">A Confederate “Buoyant Torpedo” or Contact-mine</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_146">146</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Modern Contact-mine</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_150">150</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">U. S. Mine-planter <i>San Francisco</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_153">153</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">English Submarine Rescuing English Sailors</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_157">157</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Engagement Between the <i>Birmingham</i> and the <i>U-15</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_159">159</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Sinking of the <i>Aboukir</i>, <i>Cressy</i>, and <i>Hogue</i></td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_163">163</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Tiny Target Afforded by Periscopes in Rough Weather</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_167">167</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Photograph of a Submarine, Twenty Feet Below the Surface, Taken from the Aeroplane, Whose Shadow Is Shown in the Picture</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_173">173</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">German Submarine Pursuing English Merchantman</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_182">182</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">British Submarine, Showing One Type of Disappearing Deck-gun Now in Use</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_190">190</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3">3</a></span></p>
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><span class="larger">THE STORY OF THE SUBMARINE</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">IN THE BEGINNING</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">If</span> you had been in London in the year 1624, and had
-gone to the theater to see “The Staple of News,”
-a new and very dull comedy by Shakespeare’s friend Ben
-Jonson, you would have heard, in act <span class="smcap">III</span>, scene i, the
-following dialogue about submarines:</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4">4</a></span></p><div class="poem-container b1">
-<div class="poem">
-
-<div class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">Thomas</span></div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">They write hear one Cornelius’ son<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Hath made the Hollanders an invisible eel<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To swim the haven at Dunkirk and sink all<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The shipping there.<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">Pennyboy</span><br /></div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i20">But how is’t done?<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">Grabal</span><br /></div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I’ll show you, sir,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">It is an automa, runs under water<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With a snug nose, and has a nimble tail<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Made like an auger, with which tail she wriggles<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Betwixt the costs of a ship and sinks it straight.<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">Pennyboy</span><br /></div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Whence have you this news?<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">Fitton</span><br /></div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">From a right hand I assure you.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The eel-boats here, that lie before Queen-hythe<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Came out of Holland.<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="p1 center"><span class="smcap">Pennyboy</span><br /></div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i22">A most brave device<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To murder their flat bottoms.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The idea of submarine navigation is much older than
-1624. Crude diving bells, and primitive leather diving
-helmets, with bladders to keep the upper end of the air
-tube afloat on the surface of the water, were used as early
-as the fourteenth century. William Bourne, an Englishman
-who published a book on “Inventions or Devices”
-in 1578, suggested the military value of a boat that could
-be sailed just below the surface of the water, with a
-hollow mast for a ventilator. John Napier, Laird of
-Merchiston, the great Scotch mathematician who invented
-logarithms, wrote in 1596 about his proposed “Devices
-of sailing under the water, with divers other devices and
-stratagems for the burning of enemies.”</p>
-
-<p>But the first man actually to build and navigate a submarine
-was a Dutchman: the learned Doctor Cornelius
-Van Drebel.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> He was “a native of Alkmaar, a very
-fair and handsome man, and of very gentle manners.”
-Both his pleasing personality and his knowledge of science&mdash;which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5">5</a></span>
-caused many to suspect him of being a
-magician&mdash;made the Netherlander an honored guest
-at the court of his most pedantic Majesty, King James I
-of England.</p>
-
-<p>Van Drebel was
-walking along the
-banks of the
-Thames, one pleasant
-evening in the
-year 1620, when he
-“noticed some sailors
-dragging behind
-their barques baskets
-full of fish; he saw
-that the barques were
-weighed down in the
-water, but that they
-rose a little when the
-baskets allowed the
-ropes which held
-them to slacken a
-little. The idea occurred
-to him that a
-ship could be held
-under water by a
-somewhat similar method and could be propelled by oars
-and poles.”<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a></p>
-
-<div id="ip_5" class="figcenter" style="width: 414px;">
- <img src="images/i_005.jpg" width="414" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">Cornelius Van Drebel.</div>
-
- <div class="caption smaller notbold">Reproduced from “Submarine Navigation,
- Past and Present” by Alan H. Burgoyne,
- by permission of E.&nbsp;P. Dutton &amp; Company.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Lodged by the king in Eltham Palace, and supplied
-with funds from the royal treasury, Van Drebel designed
-and built three submarine boats, between 1620 and 1624.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6">6</a></span>
-They were simply large wooden rowboats, decked over
-and made water-tight by a covering of thick, well-greased
-leather. Harsdoffer, a chronicler of the period,
-declared that</p>
-
-<p>“King James himself journeyed in one of them on
-the Thames. There were on this occasion twelve rowers
-besides the passengers, and the vessel during several
-hours was kept at a depth of twelve to fifteen feet below
-the surface.”</p>
-
-<p>Another contemporary historian, Cornelius Van der
-Wonde, of Van Drebel’s home town, said of him:</p>
-
-<p>“He built a ship in which one could row and navigate
-under water from Westminster to Greenwich, the distance
-of two Dutch miles; even five or six miles or as far as
-one pleased. In this boat a person could see under the
-surface of the water and without candle-light, as much
-as he needed to read in the Bible or any other book. Not
-long ago this remarkable ship was yet to be seen lying in
-the Thames or London river.”</p>
-
-<p>The glow of phosphorescent bodies, suggested by the
-monk Mersenne for illuminating the interior of a submarine,
-later in the seventeenth century and actually so
-used by Bushnell in the eighteenth, might have furnished
-sufficient light for Bible-&nbsp;and compass-reading on this
-voyage. But how did King James&mdash;the first and last
-monarch to venture on an underwater voyage&mdash;the other
-passengers, and the twelve rowers get enough air?</p>
-
-<p>“That deservedly Famous Mechanician and Chymist,
-Cornelius Drebell ... conceived, that ’tis not only the
-whole body of the air but a certain Quintessence (as
-Chymists speake) or spirituous part that makes it fit for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">7</a></span>
-respiration ... so that (for aught I could gather) besides
-the Mechanicall contrivance of his vessel he had a
-Chymicall liquor, which he accounted the chief secret
-of his Submarine Navigation. For when from time to
-time he perceived that the finer and purer part of the air
-was consumed or over-clogged by the respiration and
-steames of those that went in his ship, he would, by
-unstopping a vessel full of liquor speedily restore to the
-troubled air such a proportion of vital parts as would
-make it again for a good while fit for Respiration.”<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a></p>
-
-<p>Did Van Drebel anticipate by one hundred and fifty
-years the discovery of oxygen: the life-giving “Quintessence”
-of air? Even if he did, it is incredible that he
-should have found a liquid, utterly unknown to modern
-chemistry, capable of giving off that gas so freely that
-a few gallons would restore the oxygen to a confined body
-of air as fast as fifteen or twenty men could consume it
-by breathing. Perhaps his “Chymicall liquor” instead
-of producing oxygen directly, increased the proportion
-of it in the atmosphere by absorbing the carbonic acid
-gas.</p>
-
-<p>The Abbé de Hautefeullie, who wrote in 1680 on
-“Methods of breathing under water,” made the following
-shrewd guess at the nature of the apparatus:</p>
-
-<p>“Drebel’s secret was probably the machine which I
-had imagined, consisting of a bellows with two valves
-and two tubes resting on the surface of the water, the one
-bringing down air and the other sending it back. By
-speaking of a volatile essence which restored the nitrous<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8">8</a></span>
-parts consumed by respiration, Drebel evidently wished
-to disguise his invention and prevent others from finding
-out its real nature.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_8" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_008.jpg" width="600" height="275" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Scientific American.</div>
- <div class="caption">The <i>Rotterdam Boat</i>.</div></div>
-
-<p>It is a very great pity that we know no more about
-these earliest submarines. Cornelius Van Drebel died
-in 1634, at the age of sixty-two, without leaving any
-written notes or oral descriptions. We must not think
-too hardly of this inventor of three centuries ago, unguarded
-by patent laws, for making a mystery of his
-discoveries. He had to be a showman as well as a scientist,
-or his noble patrons would have lost all interest in
-his “ingenious machines,” and mystery is half of the
-showman’s game. Besides his “eel-boats,” Van Drebel
-is said to have invented a wonderful globe with which
-he imitated perpetual motion and illustrated the course
-of the sun, moon, and stars; an incubator, a refrigerator,
-“Virginals that played of themselves,” and other marvels
-too numerous to mention. Half scientist, half charlatan,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">9</a></span>
-wholly medieval in appearance, with his long furred gown
-and long, fair beard, Cornelius Van Drebel marches picturesquely
-at the head of the procession of inventors who
-have made possible the modern submarine.</p>
-
-<p>Eighteen years after Van Drebel’s death, a Frenchman
-named Le Son built a submarine at Rotterdam. This
-craft, which is usually referred to as the <i>Rotterdam
-Boat</i>, was 72 feet long, 12 feet high, and of 8 foot beam.
-It was built of wood, with sharply tapering ends, and had
-a superstructure whose sloping sides were designed to
-deflect cannon balls that might be fired at the boat while
-traveling on the surface, while iron-shod legs protected
-the hull when resting on the sea bottom. A single paddle-wheel
-amidships was to propel the boat,&mdash;just how, the
-inventor never revealed. Like so many other submarines,
-the <i>Rotterdam Boat</i> was built primarily to be
-used against the British fleet. But it failed to interest
-either the Dutch or French minister of marine, and never
-went into action.</p>
-
-<p>The earliest known contemporary picture of a submarine
-vessel appeared in the “Gentleman’s Magazine,”
-in 1747. It showed a cross section of an underwater
-boat built and navigated on the Thames by one Symons.
-This was a decked-over row-boat, propelled by four pairs
-of oars working in water-tight joints of greased leather.
-To submerge his vessel, Symons admitted water into a
-number of large leather bottles, placed inside the hull
-with their open mouth passing through holes in the bottom.
-When he wished to rise, he would squeeze out
-the water with a lever and bind up the neck of each
-emptied bottle with string. This ingenious device was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">10</a></span>
-not original with Mr. Symons, but was invented by a
-Frenchman named Borelli in 1680.</p>
-
-<p>Submarine navigation was a century and a half old
-before it claimed its first victim. J. Day, an English
-mechanic, rebuilt a small boat so that he was able to
-submerge it in thirty feet of water, with himself on
-board, and remain there for twenty-four hours with no
-ill effect. At the end of this time, Day rose to the surface,
-absolutely certain of his ability to repeat the experiment
-at any depth. But how could he turn this to
-practical account?</p>
-
-<div id="ip_10" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_010.jpg" width="600" height="297" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">Symons’s Submarine.</div></div>
-
-<p>It was an age of betting, when gentlemen could always
-be found to risk money on any wager, however fantastic.
-Day found a financial backer in a Mr. Blake, who
-advanced him the money to buy a fifty-ton sloop and
-fit it with a strong water-tight compartment amidships.
-Ten tons of ballast were placed in the hold and twenty
-more hung outside the hull by four iron rods passing
-through the passenger’s compartment. When the rest<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">11</a></span>
-of the boat was filled with water, it would sink to the
-bottom, to rise again when the man inside released the
-twenty tons of outer ballast.</p>
-
-<p>Shut in the water-tight compartment of this boat, Day
-sank to the bottom of Plymouth Harbor, at 2 <span class="smcap smaller">P.M.</span>, Tuesday,
-June 28, 1774, to decide a bet that he could remain
-twelve hours at a depth of twenty-two fathoms (132
-feet). When, at the expiration of this time, the submarine
-failed to reappear, Mr. Blake called on the captain
-of a near-by frigate for help. Bluejackets from the
-warship and workmen from the dockyard were set to
-work immediately to grapple for the sunken craft and
-raise her to the surface, but to no avail. The great
-pressure of water at that depth&mdash;150 feet is the limit
-of safety for many modern submarines&mdash;must have
-crushed in the walls of the water-tight compartment without
-giving Day time enough to release the outer ballast
-and rise to safety.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">12</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">DAVID BUSHNELL’S “TURTLE”</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">In</span> the first week of September, 1776, the American
-army defending New York still held Manhattan Island,
-but nothing more. Hastily improvised, badly
-equipped, and worse disciplined, it had been easily defeated
-by a superior invading force of British regulars
-and German mercenaries in the battle of Long Island.
-Brooklyn had fallen; from Montauk Point to the East
-River, all was the enemy’s country. Staten Island, too,
-was an armed and hostile land. After the fall of the
-forts on both sides of the Narrows, the British fleet
-had entered the Upper Bay, and even landed marines and
-infantry on Governor’s Island. Grimly guarding the
-crowded transports, the ship-of-the-line <i>Asia</i> and the
-frigate <i>Eagle</i> lay a little above Staten Island, with their
-broadsides trained on the doomed city.</p>
-
-<p>In the mouth of the North River, not a biscuit-toss
-from the Battery, floated the brass conning-tower of an
-American submarine.</p>
-
-<p>It was the only submarine in the world and its inventor
-called it the <i>Turtle</i>. He called it that because it
-looked like one: a turtle floating with its tail down and
-a conning-tower for a head. It has also been compared
-to a modern soldier’s canteen with an extra-large mouthpiece,
-or a hardshell clam wearing a silk hat. It was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">13</a></span>
-deeper than it was long and not much longer than it
-was broad. It had no periscope, torpedo tubes, or cage
-of white mice. But the <i>Turtle</i> was a submarine, for all
-that.</p>
-
-<p>Its inventor was a Connecticut Yankee, Mr. David
-Bushnell, later Captain
-Bushnell of the corps
-of sappers and miners
-and in the opinion of
-his Excellency General
-Washington “a man
-of great mechanical
-powers, fertile in invention
-and master of
-execution.” Bushnell
-was born in Saybrook
-and educated at Yale,
-where he graduated
-with the class of 1775.
-During his four years
-as an undergraduate,
-he spent most of his
-spare time solving the
-problem of exploding
-gunpowder under water.
-A water-tight case would keep his powder dry, but
-how could he get a spark inside to explode it? Percussion
-caps had not yet been invented, but Bushnell took the
-flintlock from a musket and had it snapped by clockwork
-that could be wound up and set for any desired length
-of time.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_13" class="figcenter" style="width: 380px;">
- <img src="images/i_013.jpg" width="380" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="caption vspace">The Submarine of 1776.<br />
- <span class="smaller">(As described by its operator.)</span></div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">14</a></span>
-“The first experiment I made,” wrote Bushnell in a
-letter to Thomas Jefferson when the latter was American
-minister to France in 1789, “was with about 2 ounces
-of powder, which I exploded 4 feet under water, to prove
-to some of the first personages in Connecticut that
-powder would take fire under water.</p>
-
-<p>“The second experiment was made with 2 lb. of
-powder enclosed in a wooden bottle and fixed under a
-hogshead, with a 2-inch oak plank between the hogshead
-and the powder. The hogshead was loaded with
-stones as deep as it could swim; a wooden pipe, descending
-through the lower head of the hogshead and through
-the plank into the bottle, was primed with powder. A
-match put to the priming exploded the powder, which
-produced a very great effect, rending the plank into
-pieces, demolishing the hogshead, and casting the stones
-and the ruins of the hogshead, with a body of water,
-many feet into the air, to the astonishment of the spectators.
-This experiment was likewise made for the satisfaction
-of the gentlemen above mentioned.”</p>
-
-<p>Governor Trumbull of Connecticut was among the
-“first personages” present at these experiments, which
-so impressed him and his council that they appropriated
-enough money for Bushnell to build the <i>Turtle</i>. The
-Nutmeg State was thus the first “world-power” to have
-a submarine in its navy.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a></p>
-
-<p>The hull of the <i>Turtle</i> was not made of copper, as is
-sometimes stated, but was “built of oak, in the strongest<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">15</a></span>
-manner possible, corked and tarred.”<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> The conning-tower
-was of brass and also served as a hatch-cover.
-The hatchway was barely big enough for the one man
-who made up the entire crew to squeeze through. Once
-inside, the operator could screw the cover down tight,
-and look out through “three round doors, one directly
-in front and one on each side, large enough to put the
-hand through. When open they admitted fresh air.”
-On top of the conning-tower were two air-pipes “so constructed
-that they shut themselves whenever the water
-rose near their tops, so that no water could enter through
-them and opened themselves immediately after they rose
-above the water.</p>
-
-<p>“The vessel was chiefly ballasted with lead fixed to its
-bottom; when this was not sufficient a quantity was
-placed within, more or less according to the weight of
-the operator; its ballast made it so stiff that there was
-no danger of oversetting. The vessel, with all its appendages
-and the operator, was of sufficient weight to settle
-it very low in the water. About 200 lb. of lead at
-the bottom for ballast could be let down 40 or 50 feet
-below the vessel; this enabled the operator to rise instantly
-to the surface of the water in case of accident.”</p>
-
-<p>The operator sat on an oaken brace that kept the two
-sides of the boat from being crushed in by the water-pressure,
-and did things with his hands and feet. He
-must have been as busy as a cathedral organist on Easter
-morning. With one foot he opened a brass valve that let<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16">16</a></span>
-water into the ballast tanks, with the other he worked
-a force pump to drive it out. When he had reached an
-approximate equilibrium, he could move the submarine
-up or down, or hold it at any desired depth, by cranking
-a small vertical-acting propellor placed just forward of
-the conning-tower on the deck above. Before him was
-the crank of another propellor, or rather tractor, for it
-drew, not pushed, the vessel forward. Behind him was
-the rudder, which the operator controlled with a long
-curved tiller stuck under one arm.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_16" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_016.jpg" width="600" height="227" alt="" />
- <div class="caption vspace">The Best-known Picture of Bushnell’s <i>Turtle</i>.<br />
- <span class="smaller">Drawn by Lieutenant F. M. Barber, U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;N., in 1875.</span></div></div>
-
-<p>Bushnell, in his letter to Jefferson, calls each of these
-propellors “an oar, formed upon the principle of the
-screw,” and the best-known picture of the <i>Turtle</i> shows
-a bearded gentleman in nineteenth-century clothes boring
-his way through the water with two big gimlets. But
-Sergeant Ezra Lee of the Connecticut Line, who did the
-actual operating, described the submarine’s forward propellor
-(he makes no mention of the other) as having two
-wooden blades or “oars, of about 12 inches in length
-and 4 or 5 in width, shaped like the arms of a windmill.”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">17</a></span>
-Except in size, this device must have looked very
-much like the wooden-bladed tractor of a modern aeroplane.</p>
-
-<p>“These oars,” noted Judge Griswold on the letter
-before forwarding it to General Humphrey, “were fixed
-on the end of a shaft like windmill arms projected out
-forward, and turned at right angles with the course of
-the machine; and upon the same principles that wind-mill
-arms are turned by the wind, these oars, when put in
-motion as the writer describes, draw the machine slowly
-after it. This moving power is small, and every attendant
-circumstance must coöperate with it to answer the
-purpose&mdash;calm waters and no current.”</p>
-
-<p>“With hard labor,” said Lee, “the machine might be
-impelled at the rate of ‘3 nots’ an hour for a short
-time.”</p>
-
-<p>Sergeant Lee volunteered “to learn the ways and mystery
-of this new machine” because the original operator,
-Bushnell’s brother, “was taken sick in the campaign of
-1776 at New York before he had an opportunity to make
-use of his skill, and never recovered his health sufficiently
-afterwards.” While Lee was still struggling with the
-“mystery” in practice trips on Long Island Sound, the
-British fleet entered New York Harbor. The submarine
-was at once hurried to New Rochelle, carted overland to
-the Hudson, and towed down to the city.</p>
-
-<p>At slack tide on the first calm night after his arrival,
-Lee screwed down the conning-tower of the <i>Turtle</i> above
-his head and set out to attack the British fleet.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> Two<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">18</a></span>
-whaleboats towed him as near as they dared and then
-cast off. Running awash, with not more than six or
-seven inches of the conning-tower exposed, the submarine
-crept, silent and unseen, down the bay and up under the
-towering stern of his Britannic Majesty’s 64-gun frigate
-<i>Eagle</i>.</p>
-
-<p>“When I rowed under the stern of the ship,” wrote
-Sergeant Lee in after years, “I could see the men on
-deck and hear them talk. I then shut down all the
-doors, sunk down and came under the bottom of the
-ship.”</p>
-
-<p>Up through the top of the submarine ran a long sharp
-gimlet, not for boring a hole through the bottom of a
-ship, but to be screwed into the wooden hull and left there,
-to serve as an anchor for a mine. Tied to the screw and
-carried on the after-deck of the <i>Turtle</i> was an egg-shaped
-“magazine,” made of two hollowed-out pieces of oak
-and containing one hundred and fifty pounds of gunpowder,
-with a clockwork time-fuse that would begin
-to run as soon as the operator cast off the magazine after
-making fast the screw. Everything seemed ready for
-Sergeant Lee to anticipate Lieutenant Commander Von
-Weddigen by one hundred and thirty-eight years.</p>
-
-<p>But no matter how hard the strong-wristed sergeant
-turned the handle, he could not drive the screw into the
-frigate’s hull. The <i>Eagle</i> was copper-sheathed!<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a></p>
-
-<p>“I pulled along to try another place,” said Lee, “but
-deviated a little to one side and immediately rose with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">19</a></span>
-great velocity and came above the surface 2 or 3 feet,
-between the ship and the daylight, then sunk again like
-a porpoise. I hove about to try again, but on further
-thought I gave out, knowing that as soon as it was light
-the ships’ boats would be rowing in all directions, and I
-thought the best generalship was to retreat as fast as I
-could, as I had 4 miles to go before passing Governor’s
-Island. So I jogg’d on as fast as I could.”</p>
-
-<p>To enable him to steer a course when submerged, Lee
-had before him a compass, most ingeniously illuminated
-with phosphorescent pieces of rotten wood. But for
-some reason this proved to be of no use.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_19" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_019.jpg" width="600" height="256" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">Another Idea of Bushnell’s <i>Turtle</i>.</div></div>
-
-<p>“I was obliged to rise up every few minutes to see
-that I sailed in the right direction, and for this purpose
-keeping the machine on the surface of the water and the
-doors open. I was much afraid of getting aground on
-the island, as the tide of the flood set on the north point.</p>
-
-<p>“While on my passage up to the city, my course, owing
-to the above circumstances, was very crooked and zig-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">20</a></span>zag,
-and the enemy’s attention was drawn towards me
-from Governor’s Island. When I was abreast of the
-fort on the island, 3 or 400 men got upon the parapet to
-observe me; at length a number came down to the shore,
-shoved off a 12 oar’d barge with 5 or 6 sitters and pulled
-for me. I eyed them, and when they had got within 50
-or 60 yards of me I let loose the magazine in hopes that
-if they should take me they would likewise pick up the
-magazine, and then we should all be blown up together.
-But as kind Providence would have it, they took fright
-and returned to the island to my infinite joy. I then
-weathered the island, and our people seeing me, came off
-with a whaleboat and towed me in. The magazine, after
-getting a little past the island, went off with a tremendous
-explosion, throwing up large bodies of water to an immense
-height.”</p>
-
-<p>A few days afterwards, the British forces landed on
-Manhattan Island at what is now the foot of East Thirty-fourth
-Street, and Washington’s army hastily withdrew
-to the Harlem Heights, above One Hundred and Twenty-fifth
-Street. A British frigate sailed up the Hudson and
-anchored off Bloomingdale, or between Seventy-second
-and One Hundred and Tenth Streets, in the same waters
-where our Atlantic fleet lies whenever it comes to town.
-Here Sergeant Lee in the <i>Turtle</i> made two more attempts.
-But the first time he was discovered by the watch, and
-when he approached again, submerged, the phosphorus-painted
-cork that served as an indicator in his crude but
-ingenious depth-gage, got caught and deceived him so
-that he dived completely under the warship without touching
-her. Shortly after this, the frigate came up the river,
-overhauled the sloop on which the <i>Turtle</i> was being transported,
-and sent it to the bottom, submarine and all.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">21</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_21" class="figcenter" style="width: 471px;">
- <img src="images/i_021.jpg" width="471" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">Ezra Lee.<br />
- Born at Lyme, Conn., Jan. 21, 1749,<br />
- Died at Lyme, Conn., Oct. 29, 1821.</div>
-
- <div class="captionh">From original painting in possession of his descendant, Mrs. Daniel
-Whitney, 5117 Pulaski Avenue, Germantown, Pa.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">22</a></span>
-“Though I afterwards recovered the vessel,” Bushnell
-wrote to Jefferson, “I found it impossible at that time
-to prosecute the design any further. I had been in a bad
-state of health from the beginning of my undertaking,
-and was now very unwell; the situation of public affairs
-was such that I despaired of obtaining the public attention
-and the assistance necessary. I was unable to support
-myself and the persons I must have employed had I
-proceeded. Besides, I found it absolutely necessary that
-the operators should acquire more skill in the management
-of the vessel before I could expect success, which
-would have taken up some time, and no small additional
-expense. I therefore gave over the pursuit for that time
-and waited for a more favorable opportunity, which never
-arrived.</p>
-
-<p>“In the year 1777 I made an attempt from a whaleboat
-against the <i>Cerberus</i> frigate, then lying at anchor
-between Connecticut River and New London, by drawing
-a machine against her side by means of a line. The machine
-was loaded with powder, to be exploded by a gun-lock,
-which was to be unpinioned by an apparatus to be
-turned by being brought alongside of the frigate. This
-machine fell in with a schooner at anchor astern of the
-frigate, and concealed from my sight. By some means
-or other it was fired, and demolished the schooner and
-three men, and blew the only one left alive overboard,
-who was taken up very much hurt.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">23</a></span>
-“After this I fixed several kegs under water, charged
-with powder, to explode upon touching anything as they
-floated along with the tide. I set them afloat in the
-Delaware, above the English shipping at Philadelphia, in
-December, 1777. I was unacquainted with the river, and
-obliged to depend upon a gentleman very imperfectly
-acquainted with that part of it, as I afterwards found.
-We went as near the shipping as we durst venture; I believe
-the darkness of the night greatly deceived him, as
-it did me. We set them adrift to fall with the ebb upon
-the shipping. Had we been within sixty rods I believe
-they must have fallen in with them immediately, as I
-designed; but, as I afterwards found, they were set adrift
-much too far distant, and did not arrive until, after being
-detained some time by frost, they advanced in the day-time
-in a dispersed situation and under great disadvantages.
-One of them blew up a boat with several persons
-in it who imprudently handled it too freely, and thus gave
-the British the alarm which brought on the battle of the
-kegs.”</p>
-
-<p>The agitated redcoats lined the banks and blazed away
-at every bit of drifting wreckage in the river, as described
-by a sarcastic Revolutionary poet in “The Battle
-of the Kegs.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">24</a></span></p><div class="poem-container">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Gallants attend, and hear a friend<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Troll forth harmonious ditty,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Strange things I’ll tell that once befell<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In Philadelphia city.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">’Twas early day, as poets say,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Just as the sun was rising,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A soldier stood on a log of wood<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And saw a thing surprising.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">As in amaze he stood to gaze,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The truth can’t be denied, sir,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">He spied a score of kegs or more<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Come floating down the tide, sir.<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="tb">* <span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
-
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">These kegs, I’m told, the rebels hold<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Packed up like pickled herring,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And they’re coming down to attack the town,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In this new way of ferrying.<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="tb">* <span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
-
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Therefore prepare for bloody war,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The kegs must all be routed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or surely we despised shall be<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And British valor doubted.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">The royal band now ready stand<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All ranged in dread array, sir,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With stomach stout to see it out<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And make a bloody day, sir.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">The cannon roar from shore to shore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The small arms make a rattle,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Since wars began, I’m sure no man<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">E’er saw so strange a battle.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">The kegs, ’tis said, though strongly made,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of rebel staves and hoops, sir,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Could not oppose their powerful foes,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The conquering British troops, sir.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>David Bushnell was later captured by the British, who
-failed to recognize him and soon released him as a harmless<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">25</a></span>
-civilian. After the Revolution he went to France,
-and then to Georgia, where disgusted with the Government’s
-neglect of himself and his invention he changed
-his name to “Dr. Bush.” He was eighty-four years old
-when he died in 1826. His identity was then revealed
-in his will.</p>
-
-<p>Bushnell found the submarine boat a useless plaything
-and made it a formidable weapon. To him it owes the
-propellor, the conning-tower, and the first suggestion of
-the torpedo. The <i>Turtle</i> was not only the first American
-submarine but the forerunner of the undersea destroyer
-of to-day.</p>
-
-<p>“I thought and still think that it was an effort of
-genius,” declared George Washington to Thomas Jefferson,
-“but that too many things were necessary to be
-combined to expect much against an enemy who are always
-on guard.”</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">26</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">ROBERT FULTON’S “NAUTILUS”</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap b"><span class="smcap1">Robert</span> Fulton was probably the first American
-who ever went to Paris for the purpose of selling
-war-supplies to the French government. Unlike his compatriots
-of to-day, he found anything but a ready market.
-For three years, beginning in 1797, Fulton tried constantly
-but vainly to interest the Directory in his plans
-for a submarine. Though a commission appointed to
-examine his designs reported favorably, the minister of
-marine would have nothing to do with them. Fulton
-built a beautiful little model submarine of mahogany and
-exhibited it, but with no results. He made an equally
-fruitless attempt to sell his invention to Holland, then
-called the Batavian Republic. Nobody seemed to have
-the slightest belief or interest in submarines.</p>
-
-<p>But Fulton was a persistent man or he would never
-have got his name into the history books. He stayed in
-Paris, where his friend Joel Barlow was American minister,
-and supported himself by inventing and exhibiting
-what he called “the pictures”: the first moving pictures
-the world had ever seen. These were panoramas, where
-the picture was not thrown on the screen by a lantern but
-painted on it, and the long roll of painted canvas was
-unrolled like a film between two large spools on opposite<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">27</a></span>
-sides of the stage. Very few people remember that
-Robert Fulton invented the panorama, though only a
-generation ago the great panorama of the battle of
-Gettysburg drew and thrilled as large audiences as a
-film like “The Birth of a Nation” does to-day. Fulton
-painted his own panoramas himself, for he was an artist
-before he was an engineer. He made three of them and
-had to build a separate little theater to show each one in.
-The Parisians were so well pleased with this novelty that
-they made up a song about the panoramas, and the street
-where the most popular of the three was shown is still
-called “La Rue Fulton.” The picture that won the inventor
-this honor was a panorama of the burning of
-Moscow&mdash;not the burning of the city to drive out Napoleon,
-for that came a dozen years later, but an earlier
-conflagration, some time in the eighteenth century.</p>
-
-<p>Napoleon overthrew the Directory and became First
-Consul and absolute ruler of France in 1800. He appointed
-three expert naval engineers to examine Fulton’s
-plans, and on their approval, Napoleon advanced him
-10,000 francs to build a submarine.</p>
-
-<p>Construction was begun at once and the boat was finished
-in May, 1801. She was a remarkably modern-looking
-craft, and a great improvement on everything
-that had gone before. She was the first submarine to
-have a fish-shaped, metal hull. It was built of copper
-plating on iron ribs, and was 21 feet 3 inches long and
-6 feet 5 inches in diameter at the thickest point, which
-was well forward. A heavy keel gave stability and immediately
-above it were the water-ballast tanks for submerging
-the vessel. Two men propelled the boat when<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">28</a></span>
-beneath the surface by turning a hand-winch geared to
-the shaft of a two-bladed, metal propellor. (Fulton
-called the propellor a “fly,” and got the idea of it from
-the little windmill-shaped device placed in the throat of
-an old-fashioned fireplace to be revolved by the hot air
-passing up the chimney and used to turn the roasting-spit
-in many a French kitchen for centuries past.) The
-third member of the crew stood in the dome-shaped conning-tower
-and steered, while Fulton himself controlled
-the pumps, valves, and the diving-planes or horizontal
-rudders that steered the submarine up and down. Instead
-of forcing his boat under with a vertical-acting
-screw, like Bushnell and Nordenfelt (see pages 16 and 62),<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">29</a></span>
-Fulton, like Holland, made her dive bow-foremost by depressing
-her nose with the diving-planes and shoving her
-under by driving her ahead. Fulton was also the first
-to give a submarine separate means of propulsion for
-above and below the surface. Just as a modern undersea
-boat uses oil-engines whenever it can and saves its
-storage batteries for use when submerged, Fulton spared
-the strength of his screw by rigging the <i>Nautilus</i> with
-a mast and sail. By pulling a rope from inside the
-vessel, the sail could be shut up like a fan, and the
-hinged mast lowered and stowed away in a groove on
-deck. Later a jib was added to the mainsail, and the
-two combined gave the <i>Nautilus</i> a surface speed of two
-knots an hour. She is the only submarine on record
-that could go faster below the water than above it, for
-her two-man-power propellor bettered this by half a knot.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_28" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_028.jpg" width="600" height="529" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">The <i>Nautilus</i>, Invented by Robert Fulton.</div>
-
- <div class="captionh j">A-B, Hull; C-D, Keel; E-E, Pumps; F, Conning Tower; G, Bulkhead; H, Propellor;
-I, Vertical Rudder; L, Horizontal Rudder (diving-plane); M,
-Pivot attaching horizontal to vertical rudder; N, Gear controlling horizontal
-rudder; O, “Horn of the <i>Nautilus</i>;” P, Torpedo; Q, Hull of vessel attacked;
-X, Anchor; Y, Mast and sail for use on surface.
-</div></div>
-
-<p>Her method of attack was the same as the <i>Turtle’s</i>.
-Up through the top of the conning-tower projected what
-Fulton called the “Horn of the Nautilus.” This was
-an eyeleted spike, to be driven into the bottom of a hostile
-ship and left there. From a windlass carried in a water-tight
-forward compartment of the submarine, a thin,
-strong tow-rope ran through the eyehole in the spike to
-the trigger of a flintlock inside a copper case nearly full
-of gunpowder, which was not carried on deck, as on the
-<i>Turtle</i>, but towed some distance astern. As soon as this
-powder-case came to a full stop against the spike, the
-tow-rope would pull the trigger.</p>
-
-<p>Robert Fulton felt the lack of a distinctive name for
-such an under-water charge of explosives, till he thought
-of its likeness to the electric ray, that storage battery<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">30</a></span>
-of a fish that gives a most unpleasant shock to any one
-touching it. So he took the first half of this creature’s
-scientific name: <i>Torpedo electricus</i>. Fulton had a knack
-for picking good names. He called his submarine the
-<i>Nautilus</i> because it had a sail which it opened and folded
-away even as the beautiful shellfish of that name was
-supposed to furl and unfurl its large, sail-like membrane.</p>
-
-<p>On her first trial on the Seine at Paris, in May, 1801,
-the <i>Nautilus</i> remained submerged for twenty minutes
-with Fulton and one other man on board, and a lighted
-candle for them to navigate by. This consumed too
-much air, however, so a small glass window was placed
-in the conning-tower, and gave light enough instead.
-Four men were then able to remain under for an hour.
-After that, Fulton made the first compressed-air tank,
-a copper globe containing a cubic foot of compressed
-air, by drawing on which the submarine’s crew could
-stay under for six hours. This was in the harbor of
-Brest, where the <i>Nautilus</i> had been taken overland. A
-trial attack was made on an old bulk, which was successfully
-blown up. The submarine also proved its ability
-either to furl its sails and dive quickly out of sight, or to
-cruise for a considerable distance on the surface. Once
-it sailed for seventy miles down the English Channel.</p>
-
-<p>Fulton had planned a submarine campaign for scaring
-the British navy and merchant marine out of the narrow
-seas and so bringing Great Britain to her knees, more
-than a century before the German emperor proclaimed
-his famous “war zone” around the British Isles. In
-one of his letters to the Directory, the American inventor
-declared that:</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">31</a></span>
-“The enormous commerce of England, no less than its
-monstrous Government, depends upon its military marine.
-Should some vessels of war be destroyed by means so
-novel, so hidden, and so incalculable, the confidence of
-the seamen will vanish and the fleet will be rendered useless
-from the moment of the first terror.”</p>
-
-<p>To a friend in America, Fulton wrote from Paris on
-November 20, 1798:</p>
-
-<p>“I would ask any one if all the American difficulties
-during this war are not owing to the naval systems of
-Europe and a licensed robbery on the ocean? How then
-is America to prevent this? Certainly not by attempting
-to build a fleet to cope with the fleets of Europe, but if
-possible by rendering the European fleets useless.”</p>
-
-<p>Fulton began his campaign by an attack on two brigs,
-the nearest vessels of the English blockading fleet. But
-whenever the <i>Nautilus</i> left port for this purpose, both
-brigs promptly stood out to sea and remained there till
-the submarine went home. Unknown to Fulton, his actions
-were being closely watched by the English secret
-service, whose spies were always able to send a timely
-warning to the British fleet. During the day time, when
-the <i>Nautilus</i> was about, the warships were kept under full
-sail, with lookouts in the crosstrees watching with telescopes
-for the first glimpse of its sail or conning-tower.
-At night, the frigates and ships-of-the-line were guarded
-by picket-boats rowing round and round them, just as
-modern dreadnoughts are guarded by destroyers.</p>
-
-<p>Disappointed by the lack of results, the French naval
-authorities refused either to let Fulton build a larger
-and more efficient submarine, or to grant commissions in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">32</a></span>
-the navy to him and his crew. He wanted some assurance
-that in case they were captured they would not be
-hanged by the British, who then as now denounced submarine
-warfare by others as little better than piracy. To
-guarantee their own safety, Fulton proposed that the
-French government threaten to retaliate by hanging an
-equal number of English prisoners, but it was pointed out
-to him that this would only lead to further executions
-by the British, who had many more French prisoners of
-war than there were captive Englishmen in France.</p>
-
-<p>Napoleon had lost faith in the submarine, nor could
-Fulton interest him in a steamboat which he now built
-and operated on the Seine, till it was sunk by the weight
-of the machinery breaking the hull in two. So Fulton
-quit France and crossed over to England, where Mr.
-Pitt, the prime minister, was very much interested in his
-inventions.</p>
-
-<p>Fulton succeeded in planting one of his torpedoes under
-an old empty Danish brig, the <i>Dorothea</i>, in Deal Harbor,
-in front of Walmer Castle, Pitt’s own residence, on October
-15, 1805. The prime minister had had to hurry
-back to London, but there were many naval officers
-present, and one of them declared loudly that he would
-be quite unconcerned if he were sitting at dinner at that
-moment in the cabin of the <i>Dorothea</i>. Ten minutes later
-the clockwork ran out and the torpedo exploded, breaking
-the brig in two amidships and hurling the fragments
-high in the air. The success of this experiment
-was not entirely pleasing to the heads of the British navy.
-Their opinion was voiced by Admiral Lord St. Vincent,
-who declared that:</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">33</a></span>
-“Pitt was the greatest fool that ever existed, to encourage
-a mode of war which they who command the
-seas did not want and which if successful would deprive
-them of it.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_33" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_033.jpg" width="600" height="562" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><p>Destruction of the <i>Dorothea</i>.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">From a woodcut by Robert Fulton.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Six days after the destruction of the <i>Dorothea</i>, the sea-power
-of France was broken by Nelson at the battle
-of Trafalgar. Napoleon now gave up all hope of gaining
-the few hours’ control of the Channel that would
-have enabled him to invade England, and broke up the
-camp of his Grand Army that had waited so long at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34">34</a></span>
-Boulogne. With this danger gone, England was no
-longer interested in submarines and torpedoes. So Fulton
-returned to America, to build the <i>Clairmont</i> and win
-his place in history. But to him, steam navigation was
-far less important than submarine warfare. In the letter
-to his old friend Joel Barlow, dated New York, August
-22, 1807, in which he described the first voyage of the
-<i>Clairmont</i> up the Hudson, Fulton said:</p>
-
-<p>“However, I will not admit that it is half so important
-as the torpedo system of defense or attack, for out of this
-will grow the liberty of the seas&mdash;an object of infinite
-importance to the welfare of America and every civilized
-country. But thousands of witnesses have now seen the
-steamboat in rapid movement and they believe; but they
-have not seen a ship of war destroyed by a torpedo, and
-they do not believe. We cannot expect people in general
-to have knowledge of physics or power to reason from
-cause to effect, but in case we have war and the enemy’s
-ships come into our waters, if the government will give
-me reasonable means of action, I will soon convince the
-world that we have surer and cheaper modes of defense
-than they are aware of.”</p>
-
-<p>Fulton had been having his troubles with the navy department.
-Soon after his return to this country he had
-made his usual demonstration of torpedoing a small anchored
-vessel, but it was not until 1810 that he was given
-the opportunity to make a test attack on a United States
-warship. But stout old Commodore Rogers, who had
-been entrusted with the defense of the brig <i>Argus</i>, under
-which Fulton was to plant a torpedo, anchored the vessel
-in shallow water, stretched a tight wall of spars and netting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">35</a></span>
-all round her, and successfully defied the inventor
-to blow her up. Even a modern destroyer or submarine
-would be puzzled to get past this defense. Though compelled
-to admit his failure, Fulton pointed out that “a
-system then in its infancy, which compelled a hostile
-vessel to guard herself by such extraordinary means,
-could not fail of becoming a most important mode of warfare.”</p>
-
-<p>It was a great triumph for conservatism&mdash;the same
-spirit of conservatism that threatens to send our navy
-into its next war with no battle-cruisers, too few scouts
-and sea-planes, and the slowest dreadnoughts in the world.
-Though Fulton published a wonderful little book on
-“Torpedo War and Submarine Explosions” in New
-York in 1810, the United States navy made no use of it
-in the War of 1812. A privateer submarine from Connecticut
-made three dives under the British battleship
-<i>Ramillies</i> off New London, but failed to attach a torpedo
-for the old reason: copper sheathing. Further attacks
-were prevented by the captain of the <i>Ramillies</i>, who gave
-notice that he had had a number of American prisoners
-placed on board as hostages. Fulton himself was hard
-at work superintending the building both of the <i>Demologos</i>,
-the first steam-propelled battleship, and the <i>Mute</i>,
-a large armored submarine that was to carry a silent engine
-and a crew of eighty men, when he died in 1815.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">36</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">SUBMARINES IN THE CIVIL WAR</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> most powerful battleship in the world, half a
-century ago, was the U.S.S. <i>New Ironsides</i>. She
-was a wooden-hulled, ship-rigged steamer of 3486 tons
-displacement&mdash;about one tenth the size of a modern
-superdreadnought&mdash;her sides plated with four inches
-of iron armor, and carrying twenty heavy guns. On the
-night of October 5, 1863, the <i>New Ironsides</i> was on blockade
-duty off Charleston Harbor, when Ensign Howard,
-the officer of the deck, saw something approaching that
-looked like a floating plank. He hailed it, and was answered
-by a rifle ball that stretched him, mortally
-wounded, on the deck. An instant later came the flash
-and roar of a tremendous explosion, a column of water
-shot high into the air alongside, and the <i>New Ironsides</i>
-was shaken violently from stem to stern.</p>
-
-<p>The Confederate submarine <i>David</i> had crept up and
-driven a spar-torpedo against Goliath’s armor.</p>
-
-<p>But except for a few splintered timbers, a flooded engine-room,
-and a marine’s broken leg, no damage had
-been done. As the Confederate craft was too close and
-too low in the water for the broadside guns to bear, the
-crew of the ironclad lined the rail and poured volley
-after volley of musketry into their dimly seen adversary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">37</a></span>
-till she drifted away into the night. Her crew of seven
-men had dived overboard at the moment of impact, and
-were all picked up by different vessels of the blockading
-fleet, except the engineer and one other, who swam back
-to the <i>David</i>, started her engine again, and brought her
-safely home to Charleston.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_37" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_037.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><p>Views of a Confederate <i>David</i>.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">From Scharf’s History of the Confederate States Navy.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>The <i>David</i> was a cigar-shaped steam launch, fifty-four
-feet long and six feet broad at the thickest point. Projecting
-from her bow was a fifteen-foot spar, with a torpedo
-charged with sixty pounds of gunpowder at the end
-of it. This was exploded by the heat given off by certain
-chemicals, after they were shaken up together by the impact
-of the torpedo against the enemy’s ship. The <i>David</i>,
-steaming at her full speed of seven knots an hour, struck
-squarely against the <i>New Ironsides</i> at the water-line and
-rebounded to a distance of seven or eight feet before
-this clumsy detonator could do its work. When the explosion<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38">38</a></span>
-came, the intervening body of water prevented it
-from doing any great damage.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>David</i> was not a true submarine but a surface torpedo
-boat, that could be submerged till only the funnel
-and a small pilot-house were exposed. A number of
-other <i>Davids</i> were built and operated by the Confederate
-States navy, but the first of them was the only one to
-accomplish anything.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_38" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_038.jpg" width="600" height="340" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><p>C.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;S. <i>Hundley</i>.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">The Only Submarine to sink a Hostile Warship before the Outbreak of
-the Present War.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>The one real submarine possessed by the Confederacy
-was not a <i>David</i>, though she is usually so called. This
-was the C.S.S. <i>Hundley</i>, a hand-power “diving-boat”
-not unlike Fulton’s <i>Nautilus</i>, but very much clumsier and
-harder to manage. She had ballast tanks and a pair
-of diving-planes for steering her up and down, and she
-was designed to attack an enemy’s ship by swimming
-under it, towing a torpedo that would explode on striking
-her opponent’s keel.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">39</a></span>
-The <i>Hundley</i> was built at Mobile, Alabama, by the
-firm of Hundley and McKlintock, named for the senior
-partner, and brought to Charleston on a flatcar. There
-she was manned by a crew of nine volunteers, eight of
-whom sat in a row and turned the cranks on the propellor-shaft,
-while the ninth man steered. There was no
-conning-tower and the forward hatchway had to be left
-open for the helmsman to look out of while running on
-the surface. On the <i>Hundley’s</i> first practice cruise, the
-wash from the paddle-wheels of a passing steamer poured
-suddenly down the open hatchway. Only the steersman
-and commanding officer, Lieutenant Payne, had time to
-save himself before the submarine sank, drowning the
-rest of her crew.</p>
-
-<p>The boat was raised and Payne took her out with a
-new crew. This time a sudden squall sank her before
-they could close the hatches, and Payne escaped, with two
-of his men. He tried a third time, only to be capsized
-off Fort Sumter, with the loss of four of his crew. On
-the fourth trip, the hatches were closed, the tanks filled,
-and an attempt was made to navigate beneath the surface.
-But the <i>Hundley</i> dived too suddenly, stuck her nose deep
-into the muddy bottom, and stayed there till her entire
-crew were suffocated. On the fifth trial she became entangled
-in the cable of an anchored vessel, with the same
-result.</p>
-
-<p>By this time the submarine’s victims numbered thirty-five,
-and the Confederates had nicknamed her the “Peripatetic
-Coffin.” But at the sixth call for volunteers, they
-still came forward. It was decided to risk no more lives
-on practice trips but to attack at once. In spite of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">40</a></span>
-protests of Mr. Hundley, the designer of the craft, her
-latest and last commander, Lieutenant Dixon of the 21st
-South Carolina Infantry, was ordered by General Beauregard
-to use the vessel as a surface torpedo-boat, submerged
-to the hatch-coaming and with the hatches open.
-A spar-torpedo, to be exploded by pulling a trigger with
-a light line running back into the boat, was mounted on the
-bow. Thus armed, and manned by Lieutenant Dixon,
-Captain Carlson, and five enlisted men of their regiment,
-the little <i>Hundley</i> put out over Charleston bar on the
-night of February 17, 1864, to attack some vessel of
-the blockading fleet. This proved to be the U.S.S.
-<i>Housatonic</i>, a fine new thirteen-gun corvette of 1264
-tons. What followed is best described by Admiral
-David Porter in his “Naval History of the Civil War.”</p>
-
-<p>“At about 8.45 <span class="smcap smaller">P.M.</span>, the officer of the deck on board
-the unfortunate vessel discovered something about 100
-yards away, moving along the water. It came directly
-towards the ship, and within two minutes of the time it
-was first sighted was alongside. The cable was slipped,
-the engines backed, and all hands called to quarters. But
-it was too late&mdash;the torpedo struck the <i>Housatonic</i> just
-forward of the mainmast, on the starboard side, on a line
-with the magazine. The man who steered her (the
-<i>Hundley</i>) knew where the vital spots of the steamer were
-and he did his work well. When the explosion took place
-the ship trembled all over as if by the shock of an earthquake,
-and seemed to be lifted out of the water, and then
-sank stern-foremost, heeling to port as she went
-down.”</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Hundley</i> was not seen after the explosion, and it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">41</a></span>
-was supposed that she had backed away and escaped.
-But when peace came, and Charleston Harbor was being
-cleared of the wrecks with which war had clogged it, the
-divers sent down to inspect the <i>Housatonic</i> found the
-<i>Hundley</i> lying beside her. Sucked in by the rush of the
-water through the hole her torpedo had made, she had
-been caught and dragged down by her own victim. All
-the <i>Hundley’s</i> crew were found dead within her. So
-perished the first and last submarine to sink a hostile warship,
-before the outbreak of the present war. A smaller
-underwater boat of the same type was privately built at
-New Orleans at the beginning of the war, lost on her trial
-trip, and not brought up again till after peace was declared.</p>
-
-<p>The North had a hand-power submarine, that was built
-at the Georgetown Navy Yard in 1862. It was designed
-by a Frenchman, whose name is now forgotten but who
-might have been a contemporary of Cornelius Van Drebel.
-Except that its hull was of steel instead of wood and
-greased leather, this first submarine of the United States
-navy was no better than an eel-boat of the seventeenth
-century. It was propelled by eight pairs of oars, with
-hinged blades that folded up like a book on the return
-stroke. The boat was thirty-five feet long and six in
-diameter, and was rowed by sixteen men. It was submerged
-by flooding ballast tanks. There was an oxygen
-tank and an apparatus for purifying the used air by blowing
-it over lime. A spar-torpedo was to be run out on
-rollers in the bow.</p>
-
-<p>Ten thousand dollars was paid to the inventor of this
-medieval leftover, and he prudently left the country before<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42">42</a></span>
-he could be called on to operate it, though he had
-been promised a reward of five thousand dollars for every
-Confederate ironclad he succeeded in blowing up. Like
-the first <i>Monitor</i>, this nameless submarine was lost in
-a storm off Cape Hatteras, while being towed by a
-steamer.</p>
-
-<p>After the loss of the <i>Housatonic</i>, the North built two
-semi-submersible steam torpedo-boats on the same idea
-as the <i>David</i>, but larger and faster. Both were armed
-with spar-torpedoes and fitted with ballast tanks to sink
-them very low in the water when they attacked. The
-smaller of the two, the <i>Stromboli</i>, could be submerged
-till only her pilot-house, smoke-stack, and one ventilator
-showed above the water. The other boat was called the
-<i>Spuyten Duyvil</i>. She could be sunk till her deck, which
-was covered with three inches of iron armor, was level
-with the water, but she bristled with masts, funnels, conning-towers,
-ventilators, and other excrescences that
-sprouted out of her hull at the most unexpected places.
-Neither of these craft was ever used in action.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">43</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">THE WHITEHEAD TORPEDO</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">How</span> best to float a charge of explosives against the
-hull of an enemy’s ship and there explode it is the
-great problem of torpedo warfare. The spar-torpedo,
-that did such effective work in the Civil War, was little
-more than a can of gunpowder on the end of a stick.
-This stick or spar was mounted usually on the bow of a
-steam-launch, either partially submerged, like the <i>David</i>,
-or boldly running on the surface over log-booms and
-through a hail of bullets and grapeshot, as when Lieutenant
-Cushing sank the Confederate ironclad <i>Albemarle</i>.
-Once alongside, the spar-torpedo was run out to its full
-length, raised, depressed, and finally fired by pulling different
-ropes. So small was the chance of success and so
-great the danger to the launch’s crew that naval officers
-and inventors all the world over sought constantly for
-some surer and safer way.</p>
-
-<p>Early in the sixties, an Austrian artillery officer attached
-to the coast defenses conceived the idea of sending
-out the launch without a crew. He made some drawings
-of a big toy boat, to be driven by steam or hot air or even
-by clockwork, and steered from the shore by long ropes.
-As it would have no crew, this boat could carry the explosives
-in its hull, and the spars which were to project
-from it in all directions would carry no torpedoes themselves<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44">44</a></span>
-but would serve to explode the boat’s cargo of
-guncotton by firing a pistol into it, as soon as one of the
-spars came into contact with the target. Before he could
-carry out his ideas any further, this officer died and his
-plans were turned over to Captain Lupuis of the Austrian
-navy. Lupuis experimented diligently with surface
-torpedoes till 1864, but found that he would have to discover
-some better steering-device than ropes from the
-shore and some other motive-power than steam or clockwork.
-So he consulted with Mr. Whitehead, the English
-manager of a firm of engine manufacturers at the seaport
-of Fiume.</p>
-
-<p>Whitehead gave the torpedo a fish-shaped hull, so that
-it could run beneath instead of on the surface. For motive-power
-he used compressed air, which proved much
-superior to either steam or clockwork. And by improving
-its rudders, he enabled the little craft to keep its course
-without the aid of guide-ropes from the shore. The chief
-defect of the first Whitehead torpedoes, which were finished
-and tried in 1866, was that they kept bobbing to the
-surface, or else they would dive too deep and pass harmlessly
-under the target. To correct this defect, Whitehead
-invented by 1868 what he called the “balance chamber.”
-Then, as now, each torpedo was divided into a
-number of separate compartments or chambers, and in
-one of these the inventor placed a most ingenious device
-for keeping the torpedo at a uniform depth. The contents
-of the balance-chamber was Whitehead’s great secret,
-and it was not revealed to the public for twenty years.</p>
-
-<p>The automobile or, as it was then called, the “submarine
-locomotive” torpedo was now a practicable,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">45</a></span>
-though by no means perfected, weapon, and the Austrian
-naval authorities gave it a thorough trial at Fiume in
-1868. Whitehead rigged up a crude ejecting tube on the
-bow of a gunboat, and successfully discharged two of
-his torpedoes at a yacht. The Austrian government
-promptly adopted the weapon, but could not obtain a
-monopoly of it, for Whitehead was a patriotic Englishman.
-The British admiralty invited him to England two
-years later, and after careful trials of its own, induced the
-English government to buy Whitehead’s secret and manufacturing
-rights for $45,000. Other nations soon added
-“Whiteheads” to their navies, and in 1873 there was
-built in Norway a large, fast steam launch for the express
-purpose of carrying torpedoes and discharging them
-at an enemy. Every one began to build larger and
-swifter launches, till they evolved the torpedo-boat and
-the destroyer of to-day.</p>
-
-<p>The torpedo itself has undergone a similar development
-in size and efficiency. The difference between the Whiteheads
-of forty-five years ago and those of to-day is strikingly
-shown in the following table:</p>
-
-<table id="torpedosizes" class="intact p1 b1" summary="Torpedo sizes">
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc b1" colspan="6"><span class="smcap">British Naval Torpedoes of 1870</span></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdc"><i>Length,<br />Feet</i></td>
- <td class="tdc"><i>Diameter,<br />Inches</i></td>
- <td class="tdc"><i>Charge,<br />Pounds</i></td>
- <td class="tdc"><i>Range,<br />Yards</i></td>
- <td class="tdc"><i>Speed,<br />Knots</i></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Large</td>
- <td class="tdc">14</td>
- <td class="tdc">16</td>
- <td class="tdc">67<br />guncotton</td>
- <td class="tdc">600</td>
- <td class="tdc">7.5</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Small</td>
- <td class="tdl intorp">13 10.58 in.</td>
- <td class="tdc">14</td>
- <td class="tdc">18<br />dynamite</td>
- <td class="tdc">200</td>
- <td class="tdc">8.5</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc p1 b1" colspan="6"><span class="smcap">British Naval Torpedoes of 1915</span></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Large</td>
- <td class="tdc">21</td>
- <td class="tdc">21</td>
- <td class="tdc">330<br />guncotton</td>
- <td class="tdc">12,000</td>
- <td class="tdc">48</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Small</td>
- <td class="tdc">18</td>
- <td class="tdc">18</td>
- <td class="tdc">200<br />guncotton</td>
- <td class="tdc">16,000</td>
- <td class="tdc">36</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">46</a></span>
-The length of a large modern torpedo, it will be observed,
-is only three inches less than that of Fulton’s
-famous submarine boat of 1801. A Whitehead torpedo
-is really a small automatic submarine, steered and controlled
-by the most ingenious and sensitive machinery,
-as surely as if it were manned by a crew of Lilliputian
-seamen.</p>
-
-<p>Projecting from the head is the “striker,” a rod which,
-when the torpedo runs into anything hard, is driven back
-in against a detonator or “percussion-cap” of fulminate
-of mercury. Just as the hammer of a toy “cap-pistol”
-explodes a paper cap, so the sudden shock of the in-driven
-striker explodes the fulminate, which is instantly expanded
-to more than two thousand times its former size.
-This, in turn, gives a severe blow to the surrounding
-“primer” of dry guncotton. The primer is exploded,
-and by its own expansion sets off the main charge of several
-hundred pounds of wet guncotton.</p>
-
-<p>The reason for this is that though wet guncotton is
-safe to handle because a very great shock is required
-to make it explode, dry guncotton is much less so, while a
-shell or torpedo filled with fulminate of mercury would
-be more dangerous to its owners than to their enemies,
-because the slightest jar might set it off prematurely.
-Every precaution is taken to prevent a torpedo’s exploding
-too soon and damaging the vessel from which it
-is fired.</p>
-
-<p>When the torpedo is shot out of the tube, by compressed
-air, like a pea from a pea-shooter, the striker is
-held fast by the “jammer”: a small propellor-shaped
-collar, whose blades begin to revolve as soon as they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">47</a></span>
-strike the water, till the collar has unscrewed itself and
-dropped off after the torpedo has traveled about forty
-feet. A copper pin that runs through the striker-rod
-is not removed but must be broken short off by a blow
-of considerable violence, such as would be given by running
-into a ship’s hull. As a third safeguard, there is a
-strong safety-catch, that must be released by hand, just
-before the torpedo is placed in the tube.</p>
-
-<p>The explosive charge of two or three hundred pounds
-of wet guncotton is called the “war-head.” In peace and
-for target-practice it is replaced by a dummy head of
-thick steel. The usual target is the space between two
-buoys moored a ship’s length or less apart. At the end
-of a practice run, the torpedo rises to the surface, where
-it can be recovered and used again. This is distinctly
-worth while, for a modern torpedo costs more than seven
-thousand dollars.</p>
-
-<p>Back of the war-head is the air-chamber, that contains
-the motive-power of this miniature submarine. The air
-is either packed into it by powerful pumps, on shore
-or shipboard, or else drawn from one of the storage
-flasks of compressed air, a number of which are carried
-on every submarine. The air-chamber of a modern
-torpedo is charged at a pressure of from 2000 to 2500
-pounds per square inch. As the torpedo leaves the tube,
-a lever on its back is struck and knocked over by a
-little projecting piece of metal, and the starting-valve
-of the air-chamber is opened. But if the compressed air
-were allowed to reach and start the engines at once, they
-would begin to revolve the propellors while they were
-still in the air inside the tube. This would cause the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">48</a></span>
-screws to “race,” or spin round too rapidly and perhaps
-break off. So there is a “delaying-valve,” which keeps
-the air away from the engines till another valve-lever is
-swung over by the impact of the water against a little
-metal flap.</p>
-
-<p>As the compressed air rushes through the pipe from the
-chamber to the engine-room, it passes through a “reducing-valve,”
-which keeps it from spurting at the start
-and lagging at the finish. By supplying the air to the
-engines at a reduced but uniform pressure, this device
-enables the torpedo to maintain the same speed throughout
-the run. At the same time the compressed air is
-heated by a small jet of burning oil, with a consequent
-increase in pressure, power, and speed, estimated at 30
-per cent. All these devices are kept not in the air-chamber
-itself but in the next compartment, the balance-chamber.</p>
-
-<p>Here is the famous little machine, once a close-kept
-secret but now known to all the world, that holds the
-torpedo at any desired depth. Think of a push-button,
-working in a tube open to the sea, with the water pressure
-pushing the button in and a spiral spring inside
-shoving it out. This push-button&mdash;called a “hydrostatic
-valve”&mdash;is connected by a system of levers with
-the two diving-planes or horizontal rudders that steer
-the torpedo up or down. By turning a screw, the spring
-can be adjusted to exert a force equal to the pressure of
-the water at any given depth. If the torpedo dives too
-deep, the increased water-pressure forces in the valve,
-moves the levers, raises the diving-planes, and steers the
-torpedo towards the surface. As the water pressure<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">49</a></span>
-grows less, the spring forces out the valve, depresses
-the diving-planes, and brings the miniature submarine
-down to its proper depth again. When his torpedoes
-grew too big to be controlled by the comparatively feeble
-force exerted by the hydrostatic valve, Whitehead invented
-the “servo-motor”: an auxiliary, compressed-air
-engine, less than five inches long, sensitive enough to
-respond to the slightest movement of the valve levers but
-strong enough to steer the largest torpedo, exactly as the
-steam steering-gear moves the huge rudder of an ocean
-liner.</p>
-
-<p>There is also a heavy pendulum, swinging fore and aft
-and attached to the diving-planes, that checks any sudden
-up-or-down movement of the torpedo by inclining
-the planes and restoring the horizontal position.</p>
-
-<p>Next comes the engine-room, with its three-cylinder
-motor, capable of developing from thirty-five to fifty-five
-horse-power. The exhaust air from the engine passes
-out through the stern in a constant stream of bubbles,
-leaving a broad white streak on the surface of the water
-as the torpedo speeds to its mark.</p>
-
-<p>The aftermost compartment is called the buoyancy
-chamber. Besides adding to the floatability of the torpedo,
-this space also holds the engine shaft and the gear
-attaching it to the twin propellors. The first Whiteheads
-were single-screw boats. But the revolution of
-the propellor in one direction set up a reaction that caused
-the torpedo itself to partially revolve or heel over in the
-other, disturbing its rudders and swerving it from its
-course. This reaction is neutralized by using two propellers,
-one revolving to the right, the other to the left.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">50</a></span>
-Instead of being placed side by side, as on a steamer, they
-are mounted one behind the other, with the shaft of one
-revolving inside the hollow shaft of the other, and in the
-opposite direction.</p>
-
-<p>Long after they could be depended on to keep a proper
-depth, the Whiteheads and other self-propelled torpedoes
-were liable to swing suddenly to port or starboard, or
-even turn completely round. During the war between
-Chile and Peru, in 1879, the Peruvian ironclad <i>Huascar</i>
-discharged an automobile torpedo that went halfway to
-the target, changed its mind, and was coming back to blow
-up its owners when an officer swam out to meet it and
-succeeded in turning it aside, for the torpedoes of that
-time were slow and small as well as erratic.</p>
-
-<p>Nowadays a torpedo is kept on a straight course by a
-gyroscope placed in the buoyancy chamber. Nearly
-every boy knows the gyroscopic top, like a little flywheel,
-that you can spin on the edge of a tumbler. The upper
-part of this toy is a heavy little metal wheel, and if you
-try to push it over while it is spinning, it resists and
-pushes back, as if it were alive. A similar wheel, weighing
-about two pounds, is placed in the buoyancy chamber
-of a Whitehead. When the torpedo starts, it releases
-either a powerful spring or an auxiliary compressed air
-engine that sets the gyroscope to spinning at more than
-two thousand revolutions a minute. It revolves vertically,
-in the fore-and-aft line of the torpedo, and is
-mounted on a pivoted stand. If the torpedo deviates
-from its straight course, the gyroscope does not, and the
-consequent change in their relative positions brings the
-flywheel into contact with a lever running to the servo-motor
-that controls the two vertical rudders, which soon
-set the torpedo right again.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">51</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_51" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_051.jpg" width="600" height="384" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">Cross-section of a Whitehead Torpedo.<br />
- <span class="smaller">Redrawn from the Illustrated London News.</span></div>
-
-<div class="captionh j">A, Striker which, when driven in, fires the charge; B, Safety pin, which is removed just before the torpedo is discharged; C,
-Detonating charge; D, Explosive-head, or war-head; filled with guncotton; E, Primer charge of dry guncotton in cylinder;
-F, Balance chamber; G, Starting pin; H, Buoyancy chamber; I, Propellor shaft; J, Vertical rudder; K, Twin screws; L,
-Horizontal rudder; M, Gyroscope controlling torpedo’s course; N, Engines propelling machinery; O, Pendulum acting on
-the horizontal rudder which controls the depth of submergence; P, Hydrostatic valve; Q, Air-chamber, filled with compressed
-air; provides motive-power for the engines; R, “Jammer” or release propellor.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">52</a></span>
-Thus guided and driven, a modern torpedo speeds
-swiftly and surely to its target, there to blow itself into
-a thousand pieces, with a force sufficient to sink a ship
-a thousand times its size.</p>
-
-<p>The Whitehead is used by every navy in the world
-except the German, which has its own torpedo: the
-“Schwartzkopf.” This, however, is practically identical
-with the Whitehead, except that its hull is made of bronze
-instead of steel and its war-head is charged with trinitrotuluol,
-or T.N.T., a much more powerful explosive
-than guncotton.</p>
-
-<p>After the Russo-Japanese War, when several Russian
-battleships kept afloat although they had been struck by
-Japanese torpedoes, many naval experts declared that an
-exploding war-head spent most of its energy in throwing
-a great column of water up into the air, instead of blowing
-in the side of the ship. So Commander Davis of the
-United States navy invented his “gun-torpedo.” This
-is like a Whitehead in every respect except that instead
-of a charge of guncotton it carries in its head a short
-eight-inch cannon loaded with an armor-piercing shell
-and a small charge of powder. In this type of torpedo,
-the impact of the striker against the target serves to fire
-the gun. The shell then passes easily through the thin
-side of the ship below the armor-belt and through any
-protecting coal-bunkers and bulkheads it may encounter,
-till it reaches the ship’s vitals, where it is exploded by the
-delayed action of an adjustable time-fuse. What would
-happen if it burst in a magazine or boiler-room is best<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53">53</a></span>
-left to the imagination. Several Davis gun-torpedoes
-have been built and used against targets with very satisfactory
-results, but they have not yet been used in actual
-warfare.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_53" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_053.jpg" width="600" height="401" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.</div>
- <div class="caption">Davis Gun-Torpedo after discharge, showing eight-inch gun forward
-of air-flask.</div></div>
-
-<p>Mr. Edward F. Chandler, M.E., one of the foremost
-torpedo-experts in America, is dissatisfied with the compressed-air
-driven gyroscope, both because it does not
-begin to revolve till after the torpedo has been launched
-and perhaps deflected from its true course, and because
-it cannot be made to spin continuously throughout the
-long run of a modern torpedo. He proposes to remove
-the compressed-air servo-motors, both for this purpose
-and for controlling the horizontal rudders by the hydrostatic
-valve, and replace them with an electrical-driven
-gyroscope and depth-gear. The increased efficiency of
-the latter would enable him to get rid of the heavy, uncertain<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54">54</a></span>
-pendulum, thus allowing for the weight of the
-storage batteries. Mr. Chandler declares that his electrically-controlled
-torpedo can be lowered over the side
-of a small boat, headed in any desired direction, and
-started, without any launching-tube.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a></p>
-
-<div id="ip_54" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_054.jpg" width="600" height="419" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.</div>
- <div class="caption">Effect of Davis Gun-Torpedo on a specially-constructed target.</div></div>
-
-<p>Though the automobile torpedo has been brought to so
-high a state of perfection, the original idea of steering
-from the shore has not been abandoned. The Brennan
-and Sims-Edison controllable torpedoes were driven and
-steered by electricity, receiving the current through wires
-trailed astern and carrying little masts and flags above the
-surface to guide the operator on shore. But these also
-served as a warning to the enemy and gave him too good
-a chance either to avoid the torpedo or destroy it with
-machine-gun fire. Then, too, the trailing wires reduced<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">55</a></span>
-its speed and were always liable to get tangled in the
-propellors. Controllable torpedoes of this type were
-abandoned before the outbreak of the present war and
-will probably never be used in action.</p>
-
-<p>A new and more promising sort of controllable torpedo
-was immediately suggested by the invention of wireless
-telegraphy. Many inventors have been working to perfect
-such a weapon, and a young American engineer, Mr.
-John Hays Hammond, Jr., seems to have succeeded.
-From his wireless station on shore, Mr. Hammond can
-make a small, crewless electric launch run hither and yon
-as he pleases about the harbor of Gloucester, Massachusetts.
-The commander and many of the officers of the
-United States coast artillery corps have carefully inspected
-and tested this craft, which promises to be the
-forerunner of a new and most formidable species of
-coast defense torpedo.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">56</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">FREAKS AND FAILURES</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">During</span> the half-century following the death of Fulton,
-scarcely a year went by without the designing
-or launching of a new man-power submarine. Some of
-these boats, notably those of the Bavarian Wilhelm Bauer,
-were surprisingly good, others were most amazingly bad,
-but none of them led to anything better. Inventor after
-inventor wasted his substance discovering what Van
-Drebel, Bushnell, and Fulton had known before him,
-only to die and have the same facts painfully rediscovered
-by some one on the other side of the earth.</p>
-
-<p>A striking example of this lack of progress is Halstead’s
-<i>Intelligent Whale</i>. Built for the United States
-navy at New York, in the winter of 1864&ndash;5, this craft is
-no more modern and much less efficient than Fulton’s
-<i>Nautilus</i> of 1801. The <i>Intelligent Whale</i> is a fat, cigar-shaped,
-iron vessel propelled by a screw cranked by manpower
-and submerged by dropping two heavy anchors to
-the bottom and then warping the boat down to any desired
-depth. A diver can then emerge from a door in the
-submarine’s bottom, to place a mine under a hostile ship.
-It was not until 1872 that the <i>Intelligent Whale</i> was sent
-on a trial trip in Newark Bay. Manned by an utterly inexperienced
-and very nervous crew, the clumsy submarine
-got entirely out of control and had to be hauled up by a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">57</a></span>
-cable that had been thoughtfully attached to her before
-she went down. Fortunately no lives had been lost,
-but the wildest stories were told and printed, till the
-imaginary death-roll ran up to forty-nine. The <i>Intelligent
-Whale</i> was hauled up on dry land and can still
-be seen on exhibition at the corner of Third Street and
-Perry Avenue in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.</p>
-
-<p>Lack of motive-power was the reason why man-sized
-submarines lagged behind their little automatic brethren,
-the Whitehead torpedoes. Compressed air was just the
-thing for a spurt, but when two Frenchmen, Captain
-Bourgois and M. Brun, built the <i>Plongeur</i>, a steel submarine
-146 feet long and 12 feet in diameter, at Rochefort
-in 1863, and fitted it with an eighty-horse-power,
-compressed-air engine, they discovered that the storage-flasks
-emptied themselves too quickly to permit a voyage
-of any length.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Plongeur</i> also proved that while you can sink a
-boat to the bottom by filling her ballast-tanks or make
-her rise to the surface by emptying them, you cannot
-make her float suspended between two bodies of water
-except by holding her there by some mechanical means.
-Without anything of the kind, the <i>Plongeur</i> kept bouncing
-up and down like a rubber ball. Once her inventors navigated
-her horizontally for some distance, only to find
-that she had been sliding on her stomach along the soft
-muddy bottom of a canal. Better results were obtained
-after the <i>Plongeur</i> was fitted with a crude pair of diving-planes.
-But the inefficiency of her compressed-air engine
-caused her to be condemned and turned into a water
-tank.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58">58</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_58" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_058.jpg" width="600" height="217" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><p>The <i>Intelligent Whale</i>.</p>
- <p class="smaller">Drawn by Lieutenant F. M. Barber, U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;N., in 1875.</p></div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">59</a></span>
-Electricity was first applied in 1861 by another Frenchman,
-named Olivier Riou. This is the ideal motive-power
-for underwater boats, and it was at this time that
-Jules Verne described the ideal submarine in his immortal
-story of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.”
-But before we can have a <i>Nautilus</i> like Captain Nemo’s
-we must discover an electric storage battery of unheard-of
-lightness and capacity.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_59" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_059.jpg" width="600" height="239" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><i>Le Plongeur.</i></div></div>
-
-<p>There was a great revival of French interest in electric
-submarines after Admiral Aube, who was a lifelong
-submarine “fan,” became minister of marine in 1886.
-In spite of much ridicule and opposition, he authorized
-the construction of a small experimental vessel of this
-type called the <i>Gymnote</i>. She was a wild little thing
-that did everything short of turning somersaults when she
-dived, but she was enough of a success to be followed by
-a larger craft named, after the great engineer who had
-designed her predecessor, the <i>Gustave Zédé</i>.</p>
-
-<p>“The history of the <i>Gustave Zédé</i> shows how much
-in earnest the French were in the matter of submarines.
-When she was first launched she was a failure in almost<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60">60</a></span>
-every respect, and it was only after some years, during
-which many alterations and improvements were carried
-out, that she became a serviceable craft. At first nothing
-would induce the <i>Gustave Zédé</i> to quit the surface,
-and when at last she did plunge she did it so effectually
-that she went down to the bottom in 10 fathoms of water
-at an angle of 30 degrees. The committee of engineers
-were on board at the time, and it speaks well for their
-patriotism that they did not as a result of their unpleasant
-experience condemn the <i>Gustave Zédé</i> and advise the
-government to spend no more money on submarine
-craft.”<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a></p>
-
-<p>Twenty-nine other electric submarines were built for
-the French navy between 1886 and 1901. During the
-same period, a French gentleman named M. Goubet
-built and experimented with two very small electric submarines,
-each of which was manned by two men, who sat
-back to back on a sort of settee stuffed with machinery.
-Little or big, all these French boats had the same fatal
-defect: lack of power. Their storage batteries, called on
-to propel them above, as well as below, the surface, became
-exhausted after a few hours’ cruising. They were
-as useless for practical naval warfare as an electric run-about
-would be to haul guns or carry supplies in Flanders.</p>
-
-<p>But if compressed-air and electricity were too quickly
-exhausted, gasoline or petroleum was even less practicable
-for submarine navigation. To set an oil-engine, that
-derives its power from the explosion of a mixture of
-oil-vapor and air, at work in a small closed space like the
-interior of a submarine, would soon make it uninhabitable.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">61</a></span>
-While Mr. Holland was puzzling how to overcome
-this difficulty, in the middle eighties, a Swedish inventor
-named Nordenfeldt was building submarines to be run by
-steam-power.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Nordenfeldt, who is remembered to-day as the inventor
-of the famous gun that bears his name, had taken
-up the idea of an English clergyman named Garett, who
-in 1878 had built a submarine called the <i>Resurgam</i>, or
-“I Shall Rise.” Garett’s second boat, built a year later,
-had a steam-engine. When the vessel was submerged,
-the smoke-stack was closed by a sliding panel, the furnace
-doors were shut tight, and the engine run by the steam
-given off by a big tank full of bottled-up hot water.
-Nordenfeldt improved this system till his hot-water tanks
-gave off enough steam to propel his boat beneath the surface
-for a distance of fourteen miles.</p>
-
-<p>He also rediscovered and patented Bushnell’s device
-for submerging a boat by pushing it straight down and
-holding it under with a vertical propellor. His first submarine
-had two of these, placed in sponsons or projections
-on either side of the center of the hull. The Nordenfeldt
-boats, with their cigar-shaped hulls and projecting
-smoke-stacks, looked like larger editions of the
-Civil War <i>Davids</i>, and like them, could be submerged by
-taking in water-ballast till only a strip of deck with the
-funnel and conning-tower projected above the surface.
-Then the vertical propellors would begin to revolve and
-force the boat straight down on an even keel. Mr. Nordenfeldt
-insisted with great earnestness that this was the
-only safe and proper way to submerge a submarine. If
-you tried to steer it downward with any kind of driving-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">62</a></span>planes,
-he declared, then the boat was liable to keep on
-descending, before you could pull its head up, till it either
-struck the bottom or was crushed in by the pressure of
-too great a depth of water. There was a great deal of
-truth in this, but Mr. Nordenfeldt failed to realize that
-if one of his vertical propellors pushed only a little harder
-than the other, then the keel of his own submarine was
-going to be anything but even.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_62" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_062.jpg" width="600" height="448" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><p>Steam Submarine <i>Nordenfeldt II</i>, at Constantinople, 1887. Observe
-vertical-acting propellors on deck.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">Reproduced from “Submarine Navigation, Past and Present” by Alan
-H. Burgoyne, by permission of E.&nbsp;P. Dutton &amp; Company.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>The first Nordenfeldt boat was launched in 1886 and
-bought by Greece, after a fairly successful trial in the
-Bay of Salamis. Two larger and more powerful submarines:
-<i>Nordenfeldt II</i> and <i>III</i>, were promptly ordered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">63</a></span>
-by Greece’s naval rival Turkey. Each of these was 125
-feet long, or nearly twice the length of the Greek boat,
-and each carried its two vertical propellors on deck, one
-forward and the other aft. Both boats were shipped in
-sections to Constantinople in 1887, but only <i>Nordenfeldt
-II</i> was put together and tried. She was one of the
-first submarines to be armed with a bow torpedo-tube for
-discharging Whiteheads, and as a surface torpedo-boat,
-she was a distinct success. But when they tried to navigate
-her under water there was a circus.</p>
-
-<p>No sooner did one of the crew take two steps forward
-in the engine-room than down went the bow. The hot
-water in the boilers and the cold water in the ballast-tanks
-ran downhill, increasing the slant still further.
-English engineers, Turkish sailors, monkey-wrenches, hot
-ashes, Whitehead torpedoes, and other movables came
-tumbling after, till the submarine was nearly standing
-on her head, with everything inside packed into the bow
-like toys in the toe of a Christmas stocking. The little
-vertical propellors pushed and pulled and the crew clawed
-their way aft, till suddenly up came her head, down went
-her tail, and everything went gurgling and clattering
-down to the other end. <i>Nordenfeldt II</i> was a perpetual
-see-saw, and no mortal power could keep her on an even
-keel. Once they succeeded in steadying her long enough
-to fire a torpedo. Where it went to, no man can tell,
-but the sudden lightening of the bow and the recoil of
-the discharge made the submarine rear up and sit down
-so hard that she began to sink stern-foremost. The
-water was blown out of her ballast tanks by steam-pressure,
-and the main engine started full speed ahead, till<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64">64</a></span>
-she shot up to the surface like a flying-fish. The Turkish
-naval authorities, watching the trials from the shores of
-the Golden Horn, were so impressed by these antics that
-they bought the boat. But it was impossible to keep a
-crew on her, for every native engineer or seaman who
-was sent on board prudently deserted on the first dark
-night. So the <i>Nordenfeldt II</i> rusted away till she fell
-to pieces, long before the Allied fleets began the forcing
-of the Dardanelles.</p>
-
-<p>Fantastic though their performances seem to us to-day,
-these submarines represent the best work of some of
-the most capable inventors and naval engineers of the
-nineteenth century. With them deserve to be mentioned
-the boats of the Russian Drzewiecki and the Spaniard
-Peral. Failures though they were, they taught the world
-many valuable lessons about the laws controlling the actions
-of submerged bodies.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_65" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_065.jpg" width="600" height="330" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><p>Bauer’s Submarine Concert, Cronstadt Harbor, 1855. See <a href="#Footnote_17">footnote</a>, page <a href="#Page_120">120</a></p>
-
-<p class="smaller">An original drawing by the author, Alan H. Burgoyne; reproduced from “Submarine Navigation, Past and Present,”
-by permission of E.&nbsp;P. Dutton &amp; Company.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>But many of the underwater craft invented between
-1850 and 1900 can be classified only as freaks. Most of
-them, fortunately, were designed but never built, and
-those that were launched miraculously refrained from
-drowning any of their crews. There were submarines
-armed with steam-driven gimlets: the</p>
-
-<div class="poem-container">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i32">“nimble tail,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Made like an auger, with which tail she wriggles,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Betwixt the ribs of a ship and sinks it straight,”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="in0">that Ben Jonson playfully ascribed to Van Drebel. Dr.
-Lacomme, in 1869, proposed a submarine railroad from
-Calais to Dover, with tracks laid on the bottom of the
-Channel and cars that could cast off their wheels and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">65</a><a class="hidev" id="Page_66">66</a></span>
-rise to the surface in case of accident. Lieutenant André
-Constantin designed, during the siege of Paris, a boat to
-be submerged by drawing in pistons working in large
-cylinders open to the water. A vessel was actually built
-on this principle in England in 1888, and submerged in
-Tilbury Docks, where the soft mud at the bottom choked
-the cylinders so that the pistons could not be driven out
-again and the boat was brought up with considerable difficulty.
-Two particularly delirious inventors claimed
-that their submarines could also be used as dirigible balloons.
-Boucher’s underwater boat of 1886 was to have
-gills like a fish, so that it need never rise to the surface
-for air, and was further adorned with spring-buffers on
-the bottom, oars, a propellor under the center of the
-keel, and a movable tail for sculling the vessel forward.
-There were submarines with paddle-wheels, submarines
-with fins, and submarines with wings. A Venezuelan
-dentist, Señor Lacavalerier, invented a double-hulled,
-cigar-shaped boat, whose outer hull was threaded like
-a screw, and by revolving round the fixed inner hull,
-bored its way through the water. But he had been anticipated
-and outdone by Apostoloff, a Russian, who not
-only designed a submarine on the same principle but intended
-it to carry a large cabin suspended on davits above
-the surface of the water, and declared that his vessel
-would cross the Atlantic at an average speed of 111
-knots an hour.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_67" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_067.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><p>Apostoloff’s Proposed Submarine.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">An original drawing by the author, Alan H. Burgoyne; reproduced from “Submarine Navigation, Past and Present,”
-by permission of E.&nbsp;P. Dutton &amp; Company.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>As late as 1898 the Spanish government, neglecting
-the promising little electric boat built ten years before
-by Señor Peral, was experimenting with two highly
-impossible submarines, one of which was to be propelled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">67</a><a class="hidev" id="Page_68">68</a></span>
-by a huge clock-spring, while the other was perfectly
-round. Needless to say, neither the sphere nor the toy
-boat ever encountered the American fleet.</p>
-
-<p>At the same time, the United States government declined
-to accept the war services of the already practicable
-boats of the two American inventors who were
-about to usher in the present era of submarine warfare:
-Simon Lake and John P. Holland.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">69</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">JOHN P. HOLLAND</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">When</span> the <i>Merrimac</i> rammed the <i>Cumberland</i>,
-burned the <i>Congress</i>, and was fought to a standstill
-next day by the little <i>Monitor</i>, all the world realized
-that there had been a revolution in naval warfare. The
-age of the wooden warship was gone forever, the day
-of the ironclad had come. And a twenty-year-old Irish
-school-teacher began to wonder what would be the next
-revolution; what new craft might be invented that would
-dethrone the ironclad. This young Irishman’s name was
-John P. Holland, and he decided to devote his life to the
-perfection of the submarine.</p>
-
-<p>Like Robert Fulton, Admiral Von Tirpitz, and the
-Frenchman who built the <i>Rotterdam Boat</i> in 1652, Holland
-relied on submarines to break the power of the
-British fleet. Though born a British subject, in the little
-village of Liscannor, County Clare in the year 1842, he
-had seen too many of his fellow countrymen starved to
-death or driven into exile not to hate the stupid tyranny
-that characterized England’s rule of Ireland in those bitter,
-far-off days. He longed for the day of Ireland’s independence,
-and that day seemed to be brought much
-nearer by the American Civil War. Not only had many
-thousand brave Irish-Americans become trained veterans<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">70</a></span>
-but Great Britain and the United States had been brought
-to the verge of war by the sinking of American ships
-by the <i>Alabama</i> and other British-built, Confederate
-commerce-destroyers. When that Anglo-American war
-broke out, there would be an army ready to come over and
-free Ireland&mdash;if only the troublesome British navy could
-be put out of the way. And already the English were
-launching ironclad after ironclad to replace their now
-useless steam-frigates and ships-of-the-line. It is no use
-trying to outbuild or outfight the British navy above
-water, and John P. Holland realized this in 1862, as several
-kings and emperors have, before or since.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_70" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_070.jpg" width="600" height="186" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><p>The <i>Holland No. 1</i>. Designed to carry a torpedo and fix it to the
-bottom of a ship, on the general principle of Bushnell’s <i>Turtle</i>.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">Drawn by Lieutenant F. M. Barber, U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;N., in 1875.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Though his friends in Cork kept laughing at him, Holland
-worked steadily on his plans for a submarine boat,
-throughout the sixties. Presently he came to America
-and obtained a job as school-teacher in Paterson, New
-Jersey. There he built and launched his first submarine
-in 1875. It was a sharp-pointed, little, cigar-shaped affair,
-only sixteen feet long and two feet in diameter
-amidships. This craft was designed to carry a torpedo
-and fix it to the bottom of a ship, on the general principle<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71">71</a></span>
-of Bushnell’s <i>Turtle</i>. It was divided into four compartments,
-with air-chambers fore and aft. Air-pipes led
-to where Holland sat in the middle, with his head in a
-respirator shaped like a diver’s helmet, and his feet working
-pedals that turned the propellor.</p>
-
-<p>There was nothing revolutionary about this <i>Holland
-No. 1</i>. A similar underwater bicycle is said to have
-been invented by Alvary Templo in 1826, and Drzewiecki
-used one at Odessa in 1877. But Holland used his to
-teach himself how to build something better. Just as
-the Wright brothers learned how to build and fly aeroplanes
-by coasting down through the air from the tops
-of the Kitty Hawk sand-hills in their motorless “glider,”
-so John P. Holland found how to make and navigate
-submarines by diving under the surface of the Passaic
-River and adjacent waters, and swimming around there
-in his <i>No. 1</i> and her successors.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Holland No. 2</i> was launched in 1877 and became
-immediately and prophetically stuck in the mud. She
-had a double hull, the space between being used as a ballast-tank,
-whose contents leaked constantly into the interior,
-and she was driven intermittently by a four horse-power
-petroleum engine of primitive design. After a
-series of trials that entertained his neighbors and taught
-the inventor that the best place for a single horizontal
-rudder is the stern, Holland took the engine out of the
-boat and sank her under the Falls Bridge, where she lies
-to this day.</p>
-
-<p>He then entered into negotiations with the Fenian
-Brotherhood, a secret society organized for the purpose
-of setting up an Irish republic by militant methods.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72">72</a></span>
-Though not a Fenian himself, Holland was thoroughly
-in sympathy with the brotherhood, and offered to show
-them how they could get round, or rather under, the
-British navy. You may have seen a once-familiar lithograph
-of a green-painted superdreadnought of strange
-design flying the Crownless Harp, and named the Irish
-battleship <i>Emerald Isle</i>. The only real Irish warships
-of modern times, however, were the two submarines Holland
-persuaded the Fenians to have him build at their
-expense.</p>
-
-<p>Rear-Admiral Philip Hichborn, former Chief Constructor,
-U.S.N., said of these two boats:</p>
-
-<p>“She (the earlier one) was the first submarine since
-Bushnell’s time employing water ballast and always retaining
-buoyancy, in which provision was made to insure
-a fixed center of gravity and a fixed absolute weight.
-Moreover, she was the first buoyant submarine to be
-steered down and up in the vertical plane by horizontal-rudder
-action as she was pushed forward by her motor,
-instead of being pushed up and down by vertical-acting
-mechanism.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> Her petroleum engine, provided for motive-power
-and for charging her compressed-air flasks,
-was inefficient, and the boat therefore failed as a practical
-craft; but in her were demonstrated all the chief
-principles of successful, brain-directed, submarine navigation.
-In 1881, Holland turned out a larger and better
-boat in which he led the world far and away in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">73</a></span>
-solution of submarine problems, and for a couple of years
-demonstrated that he could perfectly control his craft in
-the vertical plane. Eventually, through financial complications,
-she was taken to New Haven, where she now
-is.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_73" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_073.jpg" width="600" height="448" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Photo by Brown Bros.</div>
- <div class="caption"><p>The <i>Fenian Ram</i>.<br />
- <span class="smaller">(Photographed by Mr. Simon Lake, in the shed at New Haven.)</span></p></div></div>
-
-<p>Political as well as financial complications caused the
-internment of this submarine, which a New York reporter,
-with picturesque inaccuracy, called the <i>Fenian
-Ram</i>. The Irish at home were by this time thinking less
-of fighting for independence and more for peacefully
-obtaining home rule, while the arbitration and payment
-of the “Alabama claims” by Great Britain had removed
-all danger of a war between that country and the United<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">74</a></span>
-States. Under these circumstances, many of the Fenians
-felt that it was wasted money for their society to spend
-any more of its funds on warships it could never find use
-for. This led to dissensions which culminated in a party
-of Fenians seizing the <i>Ram</i> and taking it to a shed on
-the premises of one of their members at New Haven,
-where it has remained ever since.</p>
-
-<p>But the construction and performances of this submarine,
-and of several others which he soon afterwards
-built for himself, won Holland such a reputation that
-when Secretary Whitney decided in 1888 that submarines
-would be a good thing for the United States navy, the
-great Philadelphia ship-building firm of Cramps submitted
-two designs: Holland’s and Nordenfeldt’s, and
-the former won the award. But after nearly twelve
-months had been spent in settling preliminary details, and
-when a contract for building an experimental boat was
-just about to be awarded, there came a change of administration
-and the matter was dropped.</p>
-
-<p>This was a great disappointment for Holland, and the
-next four or five years were lean ones for the inventor.
-He had built five boats and designed a sixth without their
-having brought him a cent of profit. It was not until
-March 3, 1893, that Congress appropriated the money
-for the construction of an experimental submarine, and
-inventors were invited to submit their designs. By this
-time John P. Holland had not only spent all his own
-money, but all he could borrow from his relatives and
-friends. To make matters worse, the country was then
-passing through a financial panic, when very few people
-had any money to lend or invest. And all the security<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">75</a></span>
-Holland could offer was his faith in the future of the
-submarine, which at that time was a stock joke of the
-comic papers, together with those other two crack-brained
-projects, the flying-machine and the horseless carriage.</p>
-
-<p>“I know I can win that competition and build that
-boat for the Government,” said Holland to a young lawyer
-whom he had met at lunch in a downtown New
-York restaurant, “if I can only raise the money to pay
-the fees and other expenses. I need exactly $347.19.”</p>
-
-<p>“What do you want the nineteen cents for?” asked
-the other.</p>
-
-<p>“To buy a certain kind of ruler I need for drawing my
-plans.”</p>
-
-<p>“If you’ve figured it out as closely as all that,” replied
-the lawyer, “I’ll take a chance and lend you the
-money.”</p>
-
-<p>He did so, receiving in exchange a large block of stock
-in the new-formed Holland Torpedo-boat Company.
-To-day his stock is worth several million dollars.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Holland won the competition and after two years’
-delay his company began the construction of the <i>Plunger</i>.
-This submarine was to be propelled by steam while running
-on the surface and by storage-batteries when submerged.
-Double propulsion of this type had been first
-installed by a Southerner named Alstitt on a submarine
-he built at Mobile, Alabama, in 1863, and theoretically
-discussed in a book written in 1887 by Commander
-Hovgaard of the Danish navy. Though a great improvement
-on any type of single propulsion, this system
-had many drawbacks, the chief of which was the length
-of time&mdash;from fifteen to thirty minutes&mdash;that it took<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">76</a></span>
-for the oil-burning surface engine to cool and rid itself
-of hot gases before it was safe to seal the funnel and
-dive. Though the <i>Plunger</i> was launched in 1897, she
-was never finished, for Mr. Holland foresaw her defects.
-He persuaded the Government to let his company pay
-back the money already spent on the <i>Plunger</i> and build
-an entirely new boat.</p>
-
-<p><i>Holland No. 8</i> was built accordingly, but failed to work
-properly. Finally came the ninth and last of her line,
-the first of the modern submarines, the world-famous
-<i>Holland</i>.</p>
-
-<p>She was a chunky little porpoise of a boat, 10 feet
-7 inches deep and only 53 feet 10 inches long, and looking
-even shorter and thicker than she was because of
-the narrow, comb-like superstructure running fore and
-aft along the deck. But her shape and dimensions were
-the results of twenty-five years’ experience. Built at
-Mr. Lewis Nixon’s shipyards at Elizabethport, New Jersey,
-the <i>Holland</i> was launched in the early spring of 1898,
-between the blowing-up of the <i>Maine</i> and the outbreak
-of the Spanish-American War. But though John P.
-Holland repeatedly begged to be allowed to take his submarine
-into Santiago Harbor and torpedo Cervera’s fleet,
-the naval authorities at Washington were too conservative-minded
-to let him try.</p>
-
-<p>“United States warship goes down with all hands!”
-the small boys (I was one of them) used to shout at
-this time, and then explain that it was only another dive
-of the “Holland submarine.” Strictly speaking, the
-<i>Holland</i> was not a United States warship till October
-13, 1900, when she was formally placed in commission<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">77</a><a class="hidev" id="Page_78">78</a></span>
-under the command of Lieutenant Harry H. Caldwell,
-who had been on her during many of the exhaustive series
-of trials in which the little undersea destroyer proved to
-even the most conservative officers of our navy that the
-day of the submarine had come at last.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_77" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_077.jpg" width="600" height="387" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company</div>
- <div class="caption">U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;S. <i>Holland</i>, in Drydock with the Russian Battleship <i>Retvizan</i>.</div></div>
-
-<p>Propelled on the surface by a fifty horse-power gasoline
-motor, the <i>Holland</i> had a cruising radius of 1500
-miles at a speed of seven knots an hour. Submerged,
-she was driven by electric storage-batteries. This effective
-combination of oil-engines with an electric motor is
-one of John P. Holland’s great discoveries, and is used
-in every submarine to-day. When her tanks were filled
-till her deck was flush with the water, and the two horizontal
-rudders at the stern began to steer her downwards,
-the <i>Holland</i> could dive to a depth of twenty-eight
-feet in five seconds. She had no periscope, for that instrument
-was then crude and unsatisfactory. To take
-aim, the captain of the <i>Holland</i> had to make a quick
-“porpoise dive,” up to the surface and down again, exposing
-the conning-tower for the few seconds needed to
-take aim and judge the distance to the target. Though
-by this means the <i>Holland</i> succeeded in getting within
-striking-distance of the <i>Kearsarge</i> and the <i>New York</i>
-without being detected, during the summer manœuvers
-of the Atlantic fleet off Newport in 1900, it has proved
-fatal to the only submarine that has tried it in actual
-warfare (see page <a href="#Page_160">160</a>).</p>
-
-<p>Less than half the length of the <i>Nordenfeldt II</i>, the
-<i>Holland</i> did not pitch or see-saw when submerged.
-Each of her crew of six sat on a low stool beside the
-machinery he was to operate, and there was no moving<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">79</a></span>
-about when below the surface. Neither did the boat
-stand on her tail when a torpedo was discharged from
-the bow-tube, for the loss of weight was immediately
-compensated by admitting an equivalent amount of water
-into a tank. Originally the <i>Holland</i> had a stern torpedo-tube
-as well, besides a pneumatic gun for throwing eighty
-pounds of dynamite half a mile through the air, but these
-were later removed.</p>
-
-<p>How the <i>Holland</i> impressed our naval officers at that
-time is best shown in the oft-quoted testimony of Admiral
-Dewey before the naval committee of the House of
-Representatives in 1900.</p>
-
-<p>“Gentlemen, I saw the operation of the boat down off
-Mount Vernon the other day. Several members of this
-committee were there. I think we were all very much
-impressed with its performance. My aid, Lieutenant
-Caldwell, was on board. The boat did everything that
-the owners proposed to do. I said then, and I have said
-it since, that if they had had two of those things at
-Manila, I could never have held it with the squadron I
-had. The moral effect&mdash;to my mind, it is infinitely superior
-to mines or torpedoes or anything of the kind.
-With those craft moving under water it would wear
-people out. With two of those in Galveston all the navies
-of the world could not blockade the place.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_80" class="figcenter" style="width: 445px;">
- <img src="images/i_080.jpg" width="445" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Photo by Brown Bros.</div>
- <div class="caption">John P. Holland.</div></div>
-
-<p>The <i>Holland</i> was purchased by the United States Government
-on April 11, 1900, for $150,000. She had cost
-her builders, exclusive of any office expenses or salaries
-of officers, $236,615.43. But it had been a profitable investment
-for the Holland Torpedo-boat Company, for
-on August 25, the United States navy contracted with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">80</a></span>
-it for the construction of six more submarines. And in
-the autumn of the same year, though it was not announced
-to the public till March 1, 1901, five other
-<i>Hollands</i> were ordered through the agency of Vickers
-Sons, and Maxim by the British admiralty. Soon every
-maritime nation was either buying <i>Hollands</i> or paying
-royalties on the inventor’s patents, and building bigger,
-faster, better submarines every year.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">81</a></span>
-The original <i>Holland</i> had outlived her fighting value
-when she was condemned by Secretary Daniels in June,
-1915, to be broken up and sold as junk. There is still
-room in the Brooklyn Navy Yard for that worthless
-and meaningless relic, the <i>Intelligent Whale</i>, but there
-was none for the <i>Holland</i> submarine, whose place in history
-is with the <i>Clairmont</i> and the <i>Monitor</i>.</p>
-
-<p>John P. Holland withdrew in 1904 from the Holland
-Torpedo-boat Company, which has since become merged
-with the Electric Boat Company, that builds most of the
-submarines for the United States navy, and many for
-the navies of foreign powers. Like most other great
-inventive geniuses, Holland was not a trained engineer,
-and it was perhaps inevitable that disputes should have
-arisen between him and his associates as to the carrying
-out of his ideas. His last years were embittered by the
-belief that the submarines of to-day were distorted and
-worthless developments of his original type. Whether
-or not he was mistaken, only time can tell. That to
-John P. Holland, more than to any other man since
-David Bushnell and Robert Fulton, the world owes the
-modern submarine, cannot be denied. His death, on
-August 12, 1914, was but little noticed in the turmoil
-and confusion of the first weeks of the great European
-War. But when the naval histories of that war are
-written, his name will not be forgotten.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">82</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">THE LAKE SUBMARINES</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">John P. Holland</span> was not the only inventor who
-responded to the invitation of the United States navy
-department to submit designs for a proposed submarine
-boat in 1893. That invitation had been issued and an
-appropriation of $200,000 made by Congress on the
-recommendation of Commander Folger, chief of ordnance,
-after he had seen a trial trip on Lake Michigan
-of an underwater boat invented by Mr. George C. Baker.
-This was an egg-shaped craft, propelled by a steam engine
-on the surface and storage-batteries when submerged,
-and controlled by two adjustable propellers,
-mounted on either side of the boat on a shaft running
-athwartship. These screws could be turned in any direction,
-so as to push or pull the vessel forward, downward,
-or at any desired angle. Mr. Baker submitted designs
-for a larger boat of the same kind, but they were not
-accepted.</p>
-
-<p>The third inventor who entered the 1893 competition
-was Mr. Simon Lake, then a resident of Baltimore. He
-sent in the plans of the most astonishing-looking craft
-that had startled the eyes of the navy department since
-Ericsson’s original monitor. It had two cigar-shaped
-hulls, one inside the other, the space between being used
-for ballast-tanks. It had no less than five propellors:<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83">83</a></span>
-twin screws aft for propulsion, a single screw working
-in an open transverse tunnel forward,<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> to “swing the
-vessel at rest to facilitate pointing her torpedos,” and two
-downhaul or vertical-acting propellers “for holding vessel
-to depth when not under way.” These were not placed
-on deck, as on the <i>Nordenfeldt II</i>, but in slots in the
-keel. Other features of the bottom were two anchor
-weights, a detachable “emergency keel,” and a diving
-compartment. On deck were a folding periscope and
-a “gun arranged in water-tight, revolving turret for defense
-purposes or attack on unarmored surface craft.”
-There were four torpedo tubes, two forward and two aft,
-according to the modern German practice. The motive-power
-was the then usual combination of steam and storage
-batteries. But the two remaining features of the
-1893 model Lake submarine were extremely unusual.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_83" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_083.jpg" width="600" height="163" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy International Marine Engineering.</div>
- <div class="caption">Lake 1893 Design as Submitted to the U. S. Navy Department.</div></div>
-
-<p>Instead of one pair of horizontal rudders, there were
-four pairs, two large and two small. The latter, placed
-near the bow and stern, were “levelling vanes, designed
-automatically to hold the vessel on a level keel when under<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84">84</a></span>
-way”; while the larger ones were called “hydroplanes”
-and so located and designed as to steer the submarine
-under, not by making it dive bow-foremost but by causing
-it to submerge on an even keel. How this was to be
-accomplished will be explained presently. The other new
-thing about the Lake boat was that it was mounted on
-wheels for running along the sea-bottom. There were
-three of these wheels: a large pair forward on a strong
-axle for bearing the vessel’s weight, and a small steering-wheel
-on the bottom of the rudder.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_84" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_084.jpg" width="600" height="565" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of Mr. Simon Lake.</div>
- <div class="caption">The <i>Argonaut Junior</i>.</div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">85</a></span>
-This submarine was never built, however, for the
-congressional appropriation was awarded to the Holland
-Torpedo-boat Company and Mr. Lake had at that time
-no means for building so elaborate a vessel by himself.
-What he did build was the simplest and crudest little
-submarine imaginable: the <i>Argonaut Jr.</i> She was a
-triangular box of yellow pine, fourteen feet long and five
-feet deep, mounted on three solid wooden wheels. She
-was trundled along the bottom of Sandy Hook Bay by
-one or two men cranking the axle of the two driving
-wheels. The boat was provided with an air-lock and
-diver’s compartment “so arranged that by putting an
-air pressure on the diver’s compartment equal to the water
-pressure outside, a bottom door could be opened and no
-water would come into the vessel. Then by putting on
-a pair of rubber boots the operator could walk around
-on the sea bottom and push the boat along with him and
-pick up objects, such as clams, oysters, etc., from the
-sea bottom.”<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a></p>
-
-<p>Enough people were convinced by the performances
-of this simple craft of the soundness of Mr. Lake’s theories
-that the inventor was able to raise sufficient capital
-to build a larger submarine. This boat, which was designed
-in 1895 and built at Baltimore in 1897, was called
-the <i>Argonaut</i>. When launched, she had a cigar-shaped
-hull thirty-six feet long by nine in diameter, mounted on
-a pair of large toothed driving-wheels forward and a
-guiding-wheel on the rudder. The driving-wheels could<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86">86</a></span>
-be disconnected and left to revolve freely while the boat
-was driven by its single-screw propeller. There was a
-diver’s compartment in the bottom and a “lookout compartment
-in the extreme bow, with a powerful searchlight
-to light up a pathway in front of her as she moved along
-over the waterbed. The searchlight I later found of
-little value except for night work in clear water. In clear
-water the sunlight would permit of as good vision without
-the use of the light as with it, while if the water was
-not clear, no amount of light would permit of vision
-through it for any considerable distance.”</p>
-
-<p>Storage batteries were carried only for working the
-searchlight and illuminating the interior of the boat. The
-<i>Argonaut</i> was propelled, both above and below the surface,
-by a thirty horse-power gasoline engine, the first
-one to be installed in a submarine. There was enough
-air to run it on, even when submerged, because the
-<i>Argonaut</i> was ventilated through a hose running to a float
-on the surface: a device later changed to two pipe masts
-long enough to let her run along the bottom at a depth
-of fifty feet.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_87" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_087.jpg" width="600" height="390" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of International Marine Engineering.</div>
- <div class="caption"><i>Argonaut</i> as Originally Built.</div></div>
-
-<p>The <i>Argonaut</i> had no hydroplanes or horizontal rudders
-of any kind. She was submerged, like the <i>Intelligent
-Whale</i>, by “two anchor weights, each weighing 1000
-pounds, attached to cables, and capable of being hauled up
-or lowered by a drum and mechanism within the boat....
-When it is desired to submerge the vessel the anchor
-weights are first lowered to the bottom; water is then
-allowed to enter the water-ballast compartments until her
-buoyancy is less than the weight of the two anchors, say
-1500 pounds; the cables connecting with the weights are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">87</a></span>
-then hauled in, and the vessel is thus hauled to the bottom,
-until she comes to rest on her three wheels. The
-weights are then hauled into their pockets in the keel, and
-it is evident that she is resting on the wheels with a weight
-equal to the difference between her buoyancy with the
-weights at the bottom, and the weights in their pockets,
-or 500 pounds. Now this weight may be increased or
-diminished, either by admitting more water into the ballast
-tanks or by pumping some out. Thus it will be seen
-that we have perfect control of the vessel in submerging
-her, as we may haul her down as fast or as slow as we
-please, and by having her rest on the bottom with sufficient
-weight to prevent the currents from moving her out of her
-course we may start up our propeller or driving-wheels
-and drive her at will over the bottom, the same as a tricycle
-is propelled on the surface of the earth in the upper air.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">88</a></span>
-In muddy bottoms, we rest with a weight not much over
-100 pounds; while on hard bottoms, or where there are
-strong currents, we sometimes rest on the bottom with
-a weight of from 1000 to 1500 pounds....</p>
-
-<p>“In the rivers we invariably found a muddy bed; in
-Chesapeake Bay we found bottoms of various kinds,
-in some places so soft that our divers would sink up to
-their knees, while in other places the ground would be
-hard, and at one place we ran across a bottom which
-was composed of a loose gravel, resembling shelled corn.
-Out in the ocean, however, was found the ideal
-submarine course, consisting of a fine gray sand, almost
-as hard as a macadamized road, and very level and uniform.”</p>
-
-<p>During this cruise under the waters of Chesapeake Bay,
-the <i>Argonaut</i> came on the wrecks of several sunken vessels,
-which Mr. Lake or some member of his crew examined
-through the open door in the bottom of the diving-compartment.
-The air inside was kept at a sufficiently
-high pressure to keep the water from entering, and the
-man in the submarine could pull up pieces of the wreck
-with a short boathook, or even reach down and place his
-bare hand on the back of a big fish swimming past. Sometimes
-members of the crew would put on diving-suits and
-walk out over the bottom, keeping in communication with
-the boat by telephone. Telephone stations were even established
-on the bottom of the bay, with cables running to
-the nearest exchange on shore, and conversations were
-held with people in Baltimore, Washington, and New
-York. (Perhaps the commanders of German submarines
-in British waters to-day are using this method to communicate<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">89</a></span>
-with German spies in London, Dublin, and Liverpool.)</p>
-
-<p>The Spanish-American War was being fought while
-Mr. Lake was making these experiments. The entrance
-to Hampton Roads was planted with electric mines, but
-though he was forbidden to go too near them, the inventor
-proved that nothing would be easier than to locate
-the cable connecting them with the shore, haul it up into
-the diver’s compartment of the <i>Argonaut</i> and cut it. He
-did this with a dummy cable of his own, and then repeatedly
-begged the navy department to let him take the
-<i>Argonaut</i> into the harbor of Santiago de Cuba and disable
-the mines that were keeping Admiral Sampson’s fleet from
-going in and smashing the Spanish squadron there. But
-his offer, like that of John P. Holland, was refused.</p>
-
-<p>“In 1898, also,” says Mr. Lake, “the <i>Argonaut</i> made
-the trip from Norfolk to New York under her own power
-and unescorted. In her original form she was a cigar-shaped
-craft with only a small percentage of reserve buoyancy
-in her surface cruising condition. We were caught
-out in the severe November northeast storm of 1898 in
-which over two hundred vessels were lost and we did not
-succeed in reaching a harbor in the ‘horseshoe’ back of
-Sandy Hook until three o’clock in the morning. The seas
-were so rough they would break over her conning-tower
-in such masses I was obliged to lash myself fast to
-prevent being swept overboard. It was freezing weather
-and I was soaked and covered with ice on reaching harbor.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">90</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_90" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_090.jpg" width="600" height="272" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of International Marine Engineering.</div>
- <div class="caption"><i>Argonaut</i> as Rebuilt.</div></div>
-
-<p>Mr. Lake then sent the <i>Argonaut</i> to a Brooklyn shipyard,
-where her original cigar-shaped hull was cut in half,
-and lengthened twenty feet, after which a light ship-shaped
-superstructure was built over her low sloping topsides.
-To keep it from being crushed in by water pressure
-when submerged, scupper-like openings were cut in
-the thin plating where it joined the stout, pressure-resisting
-hull, so that the superstructure automatically filled
-itself with sea-water on submerging and drained itself on
-rising again. Though uninhabitable, its interior supplied
-useful storage space, particularly for the gasoline fuel
-tanks, which, as Mr. Lake had already discovered, gave
-off fumes that soon rendered the air inside the submarine
-unbreathable, unless the tanks were kept outside instead
-of inside the hull. The swan-bow and long bowsprit of
-the new superstructure, together with the two ventilator-masts,
-gave the rebuilt <i>Argonaut</i> a schooner-like appearance,
-and her bowsprit has been compared to the whip-socket
-on the dashboard of the earliest automobiles.
-But Mr. Lake declares that this was no useless leftover
-but a practicable spring-buffer to guard against running
-into submerged rocks, while the bobstay helped the <i>Argonaut</i><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">91</a></span>
-to climb over the obstruction, as she could over
-anything on the sea-bottom she could get her bows over.</p>
-
-<p>Primarily, the superstructure served to make the submarine
-more seaworthy as a surface craft. Until then,
-most inventors and designers of undersea boats had confined
-their attentions to the problems of underwater navigation
-only, because, as had been pointed out by the monk
-Mersenne before 1648, even during the most violent
-storms the disturbance is felt but a little distance below
-the surface. But Mr. Lake realized that a submarine,
-like every other kind of boat, spends most of its existence
-on top of the water and that it is not always desirable to
-submerge whenever a moderate-sized wave sweeps over
-one of the old-fashioned, low-lying, cigar-shaped vessels.
-With her new superstructure, the <i>Argonaut</i> rode the
-waves as lightly as any yacht and ushered in the era
-of the sea-going submarine.</p>
-
-<p>It was not until a year later that the <i>Narval</i>, a large
-double-hulled submarine with a ship-shaped outer shell of
-light, perforated plating, was launched in France. She
-was propelled by steam on the surface and by storage batteries
-when submerged. To distinguish this sea-going
-torpedo-boat, that could be submerged, from the earlier
-and simpler submarines designed and engined for underwater
-work only, her designer, M. Labeuf, called the
-<i>Narval</i> a “submersible.” As the old type of boat soon
-became extinct, the distinction was not necessary and the
-old name “submarine” is still applied to all underwater
-craft. That Simon Lake and not M. Labeuf first gave
-the modern sea-going submarine its characteristic and essential
-superstructure is easily proved by dates. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">92</a></span>
-<i>Narval</i> was launched in October, 1899, the <i>Argonaut</i> was
-remodeled in December, 1898, and on April 2, 1897, Mr.
-Lake applied for and was presently granted the pioneer
-patent on a “combined surface and submarine vessel,”
-the space between its cylindrical hull and the superstructure
-“being adapted to be filled with water when the vessel
-is submerged and thus rendered capable of resisting
-the pressure of the water.”</p>
-
-<p>But though in her remodeled form she became the
-forerunner of the long grim submarine cruisers of to-day,
-the <i>Argonaut</i> herself had been built to serve not as a
-warship but as a commercial vessel. Like her namesakes
-who followed Jason in the <i>Argo</i> to far-off Colchis for
-the Golden Fleece, she was to go forth in search of hidden
-treasure. She was to have been the first of a fleet
-of wheeled bottom-workers, salvaging the cargoes of
-wrecked ships; from the mail-bags of the latest lost liner
-to ingots and pieces-of-eight from the sand-clogged hulks
-of long-sunk Spanish galleons, or bringing up sponges,
-coral, and pearls from the depths of the tropic seas.
-But though he investigated a few wrecks and ingeniously
-transferred a few tons of coal from one into a submarine
-lighter by means of a pipe-line and a powerful
-force-pump, Mr. Lake has done nothing more to develop
-the fascinating commercial possibilities of the submarine
-since 1901, because he has been kept too busy building
-undersea warships for the United States and other naval
-powers.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">93</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_93" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_093.jpg" width="600" height="359" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of International Marine Engineering.</div>
- <div class="caption">The Rebuilt <i>Argonaut</i>, Showing Pipe-masts and Ship-shaped Superstructure.</div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">94</a></span>
-Mr. Lake declares that one of his up-to-date wheeled
-submarines could enter a harbor-mouth defended by
-booms and nettings that would keep out either surface
-torpedo boats or ordinary submarines. The smooth-backed
-bottom-worker of this special type would slip under
-the netting like a cat under a bead portière. If the
-netting were fastened down, a diver would step out
-through the door in the bottom of the submarine and
-either cut the netting from its moorings or attach a bomb
-to blow a hole for the bottom-worker to go in through.
-An ordinary submarine, entering a hostile harbor, would
-be in constant danger of running aground in shallow water
-and either sticking there or rebounding to the surface,
-to be seen and fired at by the enemy. Even if its commander
-succeeded in keeping to the deep channel by
-dead reckoning&mdash;a process akin to flying blindfolded in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95">95</a></span>
-an aeroplane up a crooked ravine and remembering just
-when and where to turn&mdash;even if he dodged the rocks
-and sand bars, he would be liable to bump the nose of his
-boat against an anchored contact mine (see Chapter XI).
-But the Lake bottom-worker would trundle steadily along,
-sampling the bottom to find where it was, and passing
-safely under the mines floating far above it. The divers
-would make short work of cutting the mine cables, or they
-might plant mines of their own under the ships in the
-harbor and blow them up as Bushnell tried to. Using
-electric motors and storage air-flasks, with no pipe masts
-or other “surface-indications” to betray its presence,
-one of these boats could remain snugly hid at the bottom
-of an enemy’s harbor as long as its supplies held out.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_94" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_094.jpg" width="600" height="493" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of Mr. Simon Lake.</div>
- <div class="caption">Cross-section of Diving-compartment on a Lake Submarine.</div></div>
-
-<p>As yet, however, we have not heard of any such exploits
-in the present war, though they seem perfectly
-feasible. Mr. Lake sold a boat designed for this sort of
-work and called the <i>Protector</i> to Russia in 1906.</p>
-
-<p>The most characteristic feature of the Lake submarines
-is not the wheels, which are found only on those specially
-designed for bottom working, but the hydroplanes.
-These are horizontal rudders that are so placed and designed
-as to steer the boat forward and downward, but
-at the same time keeping it on an even keel. Bushnell
-and Nordenfeldt forced their boats straight up and down
-like buckets in a well, John P. Holland made his tip
-up its tail and dive like a loon, but Mr. Lake conceived the
-idea of having his boat descend like a suitcase carried by
-a man walking down-stairs: the suitcase moves steadily
-forward and downward towards the front door but it remains
-level. The first method with its vertical propellers<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96">96</a></span>
-wasted too much energy, the second incurred the risk
-of diving too fast and too deep, no matter whether the
-single pair of horizontal rudders were placed on the
-bow, or amidships, or on the stern. So Mr. Lake used
-two pairs of horizontal rudders “located at equal distances
-forward and aft of the center of gravity and buoyancy
-of the vessel when in the submerged condition, so as
-not to disturb the trim of the vessel when the planes were
-inclined down or up to cause the vessel to submerge or
-rise when under way.” These he called hydroplanes, to
-distinguish them from another set of smaller horizontal
-rudders, which at first he called “leveling-vanes” and
-which were not used to steer the submarine under but
-manipulated to keep her at a constant depth and on a level
-keel while running submerged.</p>
-
-<p>In theory, the early Lake boats were submerged on an
-even keel; in practice, they went under at an angle of several
-degrees. But they made nothing like the abrupt
-dives of the <i>Holland</i>.</p>
-
-<p>“As the Electric Boat Company’s boats (Holland
-type) increased in size,” declares Chief Constructor D.
-W. Taylor, U.S.N., “bow rudders were fitted, and nowadays
-all submarines of this type in our navy are fitted
-with bow rudders as well as stern rudders. The Lake
-type submarines are still fitted with hydroplanes. But as
-you may see, means for effecting submergence have approached
-each other very closely: in fact, speaking generally,
-submarines all over the world now have two or
-more sets of diving-rudders; the most general arrangement
-is one pair forward and one pair aft; in some types<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">97</a></span>
-three pairs are fitted, but this arrangement is more unusual.</p>
-
-<p>“In general it may be said then that modern submarines
-of both types submerge in practically the same
-way. They assume a very slight angle of inclination, say
-a degree and a half or two degrees, and submerge at this
-angle. This may be said to be practically on an even
-keel.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_97" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_097.jpg" width="600" height="312" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of International Marine Engineering.</div>
- <div class="caption">Cross-section of the <i>Protector</i>, showing wheels stowed away
- when not running on the sea bottom.</div></div>
-
-<p>The credit of originating this now world-wide practice
-of “level-keel submergence” obviously belongs, as
-“Who’s Who in America” gives it, to</p>
-
-<p>“Lake, Simon, naval architect, mechanical engineer.
-Born at Pleasantville, New Jersey, September 4, 1866;
-son of John Christopher and Miriam M. (Adams) Lake;
-educated at Clinton Liberal Institute, Fort Plain, New
-York, and Franklin Institute, Philadelphia; married
-Margaret Vogel of Baltimore, June 9, 1890. Inventor of
-even keel type of submarine torpedo boats; built first<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">98</a></span>
-experimental boat, 1894; built <i>Argonaut</i>, 1897 (first submarine
-to operate successfully in the open sea); has designed
-and built many submarine torpedo boats for the
-United States and foreign countries; spent several years
-in Russia, Germany, and England, designing, building,
-and acting in an advisory capacity in construction of submarine
-boats. Also inventor of submarine apparatus for
-locating and recovering sunken vessels and their cargoes;
-submarine apparatus for pearl and sponge fishing, heavy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">99</a></span>
-oil internal combustion engine for marine propulsion, etc.
-Member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine
-Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
-American Society of Naval Engineers, Institute of Naval
-Architects (London), Schiffsbautechnische Gesellschaft
-(Berlin). Mason. <i>Clubs</i>, Engineers’ (New York), Algonquin,
-(Bridgeport, Connecticut). <i>Home</i>, Milford,
-Connecticut. <i>Office</i>, Bridgeport, Connecticut.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_98" class="figcenter" style="width: 505px;">
- <img src="images/i_098.jpg" width="505" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">Mr. Simon Lake.</div></div>
-
-<p>When the Krupps first took up the idea of constructing
-submarines for the German and Russian governments,
-the great German firm consulted with Mr. Lake, who was
-at that time living in Europe. An elaborate contract was
-drawn up between them. The Krupps agreed to employ
-Mr. Lake in an advisory capacity and to build “Lake
-type” boats, both in Russia, where they were to erect a
-factory and share the profits with him, and in Germany,
-on a royalty basis. Before he could sign this contract,
-Mr. Lake had to obtain the permission of the directors
-of his own company in Bridgeport. In the meanwhile,
-he gave the German company his most secret plans and
-specifications. But the Krupps never signed the contract,
-withdrew from going into Russia, and their lawyer coolly
-told Mr. Lake that, as he had failed to patent his inventions
-in Germany, his clients were perfectly free to build
-“Lake type” submarines there without paying him anything
-and were going to do so.</p>
-
-<p>The famous Krupp-built German submarines that are
-playing so prominent a part in the present war are therefore
-partly of American design. Whenever Mr. Lake
-reads that another one of them has been destroyed by the
-Allies, his emotions must be rather mixed.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">100</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">A TRIP IN A MODERN SUBMARINE</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">Lieutenant Perry Scope</span>, commanding the
-X-class flotilla, was sitting in his comfortable little
-office on the mother-ship <i>Ozark</i>, when I entered with a
-letter from the secretary of the navy, giving me permission
-to go on board a United States submarine. Without
-such authorization no civilian may set foot on the
-narrow decks of our undersea destroyers, though he may
-visit a battleship with no more formality than walking
-into a public park.</p>
-
-<p>“We’re too small and full of machinery to hold a
-crowd,” explained the lieutenant, “and the crowd
-wouldn’t enjoy it if they came. No nice white decks for
-the girls to dance on or fourteen-inch guns for them to
-sit on while they have their pictures taken. Besides,
-everything’s oily&mdash;you’d better put on a suit of overalls
-instead of those white flannels.”</p>
-
-<p>There were plenty of spare overalls on the <i>Ozark</i>, for
-she was the mother-ship of a family of six young submarines.
-Built as a coast defense monitor shortly after
-the Spanish War, she had long since been retired from the
-fighting-line, and was now the floating headquarters, dormitory,
-hospital, machine-shop, bakery, and general store
-for the six officers and the hundred and fifty men of the
-flotilla.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">101</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_101" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_101.jpg" width="600" height="386" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Photo by Brown Bros.</div>
- <div class="caption">U. S. Submarine <i>E-2</i>.<br />
- <span class="smaller">Note wireless, navigating-bridge, and openings for flooding superstructure when submerging.</span></div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">102</a></span>
-Moored alongside the parent-ship, the submarine <i>X-4</i>
-was filling her fuel-tanks with oil through a pipe-line, in
-preparation for the day’s cruise and target-practice I was
-to be lucky enough to witness. Two hundred and fifty
-feet long, flat-decked and straight-stemmed, she looked,
-except for the lack of funnels, much more like a surface-going
-torpedo-boat than the landsman’s conventional idea
-of a submarine.</p>
-
-<p>“I thought she would be cigar-shaped,” I said as we
-went on board.</p>
-
-<p>“She is&mdash;underneath,” answered Lieutenant Scope.
-“What you see is only a light-weight superstructure or
-false hull built over the real one. See those holes in it,
-just above the water line? They are to flood the superstructure
-with whenever we submerge, otherwise the
-water pressure would crush in these thin steel plates like
-veneering. But it makes us much more seaworthy for
-surface work, gives us a certain amount of deckroom,
-and stowage-space for various useful articles, such as
-this.”</p>
-
-<p>Part of the deck rose straight up into the air, like the
-top of a freight-elevator coming up through the sidewalk.
-Beneath the canopy thus formed was a short-barreled,
-three-inch gun.</p>
-
-<p>“Fires a twelve-pound shell, like the field-pieces the
-landing-parties take ashore from the battleships,” explained
-the naval officer, as he trained the vicious-looking
-little cannon all around the compass. “Small enough to
-be handy, big enough to sink any merchant ship afloat,
-or smash anything that flies.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">103</a></span>
-Here he pointed the muzzle straight up as if gunning
-for hostile aeroplanes.</p>
-
-<p>“And please observe,” he concluded, as the gun
-sank down into its lair again, “how that armored hatch-cover
-protects the gun-crew from shrapnel or falling
-bombs.”</p>
-
-<p>I followed him to the conning-tower, or, as he always
-spoke of it, the turret. The little round bandbox of the
-<i>Holland</i> has developed into a tall, tapering structure,
-sharply pointed fore and aft to lessen resistance when running
-submerged. Above the turret was a small navigating-bridge,
-screened and roofed with canvas, where a red-haired
-quartermaster stood by the steering-wheel, and
-saluted as we came up the ladder. The lieutenant put the
-engine-room telegraph over to “Start,” and a mighty
-motor throbbed underneath our feet. Then the mooring
-was cast off, the telegraph put over to “Slow Ahead,”
-and the <i>X-4</i> put out to sea.</p>
-
-<p>“How long a cruise could she make?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p>“Four thousand miles is her radius,” answered her
-commander. “Back in 1915, ten American-designed submarines
-crossed from Canada to England under their
-own power.”</p>
-
-<p>“Yet it is only a few years since we were told that
-submarines could only be used for coast defense, unless
-they were carried inside their mother-ships and launched
-near the scene of battle,” I remarked. “Or that each
-battleship should carry a dinky little submarine on deck
-and lower it over the side like a steam-launch.”</p>
-
-<p>“People said the same thing about torpedo-boats,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">104</a></span>
-agreed the lieutenant; “they began as launches&mdash;now
-look at the size of that destroyer smoking along over
-there. Ericsson thought that any ironclad bigger than a
-Civil War monitor would be an unwieldy monster. Even
-John P. Holland fought tooth and nail against increasing
-the length of his submarines. This boat of mine is five
-times the length of the old <i>Holland</i>, but she’s only a
-primitive ancestor of the perfect submarine of the future.”</p>
-
-<p>“She isn’t a submarine at all,” I replied presently, as
-the <i>X-4</i> swept on down the coast at a good twenty-two
-knots, her foredeck buried in foam and the sea-breeze
-singing through the antennæ of her wireless. “She’s
-nothing but a big motor-boat.”</p>
-
-<p>“And she’s got some big motors,” replied the lieutenant.
-“Better step below and have a look at them.”</p>
-
-<p>I went down through the open hatchway to the interior
-of the boat and aft to the engine-room. There I found
-two long, many-cylindered oil-engines of strange design,
-presided over by a big blond engineer whose grease-spotted
-dungarees gave no hint as to his rating.</p>
-
-<p>“What kind of machines are these?” I shouted above
-the roar they made. “And why do you need two of
-them?”</p>
-
-<p>“Diesel heavy-oil engines,” he answered. “One for
-each propeller.”</p>
-
-<p>“What is the difference between one of these and the
-gasoline engine of a motor-car? I know a little about
-that.”</p>
-
-<p>“Do you know what the carburetor is?” asked the
-engineer.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">105</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_105" class="figcenter" style="width: 900px;">
- <img src="images/i_105.jpg" width="900" height="213" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of International Marine Engineering.</div>
- <div class="caption">A Submarine Cruiser, or Fleet Submarine (Lake Type).</div>
-
-<p class="captionh j">The parts indicated by numbers in this illustration are as follows: 1, main ballast tanks; 2, fuel tanks; 3, keel; 4,
-safety drop keel; 5, habitable superstructure; 6, escape and safety chambers; 7, disappearing anti-air craft guns; 8,
-rapid fire gun; 9, torpedo tubes; 10, torpedoes; 11, twin deck torpedo tubes; 12, torpedo firing tank; 13, anchor; 14,
-periscopes; 15, wireless; 16, crew’s quarters; 17, officers’ quarters; 18, war-head stowage; 19, torpedo hatch; 20, diving
-chamber; 21, electric storage battery; 22, galley; 23, steering gear; 24, binnacle; 25, searchlight; 26, conning-tower;
-27, diving station; 28, control tank; 29, compressed air flasks; 30, forward engine room and engines; 31,
-after engine room and engines; 32, central control compartment; 33, torpedo room; 34, electric motor room; 35,
-switchboard; 36, ballast pump; 37, auxiliary machinery room; 38, hydroplane; 39, vertical rudders; 40, signal masts.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106">106</a></span>
-“That’s where the gasoline is mixed with air, before
-it goes into the cylinder.”</p>
-
-<p>The engineer nodded.</p>
-
-<p>“The mixture is sucked into the cylinder by the down-stroke
-of the piston. The up-stroke compresses it, and
-then the mixture is exploded by an electric spark from the
-spark-plug. The force of the explosion drives the piston
-down, and the next stroke up drives out the refuse
-gases. That’s how an ordinary, four-cycle gasoline
-motor works.</p>
-
-<p>“But the Diesel engine,” he continued, “doesn’t need
-any carburetor or spark-plug. When the piston makes
-its first upward or compression-stroke, there is nothing in
-the cylinder but pure air. This is compressed to a pressure
-of about 500 pounds a square inch&mdash;and when you
-squeeze anything as hard as that, you make it mighty
-hot&mdash;”</p>
-
-<p>“Like a blacksmith pounding a piece of cold iron
-to a red heat?” I suggested. The engineer nodded
-again.</p>
-
-<p>“That compressed air is so hot that the oil which has
-been spurted in through an injection-valve is exploded,
-and drives the piston down on the power-stroke. The
-waste gases are then blown out by compressed air. There
-are an air-compressor and a storage tank just for scavenging,
-or blowing the waste gases out of every three power-cylinders.”</p>
-
-<p>“What are the advantages of the Diesel over the gasoline
-engine?”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_107" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_107.jpg" width="600" height="425" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.</div>
- <div class="caption">Auxiliary Switchboard and Electric Cook-stove, in a U.&nbsp;S.
-Submarine.</div></div>
-
-<p>“In the first place, it gives more power. You see,
-three out of every four strokes made by the piston of a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">107</a></span>
-gasoline engine&mdash;suction-stroke, compression-stroke, and
-scavenging-stroke&mdash;waste power instead of producing it.
-But the Diesel is what we call a two-cycle engine; its
-piston makes only two trips for each power-stroke. In
-the second place, it is cheaper, because instead of gasoline
-it uses heavy, low-price oil. And this makes it much
-safer, for the heavy oil does not vaporize so easily. The
-air in some of the old submarines that used gasoline
-motors would get so that it was like trying to breathe inside
-a carburetor, and there was always the chance of a
-spark from the electric motors exploding the whole
-business, and your waking up to find the trained nurse
-changing your bandages. The German navy refused to
-build a submarine as long as there was nothing better
-than gasoline to propel it on the surface. They didn’t<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">108</a></span>
-launch their <i>U-1</i> till 1906, after Dr. Diesel had got his
-motor into practicable shape. It cost him twenty years
-of hard work, but without his motor we couldn’t have
-the modern submarine. And they’re using it more and
-more in ocean freighters. There’s a line of motor-ships
-running to-day between Scandinavia and San Francisco,
-through the Panama Canal.</p>
-
-<p>“Aft of the Diesel, here,” continued the engineer, “is
-our electric motor, for propelling her when submerged.
-Reverse it and have it driven by the Diesel engine, and the
-motor serves as a dynamo to generate electricity for charging
-the batteries. As long as we can get oil and come to
-the surface to use it, we can never run short of ‘juice.’<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a></p>
-
-<p>“Besides turning the propeller, the electricity from the
-batteries lights the boat, and turns the ventilating fans,
-works the air-compressor for the torpedo-tubes, drives all
-the big and little pumps, runs a lot of auxiliary motors
-that haul up the anchor, turn the rudders, and do other
-odd jobs, it heats the boat in cold weather&mdash;”</p>
-
-<p>“And cooks the grub all the year round, don’t forget
-that, Joe,” said another member of the crew. “Luncheon
-is served in the palm room.”</p>
-
-<p>We ate from a swinging table let down from the ceiling
-of the main-&nbsp;or living-compartment of the submarine,
-that extended forward from the engine-room to the tiny
-officers’ cabin and the torpedo room in the bows. Tiers
-of canvas bunks folded up against the walls showed where
-the crew slept when on a cruise. For lunch that day we
-had bread baked on the mother-ship, butter out of a can,
-fried ham, fried potatoes, and coffee hot from a little<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">109</a></span>
-electric stove such as you can see in the kitchenette of a
-light-housekeeping apartment on shore. The lieutenant’s
-lunch was carried up to him on the bridge. When the
-meal was over, most of the men went on deck, and my
-friend the engineer put a large cigar in his mouth. I
-took out a box of matches and was about to strike one
-for his benefit when he stopped me, saying,</p>
-
-<p>“Don’t ever strike a light in a submarine or a dynamite
-factory. It’s unhealthy.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_109" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_109.jpg" width="600" height="462" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.</div>
- <div class="caption">Forward deck of a U. S. Submarine, in cruising trim.</div></div>
-
-<p>I apologized profusely.</p>
-
-<p>“The air is so much better than I had expected that
-I forgot where I was.”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes,” said the engineer, chewing his unlighted cigar,
-“there is plenty of good air in a big modern boat like
-this, running on the surface in calm weather and with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110">110</a></span>
-the main hatch and all ventilators open. But come with
-us when we’re bucking high seas or running submerged
-on a breathing-diet of canned air flavored with oil, and
-you’ll understand why so many good men have been invalided
-out of the flotilla with lung-trouble. We’re the
-only warships without any dogs or parrots or other mascots
-on board, for no animal could endure the air in
-a submarine.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_110" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_110.jpg" width="600" height="411" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.</div>
- <div class="caption">Same, preparing to submerge. Railing stowed away and
-bow-rudders extended.</div></div>
-
-<p>“I thought every submarine carried a cage of white
-mice, because they began to squeak as soon as the air
-began to get bad and so warned the crew.”</p>
-
-<p>“That was a crude device of the early days,” replied
-the engineer. “We don’t carry white mice any more,
-though I believe they still use them in the British navy.”</p>
-
-<p>I went up on deck, to find that the <i>X-4</i> had reached
-the practice-grounds and was being made ready for a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">111</a></span>
-dive. Her crew were busy dismantling and stowing away
-the bridge and the light deck-railing, hauling down the
-flag, and closing all ventilators and other openings.</p>
-
-<p>“How long has it taken you to get ready?” I asked
-Lieutenant Scope.</p>
-
-<p>“Twenty minutes,” he answered. “But the real diving
-takes only two minutes. We’ll go below now, sink
-her to condition, and run her under with the diving rudders.”</p>
-
-<p>“What are those things unfolding themselves on either
-side of the bows?” I asked. “I thought the diving rudders
-were carried astern.”</p>
-
-<p>“Modern submarines are so long that they need them
-both fore and aft,” replied the lieutenant. “As you see,
-the diving rudders fold flat against the side of the boat
-where they will be out of harm’s way when we are running
-on the surface or lying alongside the mother-ship.
-Better come below now, for we’re going to dive.”</p>
-
-<p>We descended into the turret and the hatch was closed.
-The Diesel engines had already been stopped and the
-electric motors were now turning the propellers.</p>
-
-<p>“Why are those big electric pumps working down
-there?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p>“Pumping water into the ballast-tanks.”</p>
-
-<p>“But doesn’t the water run into the tanks anyhow, as
-soon as you open the valves?” I asked the lieutenant.</p>
-
-<p>“Turn a tumbler upside down and force it down into
-a basin of water,” he replied, “and you trap some air
-in the top of the tumbler, which prevents the water from
-rising beyond a certain point. The same thing takes
-place in our tanks, and to fill them we have to force in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112">112</a></span>
-the water with powerful pumps that compress the air in
-the tanks to a very small part of its original bulk. This
-compressed air acts as a powerful spring to drive the
-water out of the tanks again when we wish to rise. By
-blowing out the tanks, a submarine can come to the surface
-in twenty seconds or one sixth the time it takes to
-submerge.”</p>
-
-<p>“When are we going under?” I asked him. The lieutenant
-looked at his watch and answered,</p>
-
-<p>“We have been submerged for the last four minutes.”</p>
-
-<p>I experienced a feeling of the most profound disappointment.
-Ever since I had been a very small boy I had
-been looking forward to the time when I should go down
-in a submarine boat, and now that time had passed without
-my realizing it.</p>
-
-<p>“But why didn’t I feel the boat tilt when she dived?”
-I demanded.</p>
-
-<p>“Because she went down a very gentle slope, between
-two and three degrees at the steepest. The only way you
-could have noticed it would have been to watch these
-gages.”</p>
-
-<p>Large dials on the wall of the turret indicated that the
-<i>X-4</i> was running on what was practically an even keel at
-a depth of sixteen feet and under a consequent water-pressure
-of 1024 pounds on every square foot of her hull.</p>
-
-<p>“How deep could she go?”</p>
-
-<p>“One hundred and fifty feet&mdash;if she had to. The
-strong inner hull of a modern submarine is built up of
-three quarter inch plates of the best mild steel and well
-braced and strengthened from within. But as a rule
-there is no need of our diving below sixty feet at the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">113</a></span>
-deepest, or far enough to clear the keel of the largest
-ship. You will notice how the depth-control man is
-holding her steady by manipulating the forward horizontal
-rudders, just as an aviator steadies his aeroplane.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_113" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_113.jpg" width="600" height="417" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.</div>
- <div class="caption">Depth-control Station, U. S. Submarine.<br />
- <span class="smaller">Wheel governing horizontal rudders, gages showing depth, trim, etc.</span></div></div>
-
-<p>“He must be a strong man to handle those two big
-horizontal rudders.”</p>
-
-<p>“He has an electric motor to do the hard work for him,
-as has the quartermaster steering the course here with
-the vertical rudder.”</p>
-
-<p>The same red-headed petty officer that I had noticed
-on the bridge now grasped the spokes of a smaller steering-wheel
-inside the conning-tower.</p>
-
-<p>“What is that queer-looking thing whirling round and
-round in front of him?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p>“A Sperry gyroscopic compass,” replied the lieutenant.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">114</a></span>
-“An ordinary magnetic compass could not be relied on
-to point in any particular direction if it was shut up in
-a steel box full of charged electric wires, like the turret
-of a submarine. We tried to remedy this by building conning-towers
-of copper, till Mr. Sperry perfected a compass
-that has no magnetic
-needle, but operates on
-the principle of the
-gyroscope. You know
-that a heavy, rapidly
-rotating wheel resists
-any tendency to being
-shifted relative to
-space?”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_114" class="figcenter" style="width: 380px;">
- <img src="images/i_114.jpg" width="380" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">Cross-section of a Periscope.</div></div>
-
-<p>“The earth, revolving
-on its axis, is nothing
-but a big gyroscope&mdash;that
-is why it stays
-put. The little gyroscope
-on this compass
-spins at right angles to
-the revolution of the
-earth and so keeps in a
-due north and south
-line. But the frame it is mounted on turns with the
-ship, so the relative positions of the frame and the gyro-axis
-show in what direction the submarine is heading.”</p>
-
-<p>“And you can see what’s ahead of you through the
-periscope. Who invented that?”</p>
-
-<p>“The idea is a very old one. Certain French and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">115</a></span>
-Dutch inventors designed submarines with periscopes as
-long ago as the eighteen-fifties. In the Civil War, the
-light-draft river-monitor <i>Osage</i> had attached to her turret
-a crude periscope made by her chief engineer, Thomas
-Doughty, out of a piece of three-inch steam-pipe with
-holes cut at each of its ends at opposite sides, and pieces
-of looking-glass inserted as reflectors. By means of
-this instrument her captain, now Rear-Admiral, Thomas
-O. Selfridge, was able to look over the high banks of the
-Red River when the <i>Osage</i> had run aground in a bend
-and was being attacked by three thousand dismounted
-Confederate cavalry, who were repulsed with the loss of
-four hundred killed or wounded by the fire of the monitor’s
-11-inch guns, directed through the periscope.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a></p>
-
-<p>“But as late as 1900 the periscope was so crude and unsatisfactory
-an instrument that John P. Holland would
-have nothing to do with it. The credit for bringing it
-to its present efficiency belongs chiefly to the Germans,
-who kept many of their scientists working together on
-the solution of the difficult problems of optics that were
-involved.</p>
-
-<p>“By turning this little crank,” the lieutenant continued,
-“I can revolve the reflector at the top of the tube. This
-reflector contains a prism which reflects the image of the
-object in view down through a system of lenses in the
-tube to another prism here at the bottom, where the observer
-sees it through an eyepiece and telescope lenses.”</p>
-
-<p>I looked into the eyepiece, which was so much like that
-of an old-fashioned stereoscope that I felt that it, too,
-ought to work back and forth after the manner of a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">116</a></span>
-slide trombone. I found myself looking out over the
-broad blue waters of a sunlit bay. I noticed a squall
-blackening the surface of the water, a catboat running
-before it, and the gleam of the brass instruments of the
-band playing on the after deck of a big white excursion
-steamer half a mile away.</p>
-
-<p>“I can almost imagine I can hear the music of that
-band,” I exclaimed. “The optical illusion is perfect.”</p>
-
-<p>“It has to be,” rejoined the lieutenant. “If the image
-were in the least distorted or out of perspective, we
-couldn’t aim straight.”</p>
-
-<p>“What do you do when the periscope is wet with
-spray?” I asked him.</p>
-
-<p>“Wash the glass with a jet of alcohol and dry it from
-the inside with a current of warm air passing up and
-down the tube. A periscope-tube is double: the outer
-one passing through a stuffing-box in the hull, and the inner
-tube revolving inside it. The old-fashioned single
-tubes were too hard to revolve and the resistance of the
-water used to bend them aft and cause leakage. We can
-raise and lower the periscopes at will, and all our larger
-boats have two of them, so that they can keep a lookout
-in two directions at once, besides having a spare eye
-in case the first is put out.”</p>
-
-<p>“What are those two little things that big naval tug
-is towing over there?” I inquired.</p>
-
-<p>“The target for our torpedo practice,” replied Lieutenant
-Scope. “We shall try to put four Whiteheads
-between those two buoys as the tug tows them past at an
-unknown range and speed. If you step forward to the
-torpedo room you can see them loading the tubes.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">117</a></span>
-As I walked forward it occurred to me that the twenty-odd
-men on board the <i>X-4</i> seemed to be moving about
-inside her with perfect freedom, without disturbing her
-trim. I mentioned this to one of the crew.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_117" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_117.jpg" width="600" height="394" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.</div>
- <div class="caption">Forward torpedo-compartment, U. S. Submarine, showing breech-mechanism
- of four tubes. Round opening above is the escape-hatch.
-</div></div>
-
-<p>“It’s the trimming-tanks that keep her level,” he explained.
-“As we’re walking forward, our weight in
-water is being automatically pumped from the trimming-tank
-in the bow to the one astern. A submarine is just
-one blamed tank after another. Stand clear of that
-chain-fall, sir; they’re loading No. 1 tube.”</p>
-
-<p>Stripped to the waist like an old-time gun-crew, four
-beautifully muscled young gunner’s mates were hoisting,
-with an ingenious arrangement of chains and pulleys, a
-torpedo from the magazine. The breach of the tube was
-opened and the long Whitehead thrust in, two flanges on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">118</a></span>
-its sides being fitted into deep grooves in the sides of the
-tube, so that the torpedo would not spin like a rifle-bullet
-but be launched on an even keel. The breach was closed,
-and the men stood by expectantly.</p>
-
-<p>“Skipper’s up in the conning-tower, taking aim
-through the periscope,” explained the man who had told
-me about trimming-tanks. “The tubes being fixed in the
-bow, he has to train the whole boat like a gun. Likewise
-he’s got to figure out how far it is to the target and how
-fast the tug is towing it, how many seconds it’s going to
-take the torpedo to get there, and how much he’s got to
-allow for its being carried off its course by tide and currents.
-When he gets good and ready, the lieutenant’ll
-press a little electric button and you’ll hear&mdash;”</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Thud!</span>” went the compressed air in the tube, and the
-submarine shuddered slightly with the shock of the recoil.
-But that was all.</p>
-
-<p>“There she goes!” said my friend the tank-expert.
-“As soon as the Whitehead was expelled, a compensation-tank
-just above the tube was flooded with enough water
-to make good the loss in weight.”</p>
-
-<p>“What keeps the sea-water from rushing into the tube
-after the torpedo leaves it?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p>“A conical-shaped cap on the bow of the boat keeps
-both tubes closed except when you want to fire one of
-them. Then the cap, which is pivoted on its upper edge,
-swings to port or starboard just long enough for the torpedo
-to get clear and swings back before the water can
-get in.”</p>
-
-<p>Four of the ten torpedoes carried in the magazine were
-sped on their way to the unseen target. I returned to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119">119</a></span>
-the turret as the wireless operator entered and handed a
-typewritten slip to Lieutenant Scope, who smiled happily
-and said to me,</p>
-
-<p>“The captain of the tug reports that all four shots
-were hits and all four torpedoes have been safely recovered.”</p>
-
-<p>I was too astonished to congratulate him on his marksmanship,
-as I should have done.</p>
-
-<p>“How in the name of miracles!” I gasped. “Can
-you receive a wireless telegram under the sea?”</p>
-
-<p>“By the Fessenden oscillator,” he replied, and added
-to the wireless man,</p>
-
-<p>“Take this gentleman below and show him how it
-works.”</p>
-
-<p>“Did you ever have another chap knock two stone together
-under water when you were taking a dive?” asked
-the operator. I nodded in vivid recollection.</p>
-
-<p>“Then you have some idea how sounds are magnified
-under water. It is an old idea to put submarine bells
-down under lighthouses and fit ships with some kind of
-receiver so that the bells can be heard and warning given
-when it is too foggy to see the light. The advantage over
-the old-style bell-buoy lies in the fact that sound travels
-about four times as fast through water as through air,<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a>
-and goes further and straighter because it isn’t deflected
-by winds or what the aviators call ‘air-pockets.’ The
-man who knows most about these things is Professor
-Fessenden, of the Submarine Signal Company of Boston,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120">120</a></span>
-who first realized the possibility of telegraphing through
-water.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">17</a></p>
-
-<div id="ip_120" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_120.jpg" width="600" height="474" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the American Magazine.</div>
- <div class="caption">Fessenden oscillator outside the hull of a ship. The “ear” of
- a modern vessel.</div></div>
-
-<p>“Fastened outside the hull of this boat is one of the
-Fessenden oscillators: a steel disk eighteen inches in
-diameter, that can be vibrated very rapidly by electricity.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">121</a></span>
-These vibrations travel through the water, like wireless
-waves through the ether, till they strike the oscillator on
-another vessel and set it to vibrating in sympathy. To
-send a message, I start and stop the oscillator with this
-key so as to form the dots and dashes of the Morse code.
-To receive, I sit here with these receivers over my ears
-and ‘listen in,’ just like a wireless operator, till I pick up
-our call ‘X-4,’ ‘X-4.’”</p>
-
-<p>“How far can you send a message under water?”</p>
-
-<p>“Ten miles is the furthest I’ve ever sent one. Professor
-Fessenden has sent messages more than thirty miles.
-The invention only dates back to 1913 and what it will
-do in the future, there is no telling.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_121" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_121.jpg" width="600" height="421" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the American Magazine.</div>
- <div class="caption">Professor Fessenden receiving a message sent through several
- miles of sea-water by his “Oscillator.”</div></div>
-
-<p>“Even now, couldn’t a surface vessel act as eyes for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122">122</a></span>
-a whole flotilla of submarines and tell them where to
-go and when to strike by coaching them through the
-Fessenden oscillator?”</p>
-
-<p>The operator nodded.</p>
-
-<p>“We’re doing it to-day, in practice. But don’t forget
-that an enemy’s ship carrying a pair of oscillators can
-hear a submarine coming two miles away. You can
-make out the beat of a propeller at that distance every
-time.”</p>
-
-<p>“But how can you tell how far away and in what
-direction it is?”</p>
-
-<p>“I can’t, with a single oscillator like ours. But a ship
-carries two of them, one on each side of the hull, like the
-ears on a man’s head. And just as a man knows whether
-a shout he hears comes from the right or left, because
-he hears it more with one ear than the other, so the
-skipper of a surface craft can look at the indicator that
-registers the relative intensity of the vibrations received
-by the port and starboard oscillators and say,</p>
-
-<p>“‘There’s somebody three points off the starboard
-bow, mile and three quarters away, and heading for us.
-Nothing in sight, so it must be one of those blamed submarines.’</p>
-
-<p>“And away he steams, full speed ahead and cutting
-zigzags. Or maybe he gets his rapid-fire guns ready and
-watches for Mr. Submarine to rise&mdash;like the <i>X-4</i>’s doing
-now.”</p>
-
-<p>Freed of the dead weight of many tons of sea water
-blown from her ballast-tanks by compressed air, the submarine
-rose to the surface like a balloon. Ventilators
-and hatch-covers were thrown open and we swarmed up<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">123</a></span>
-on deck to fill our grateful lungs with the good sea air.
-Three motor-boats from the tug throbbed up alongside
-with the four torpedoes we had discharged.</p>
-
-<p>“Those boats wait, one this side of the target, one near
-it and the third over on the far side, to mark the shots
-and catch the torpedoes after they rise to the surface at
-the end of their run,” said Lieutenant Scope. “We very
-seldom lose a torpedo nowadays. They tell a story about
-one that dived to the bottom and was driven by the force
-of its own engines into forty feet of soft mud, where
-it stayed till it happened to be dug up by a dredger.”</p>
-
-<p>The four torpedoes were hoisted aboard, drained of
-the sea water that had flooded their air-chambers, cleaned
-and lowered through the torpedo hatch forward down
-into the magazine. By this time the bridge and railing
-were again in place and the flags fluttering over the
-taffrail as the <i>X-4</i>, her day’s work done, sped swiftly up
-the coast to home and mother-ship.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">124</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">ACCIDENTS AND SAFETY DEVICES</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> following submarines, with all or part of their
-crews, have been accidentally lost in time of peace:</p>
-
-<table id="lost" class="intact p1" summary="Submarines lost">
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl in0 b1"><i>Date</i></td>
- <td class="tdl in0 b1"><i>Name</i></td>
- <td class="tdl in0 b1"><i>Nationality</i></td>
- <td class="tdc b1"><i>Men Lost</i></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">March 18, 1904</td>
- <td class="tdl">A-1</td>
- <td class="tdl">British</td>
- <td class="tdc">11</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">June 20, 1904</td>
- <td class="tdl">Delfin</td>
- <td class="tdl">Russian</td>
- <td class="tdc">26</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">June 8, 1905</td>
- <td class="tdl">A-8</td>
- <td class="tdl">British</td>
- <td class="tdc">14</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">July 6, 1905</td>
- <td class="tdl">Farfadet</td>
- <td class="tdl">French</td>
- <td class="tdc">14</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">October 16, 1906</td>
- <td class="tdl">Lutin</td>
- <td class="tdl">French</td>
- <td class="tdc">13</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">April 26, 1909</td>
- <td class="tdl">Foca</td>
- <td class="tdl">Italian</td>
- <td class="tdc">13</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">June 12, 1909</td>
- <td class="tdl">Kambala</td>
- <td class="tdl">Russian</td>
- <td class="tdc">20</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">July 14, 1909</td>
- <td class="tdl">C-11</td>
- <td class="tdl">British</td>
- <td class="tdc">13</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">April 15, 1910</td>
- <td class="tdl">No. 6.</td>
- <td class="tdl">Japanese</td>
- <td class="tdc">14</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">May 26, 1910</td>
- <td class="tdl">Pluviôse</td>
- <td class="tdl">French</td>
- <td class="tdc">26</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">January 17, 1911</td>
- <td class="tdl">U-3</td>
- <td class="tdl">German</td>
- <td class="tdc"> 3</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">February 2, 1912</td>
- <td class="tdl">A-3</td>
- <td class="tdl">British</td>
- <td class="tdc">14</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">June 8, 1912</td>
- <td class="tdl">Vendémiaire</td>
- <td class="tdl">French</td>
- <td class="tdc">24</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">October 4, 1912</td>
- <td class="tdl">B-2</td>
- <td class="tdl">British</td>
- <td class="tdc">15</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">June 8, 1913</td>
- <td class="tdl">E-5</td>
- <td class="tdl">British</td>
- <td class="tdc"> 3</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">December 10, 1913</td>
- <td class="tdl">C-14</td>
- <td class="tdl">British</td>
- <td class="tdc">none</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">January 16, 1914</td>
- <td class="tdl">A-7</td>
- <td class="tdl">British</td>
- <td class="tdc">11</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">March 25, 1915</td>
- <td class="tdl">F-4</td>
- <td class="tdl">American</td>
- <td class="tdc">21</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>The <i>A-1</i> was engaged in manœuvers off Spithead, England,
-when she rose to the surface right under the bows
-of the fast-steaming Union Castle Liner <i>Berwick Castle</i>.
-Before anything could be done, the sharp prow of the
-steamer had cut a great gash in the thin hull of the submarine
-and sent her to the bottom with all her crew.
-This was in broad daylight; her sister-ship <i>C-11</i> was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">125</a></span>
-rammed and sunk by another liner three years later, at
-night. The <i>Pluviôse</i> of the French navy escaped the bow
-of an on-coming cross-channel steamer when the submarine
-came up at the entrance to Calais Harbor, only to
-have her topsides crushed in by a blow from one of the
-paddle-wheels. Collisions like these are less likely to happen
-nowadays, for the navigating officer of a modern submarine
-can take a look round the horizon through the
-periscope from a depth sufficient to let most steamers
-pass harmlessly over him, and in case of darkness or fog,
-he can detect the vibrations of approaching propellers by
-means of the Fessenden oscillator or some similar device.
-Yet the frequency with which submarines have been intentionally
-rammed and sunk in the present war shows
-that they would still be liable to rise blindly to their destruction
-in time of peace.</p>
-
-<p>The vapor from a leaking fuel-tank, making an explosive
-mixture with the air inside the submarine and set
-off by a spark from the electrical machinery, has caused
-many accidents of another kind. Such an explosion took
-place on the original <i>Holland</i>, shortly after she was taken
-into the government service, but fortunately without killing
-any one. As the crew of the British <i>A-5</i> were filling
-the fuel tanks of their vessel with gasoline, some of
-them were blown up through the open hatchway and into
-the sea by a burst of flaming vapor that killed six men
-and terribly injured twelve more. A rescue party that
-entered the boat to save the men still left aboard had
-several of its own members disabled by a second explosion.
-The vessel itself, however, was almost unharmed. But
-not long afterwards, another submarine of the same ill-fated<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">126</a></span>
-class, the <i>A-8</i>, was lying off Plymouth breakwater
-with her hatches open, when the people on shore heard
-three distinct explosions on board her and saw her suddenly
-submerge. Her crew evidently got the hatches
-closed before she went down, as they sent up signals that
-they were alive but unable to rise. Two hours later a
-fourth explosion took place and all hope was abandoned.</p>
-
-<p>This danger has been guarded against by better construction
-of tanks and valves, and very greatly lessened
-by the substitution of the heavy oil used in the Diesel
-engines for the more costly and volatile gasoline.</p>
-
-<p>Besides igniting explosive oil vapors with their sparks,
-the old-fashioned sulphuric acid and lead storage batteries
-still used in many submarines are a great source of
-danger in themselves. The jars are too easily broken,
-and the leaking acid eats into the steel plating of the boat,
-weakening it if not actually letting in the sea water. And
-if salt water comes in contact with a battery of this
-type, then chlorin gas&mdash;the same poisonous gas that the
-Germans use against the Allies’ trenches&mdash;is generated
-and the crew are in very great danger of suffocation.
-The new Edison alkali storage battery, besides being
-lighter and more durable, uses no acid and cannot give
-off chlorin when saturated with sea water.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_127" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_127.jpg" width="600" height="382" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Redrawn from the London Sphere.</div>
- <div class="caption">Side-elevation of a Modern Submarine,</div>
- <div class="caption smaller">A, Running on the surface; B, In awash condition; C, Submerging; D, Exposing periscope; E, Fully submerged; F,
-Resting on the bottom.</div></div>
-
-<p>The remaining great danger is that a submarine may
-get out of control and submerge too quickly, so that it
-either strikes the bottom, at the risk of being crushed in
-or entangled, or descends to so great a depth that its
-sides are forced in by the pressure of the water outside,
-which also prevents the submarine from discharging the
-water in its ballast tanks and escaping to the surface.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">127</a><a class="hidev" id="Page_128">128</a></span>
-Detachable safety weights and keels to lighten the boat
-in such an emergency date back to the time of Bushnell
-and J. Day. A more modern device is to have a hydrostatic
-valve (see page <a href="#Page_51">51</a>) set to correspond with the
-pressure of a certain depth of water, so that if the submarine
-goes below this the valve will be forced in and
-automatically “blow the tanks.”</p>
-
-<p>A submarine that sank too deep was the <i>No. 6</i>, of the
-Imperial Japanese navy, which disappeared while manœuvering
-in Hiroshima Bay, on April 15, 1910. When she
-was found, her entire crew lay dead at their stations, and
-in the conning-tower, beside the body of the commander,
-was the following letter written by that officer, Lieutenant
-Takuma Faotomu:</p>
-
-<p>“Although there is indeed no excuse to make for the
-sinking of his Imperial Majesty’s boat, and for the doing
-away of subordinates through my heedlessness, all on
-board the boat have discharged their duties well and in
-everything acted calmly until death. Although we are
-dying in the pursuance of our duty to the State, the only
-regret we have is due to anxiety lest the men of the world
-misunderstand the matter, and that thereby a blow may
-be given to the future development of the submarine.</p>
-
-<p>“Gentlemen, we hope you will be increasingly diligent
-and not fail to appreciate the cause of the accident, and
-that you will devote your entire energy to investigate
-everything and so secure the future development of submarines.
-If this be done we have nothing to regret.</p>
-
-<p>“While going through gasoline submerged exercises
-we submerged too far, and when we attempted to shut
-the sluice-valve, the chain broke.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">129</a></span>
-“Then we tried to close the sluice-valve by hand, but
-it was too late, for the afterpart was full of water, and
-the boat sank at an angle of about twenty-five degrees.
-The boat came to rest at an incline of about twelve degrees,
-pointing towards the stern. The switchboard being
-under water the electric lights went out. Offensive
-gas developed and breathing became difficult. The boat
-sank about 10 <span class="smcap smaller">A.M.</span> on the 15th, and though suffering at
-the time from this offensive gas, we endeavored to expel
-the water by hand pumps. As the vessel went down we
-expelled the water from the main tank. As the light has
-gone out the gage cannot be seen, but we know the water
-has been expelled from the main tank.</p>
-
-<p>“We cannot use the electric current at all. The battery
-is leaking but no salt water has reached it and
-chlorin gas has not developed. We only rely on the
-hand pump now.</p>
-
-<p>“The above was written under the light of the conning-tower,
-at about 11.45 o’clock. We are now soaked
-by the water that has made its way in. Our clothes are
-wet and we feel cold. I had been accustomed to warn my
-shipmates that their behavior (in an emergency) should
-be calm and deliberate, as well as brave, yet not too
-deliberate, lest work be retarded. People may be tempted
-to ridicule this after this failure, but I am perfectly confident
-that my words have not been mistaken.</p>
-
-<p>“The depth gage of the conning-tower indicates 52
-feet, and despite our efforts to expel the water the pump
-stopped and would not work after 12 o’clock. The depth
-in this neighborhood being ten fathoms, the reading may
-be correct.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">130</a></span>
-“The officers and men of submarines should be chosen
-from the bravest of the brave or there will be annoyances
-in cases like this. Happily all the members of this crew
-have discharged their duties well and I am satisfied.
-I have always expected death whenever I left my home,
-and therefore my will is already in the drawer at Karasaki.
-(This remark applies only to my private affairs
-and is really superfluous. Messrs. Taguchi and Asami
-will please inform my father of this.)</p>
-
-<p>“I respectfully request that none of the families left
-by my subordinates suffer. The only thing I am anxious
-about is this.</p>
-
-<p>“Atmospheric pressure is increasing and I feel as if
-my tympanum were breaking.</p>
-
-<p>“12.30 o’clock. Respiration is extraordinarily difficult.
-I mean I am breathing gasoline. I am intoxicated
-with gasoline.</p>
-
-<p>“It is 12.40 o’clock.”</p>
-
-<p>Those were the last words written by Lieutenant
-Takuma Faotomu, bravest of the brave.</p>
-
-<p>Very many ingenious devices have been invented to
-enable the crew of a stranded submarine to escape. The
-best-known and most widely used is some form of the
-air-lock or diver’s chamber, as described in the chapter on
-the Lake boats. Through this the crew can pass in succession
-to the water outside and swim to the surface. If
-the depth is so great that an unprotected swimmer would
-be crushed by the weight of water above him, there is a
-great variety of safety-helmets, and of jackets with
-mouth-pieces leading to tanks containing enough air under
-moderate pressure to inflate the lungs and cheeks so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">131</a></span>
-that the internal pressure of the body will counteract that
-of the water. An escaping seaman, burdened with such
-a device, cannot rise unaided to the surface but must
-climb or be hauled up by a rope let down from above.
-Moreover, he must not ascend too rapidly, or the pressure
-within his body will dangerously exceed that without,
-as if he had been suddenly
-picked up at the seashore and
-carried to the top of the
-Andes. The human body is
-too delicate and elaborate a
-structure to be carelessly
-turned into a compressed-air
-tank. The surplus oxygen
-forms bubbles which try to
-force their way out through
-the tissues of the body, causing
-intense pain, and possibly
-paralysis or death. To avoid
-this, divers are brought up
-from any great depth by
-slow and careful stages, unless
-they can be placed at
-once in specially-constructed
-tanks on shore, where the pressure they are under can be
-gradually reduced to normal.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_131" class="figcenter" style="width: 362px;">
- <img src="images/i_131.jpg" width="362" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Scientific American.</div>
- <div class="caption">One Type of Safety-jacket.</div></div>
-
-<p>A covered lifeboat carried in a socket on the submarine’s
-deck, so that in case of accidental stranding the
-crew could get into the small boat from below, close the
-hatch cover, release the lifeboat from within, and rise
-safely and comfortably to the surface, was an attractive<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">132</a></span>
-feature of the <i>Plongeur</i> in 1863, and of many projected
-but unbuilt submarines since then. A detachable conning-tower,
-containing a small lifeboat that could be
-launched after the safety compartment had risen to the
-surface, has also been designed and patented more than
-once. Theoretically, these devices seem admirable but
-naval architects will have none of them. The reason for
-this is very simple. A submarine is primarily a warship,
-an instrument of destruction, and its carrying capacity
-is too limited to permit several hundredweight of torpedoes
-or supplies being crowded out by a lifeboat or a
-score of safety-helmets. A divers’ compartment and one
-or two ordinary diving-suits&mdash;for these things are of
-military value&mdash;and a buoy that can be sent up to mark
-the spot where the boat has gone down are as much as
-you can expect to find in the average naval submarine.</p>
-
-<p>One of the most instructive accidents that ever happened
-to an undersea boat was the loss and rescue of the
-German <i>U-3</i>. She sank to the bottom of Kiel Harbor
-on January 17, 1911. A small spherical buoy was released
-and rose to the surface, where it was picked up
-and a telephone attached to the end of the thin wire
-cable.</p>
-
-<p>“Hello!”</p>
-
-<p>“Hello! This is the captain of the <i>U-3</i> speaking.
-We cannot rise, but we are resting easy and have air
-enough to last forty-eight hours.”</p>
-
-<p>“Good. The steam salvage-dock <i>Vulcan</i> has been
-sent for and will be here before then, Herr Kapitan.”</p>
-
-<p>But before the <i>Vulcan</i> arrived, it occurred to some one
-in authority to attempt to raise the <i>U-3</i> with a large floating<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133">133</a></span>
-crane then available. The strong steel chain ready
-coiled at the lower end of the buoy-line was drawn up
-and made fast to the crane, which could not lift the 300-ton
-submarine bodily, but succeeded in hauling up its bow
-sufficiently for the twenty-seven petty officers and seamen
-on board the <i>U-3</i> to be shot up through the torpedo
-tube to the surface. The captain and his two lieutenants
-chose to remain. Shortly afterwards the chain slipped
-and broke off one of the boat’s ventilators, letting water
-into the hull and drowning all three officers.</p>
-
-<p>Then the sea-going, steam salvage-dock <i>Vulcan</i>
-reached the scene and brought the <i>U-3</i> to the surface in
-three hours.</p>
-
-<p>“The <i>Vulcan</i> is a double-hulled vessel, 230 feet in
-length with a lifting capacity of 500 tons. The width
-between the two hulls is sufficient to admit with good
-clearance the largest submarines. At a suitable height
-a shelf is formed along each wall of the interior opening,
-and upon this rests the removable floor of the dock. The
-two hulls of the ship are each built with water-tight compartments
-of large capacity, similar to those which are
-found in the side walls of the ordinary floating dock.
-When a sunken submarine is to be raised, the <i>Vulcan</i>
-steams to the wreck and is moored securely in position
-above it. Spanning the well between the two hulls are
-two massive gantry cranes, each provided with heavy
-lifting tackle driven by electric motors. The first operation
-is to fill the compartments until the vessel has sunk
-to the required depth. The floor of the dock is then
-moved clear of the well. The lifting tackles are now
-lowered and made fast, either to chains which have been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134">134</a></span>
-slung around the body of the submarine, or to two
-massive eyebolts which are permanently riveted into the
-submarine’s hull. At the order to hoist away, the submarine
-is lifted free from the mud and drawn up within
-the well, until its bottom is clear of the supporting shelves
-on the inner faces of the two hulls, above referred to.
-The dock floor is
-then placed in position
-on the shelves,
-the water is pumped
-out of the two hulls,
-and the <i>Vulcan</i>
-rises, lifting the
-submarine and the
-dock floor clear of
-the water.”<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">18</a></p>
-
-<div id="ip_134" class="figcenter" style="width: 504px;">
- <img src="images/i_134.jpg" width="504" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Courtesy of the Scientific American.</div>
- <div class="caption">The <i>Vulcan</i> salvaging the <i>U-3</i>.</div></div>
-
-<p>A similar vessel
-was built by the
-French government
-as a result of public
-indignation over the
-delay in raising the
-sunken <i>Pluviôse</i>.
-Great Britain has a salvage dock with a lifting capacity
-of 1000 tons. But the most remarkable craft of this
-kind belongs to Italy and was designed by the famous
-engineer Major Cesare Laurenti, technical director of the
-Fiat-San Giorgio works, builders of some of the world’s
-best submarines. She is a twin-hulled vessel, fitted not
-only to pick a sunken submarine from the sea bottom, but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">135</a></span>
-to care for it in every way, for she is also a floating dry-dock,
-capable of repairing two of the largest submarines,
-besides being a fully equipped mother-ship for a
-flotilla of six. With the ends of her central tunnel closed
-by a false stem and stern, and propelled by twin screws
-driven by powerful Diesel engines, she is a fast and seaworthy
-vessel, capable of keeping company with her flotilla
-on a surface cruise. She carries a sufficient armament of
-quick-firing guns to beat off a hostile destroyer. But the
-most noteworthy feature of the Laurenti dock is a long
-steel cylinder, capable of enduring great pressure from
-within, that is used to test the resisting strength of new
-submarines. A new boat, or a section of a proposed new
-type, is placed in this tube, which is filled with water that
-is then compressed by pumps, reproducing the effect of
-submergence to any desired depth.</p>
-
-<p>The United States navy tests each new submarine built
-for it by actually lowering the boat, with no one in it,
-to a depth of 200 feet. We have no Laurenti dock, no
-<i>Vulcan</i>, no sea-going salvage dock of any kind. The
-tender <i>Fulton</i> has a powerful crane, but she cannot be
-on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Far East,
-simultaneously.</p>
-
-<p>“The difficulties encountered in raising the sunken
-British submarine <i>A-3</i>,” wrote Mr. R.&nbsp;G. Skerrett in the
-“Scientific American” some years ago, “have in them
-a note of warning for us. We are steadily adding to
-our flotilla of under-water boats, and yet we have no
-proper facilities in the government service for the
-prompt salvage of any of these boats should they be
-carried suddenly to the bottom. We have been fortunate<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">136</a></span>
-so far in escaping serious accidents, but that is
-no reason for assuming that we are any more likely
-to be immune from disaster than any other naval service.
-We should profit by the catastrophes which have
-befallen England, Russia, France, Germany, and Japan,
-and no longer continue unprepared for kindred mishaps.”<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">19</a></p>
-
-<p>We refused to profit and we continued unprepared.
-Then came a brief official cablegram from Hawaii,
-“Honolulu, March 25, 1915. U.&nbsp;S. submarine <i>F-4</i> left
-tender at 9 <span class="smcap smaller">A.M.</span> for submerged run. Failed to return
-to surface.”</p>
-
-<p>The other two submarines on the station and motor-boats
-from the tender <i>Alert</i> cruised about till they found
-the spot where oil and air-bubbles were coming to the
-surface. Two tugs then swept the bottom with a two-thousand
-foot sweep of chains and wire cables, which
-caught early the next morning on what proved to be the
-lost submarine, in three hundred feet of water, about
-a mile and a half outside the entrance to Honolulu Harbor.</p>
-
-<p>For twenty-four hours or so the navy department
-held out the hope that the men on board her were still
-alive and might be rescued. But there was nothing
-ready to rescue them with. Three weeks were spent in
-building the windlasses for an improvised salvage-dock
-made out of two mud scows. In the meanwhile, a detachment
-of the department’s most skilled divers were
-sent out from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. With their
-aid, strong wire cables were passed under the submarine’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">137</a></span>
-hull. While engaged on this work, one of the divers,
-Chief Gunner’s Mate Frank Crilley, broke all deep submergence
-records by descending to a depth of 288 feet.
-As a result, his lungs were severely injured and he soon
-afterwards developed pneumonia.</p>
-
-<p>The wire ropes chafed through and were replaced by
-chains. Then the <i>F-4</i> was lifted from the bottom and
-towed inshore to a depth of fifty feet. Here a heavy
-storm set in and the lines had to be cast off. Six big
-cylindrical-shaped pontoons were then built at San Francisco
-and brought out to Honolulu on the cruiser <i>Maryland</i>.
-Divers passed fresh chains under the <i>F-4</i>, the pontoons
-were sunk on either side of her, and coupled together.
-Then the water was blown out of the pontoons
-by compressed-air piped down from above, the <i>F-4</i> was
-raised to the surface, and towed into dry dock.</p>
-
-<p>No decipherable written record was discovered inside
-her hull, which was filled with sand washed in through
-a large hole made in the plating by the chafing of the
-chains. But the story of the disaster was written in the
-plates and rivets of the vessel herself, and skilfully deduced
-and reconstructed by a board of inquiry, headed
-by Rear-Admiral Boush. Their report, which was not
-made public till October 27, told dramatically how the
-corroded condition of the lead lining in the battery tanks
-had let the acid eat away the rivets in the port wall of
-the forward tank. Salt water thus entered part of the
-battery, producing chlorin gas, which exploded violently,
-admitting more water, till the submarine began to sink
-by the head, in spite of the raising of her diving-rudders.</p>
-
-<p>“Automatic blow was tripped, and blow valve on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">138</a></span>
-auxiliary tank opened in the endeavor to check downward
-momentum. Manœuvering with propellers probably
-took place. The appreciable length of time requisite
-for air to build up in ballast tanks for the expulsion
-of sufficient quantities of water resulted in the vessel
-reaching crushing depth.</p>
-
-<p>“Seams of the vessel began to open, and probably
-through open torpedo tubes and seams water entered the
-vessel and a condition of positive buoyancy was never
-attained.</p>
-
-<p>“There followed actual disaster. The vessel began
-filling with water. The personnel abandoned stations
-and many sought refuge in the engine room, closing the
-door. Under great pressure the engine room bulkhead
-failed suddenly, leaving the vessel on the bottom, completely
-flooded.”</p>
-
-<p>All the boats of the “F” class had already been withdrawn
-from the service, by order of Secretary Daniels.
-Their place at Honolulu was taken by four boats of the
-“K” class, which made the 2100 mile voyage out from
-San Francisco under their own power.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">139</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">MINES</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="center larger b0">THE MINE SWEEPERS</p>
-
-<div class="poem-container b1">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i26">“‘Ware mine!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Starboard your helm.”... “Full speed ahead!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The squat craft duly swings&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A hand’s breadth off, a thing of dread<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The sullen breaker flings.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Carefully, slowly, patiently,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The men of Grimsby Town<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Grope their way on the rolling sea&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The storm-swept, treacherous, gray North Sea&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Keeping the death-rate down.<br /></span>
-</div>
-<div class="attrib">&mdash;<span class="smcap">H. Ingamells</span>, in the “London Spectator.”
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap a"><span class="smcap1">A mine</span> is a torpedo that has no motive-power of
-its own but is either anchored or set adrift in the
-supposed path of an enemy’s ship. We have already
-seen how Bushnell used drifting mines at Philadelphia
-in 1777. Anchored mines are among the many inventions
-of Robert Fulton. The following description of
-the original type, illustrated by an engraving made by
-himself, is taken from Fulton’s “Torpedo War and Submarine
-Explosions.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_140" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_140.jpg" width="600" height="553" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">Fulton’s Anchored Torpedoes.</div></div>
-
-<p>“Plate II represents the anchored torpedo, so arranged
-as to blow up a vessel which should run against<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">140</a></span>
-it; <i>B</i> is a copper case two feet long, twelve inches diameter,
-capable of containing one hundred pounds of
-powder. <i>A</i> is a brass box, in which there is a lock similar
-to a common gun lock, with a barrel two inches
-long, to contain a musket charge of powder: the box,
-with the lock cocked and barrel charged, is screwed to
-the copper case <i>B</i>. <i>H</i> is a lever which has a communication
-to the lock inside of the box, and in its present
-state holds the lock cocked and ready to fire. <i>C</i> is a
-deal box filled with cork, and tied to the case <i>B</i>. The
-object of the cork is to render the torpedo about fifteen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">141</a></span>
-or twenty pounds specifically lighter than water, and
-give it a tendency to rise to the surface. It is held down
-to any given depth under water by a weight of fifty or
-sixty pounds as at <i>F</i>: there is also a small anchor <i>G</i>, to
-prevent a strong tide moving it from its position. With
-torpedoes prepared, and knowing the depth of water
-in all our bays and harbors, it is only necessary to fix
-the weight <i>F</i> at such a distance from the torpedo, as
-when thrown into the water, <i>F</i> will hold it ten, twelve, or
-fifteen feet below the surface at low water, it will then be
-more or less below the surface at high water, or at
-different times of the tide; but it should never be so
-deep as the usual draft of a frigate or ship-of-the-line.
-When anchored, it will, during the flood tide, stand in its
-present position; at slack water it will stand perpendicular
-to the weight <i>F</i>, as at <i>D</i>; during the ebb it will be at <i>E</i>.
-At ten feet under water the waves, in boisterous
-weather, would have little or no tendency to disturb the
-torpedo; for that if the hollow of a wave should sink
-ten feet below what would be the calm surface, the wave
-would run twenty feet high, which I believe is never the
-case in any of our bays and harbors. All the experience
-which I have on this kind of torpedo is, that in the
-month of October, 1805, I had one of them anchored
-nine feet under water, in the British Channel near Dover;
-the weather was severe, the waves ran high, it kept its
-position for twenty-four hours, and, when taken up, the
-powder was dry and the lock in good order. The torpedo
-thus anchored, it is obvious, that if a ship in sailing
-should strike the lever <i>H</i>, the explosion would be instantaneous,
-and she be immediately destroyed; hence,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">142</a></span>
-to defend our bays or harbors, let a hundred, or more if
-necessary, of these engines be anchored in the channel,
-as for example, the Narrows, to defend New York.</p>
-
-<p>“The figure to the right of the plate is an end view of
-the torpedo. <i>H-H</i> shews its lever forked, to give the
-better chance of being struck.</p>
-
-<p>“Having described this instrument in a way which
-I hope will be understood,” continues Fulton, “I may be
-permitted to put the following question to my reader,
-which is: Knowing that the explosion of one hundred
-pounds of powder, or more if required, under the bottom
-of a ship-of-the-line, would destroy her, and seeing,
-that if a ship in sailing should strike the lever of an
-anchored torpedo, she would be blown up, would he have
-the courage, or shall I say the temerity, to sail into a
-channel where one or more hundred of such engines were
-anchored? I rely on each gentleman’s sense of prudence
-and self-preservation, to answer this question to my satisfaction.
-Should the apprehension of danger become as
-strong on the minds of those who investigate this subject
-as it is on mine, we may reasonably conclude that the
-same regard to self-preservation will make an enemy cautious
-in approaching waters where such engines are
-placed; for however brave sailors may be, there is no
-danger so distressing to the mind of a seaman, or so
-calculated to destroy his confidence, as that which is invisible
-and instantaneous destruction.”</p>
-
-<p>But Admiral Farragut at Mobile Bay, half a century
-later, did have the “temerity to sail into a channel where
-one or more hundred of such engines were anchored.”
-The monitor <i>Tecumseh</i> struck and exploded a mine that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">143</a></span>
-sent her to the bottom with almost her entire crew.
-The rest of the fleet began to waver when, from the
-main-rigging of the <i>Hartford</i> Farragut shouted his immortal
-command:</p>
-
-<p>“Full steam ahead! Damn the torpedoes!”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_143" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_143.jpg" width="600" height="413" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">Sinking of the U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;S. <i>Tecumseh</i>, by a Confederate
-mine, in Mobile Bay.</div></div>
-
-<p>As the flagship led the way through the mine-field,
-those on board heard mine after mine bump against her
-bottom, but though the levers were struck and the primers
-snapped, the powder-charges failed to explode. Hastily
-improvised out of beer-kegs and other receptacles, with
-tin or iron covers that became rusty and useless soon
-after they were placed under water, many of the Confederate
-mines were in this respect inferior to the well-built
-copper torpedoes of Fulton. Yet crude as they
-were, they destroyed more than forty Northern warships,
-transports, and supply vessels.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">144</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_144" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_144.jpg" width="600" height="319" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">From Scharf’s History of the Confederate States Navy.</div>
- <div class="caption">A Confederate “Keg-Torpedo.”</div></div>
-
-<p>Percussion-caps instead of flintlocks were now used
-to explode contact mines. A new type of anchored
-torpedo, set off by an electric spark through a wire running
-to an operator on shore, was also a favorite with the
-Confederates. Because they are exploded not by contact
-with the ship’s hull but by the closing of the circuit by
-the operator when he observes an enemy’s vessel to be
-above one of them, these are called “observation mines.”
-In the Civil War, many effective mines of this sort were
-made out of whisky demijohns. One of these blew up
-the gunboat <i>Cairo</i>, in the Yazoo River, in the autumn
-of 1862. The double-ended, river gunboat <i>Commodore
-Jones</i> was blown to pieces by an observation mine, whose
-operator was subsequently captured and tied to the cut-water
-of another Federal gunboat as a warning and a
-hostage. During the bombardment of Fort Sumter by
-the United States fleet in 1863, the <i>New Ironsides</i> lay
-for an hour directly above an observation mine made of
-boiler iron and containing a ton of gunpowder but which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">145</a></span>
-failed to explode despite all the efforts of the operator.
-He was naturally accused of treachery and it would have
-gone hard with him had it not been discovered, soon
-after the <i>New Ironsides</i> ceased firing and stood out to
-sea, that the shore end of the wire had been severed by
-the wheel of an ammunition wagon.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_145" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_145.jpg" width="600" height="291" alt="" />
- <div class="caption smaller">U. S. IRON-CLAD “CAIRO” (BLOWN UP BY CONFEDERATE TORPEDO).</div>
- <div class="captionl p1">From Scharf’s History of the Confederate States Navy.</div>
- <div class="caption">First Warship Destroyed by a Mine.</div></div>
-
-<p>During the Franco-Prussian War, the powerful French
-fleet blockaded the German coast but did not attack the
-shore batteries, which were well protected by mines.
-After peace was declared the foreign consuls at one of
-the North German seaports congratulated the burgomaster
-on having planted and taken up so many mines without
-a single accident. Unknown to any one, the prudent
-burgomaster had unloaded them first, and they kept
-the French away just as well.</p>
-
-<p>In the Spanish-American War, Admiral Dewey was
-able to enter Manila Bay and destroy the Spanish squadron
-there because its commander “had repeatedly asked<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">146</a></span>
-for torpedoes (mines) from Madrid, but had received
-none and his attempts to make them had been failures.”<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">20</a>
-It was the mine-fields and not the
-feeble shore batteries that kept
-Sampson’s fleet out of Havana and
-Santiago. At Guantanamo, now a
-United States naval station, the
-<i>Texas</i> and the <i>Marblehead</i> each
-“struck her propeller against a contact
-mine, which failed to explode
-only because it was incrusted with
-a thick growth of barnacles. Gratitude
-for the vessels’ escape may
-fairly be divided between divine
-care to which the gallant and devout
-Captain Philip attributed it in his
-report, and the Spaniards’ neglect
-to maintain a proper inspection of
-these defenses. A number of these
-torpedoes, which were of French
-manufacture, and contained forty-six
-and a half kilograms (one hundred
-and two pounds) of guncotton,
-were afterward dragged up in the channel.”<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">21</a></p>
-
-<div id="ip_146" class="figleft" style="width: 240px;">
- <img src="images/i_146.jpg" width="240" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">From Scharf’s History of the Confederate States Navy.</div>
- <div class="caption">A Confederate “Buoyant Torpedo” or Contact-mine.</div></div>
-
-<p>At the siege of Port Arthur in 1904, the Japanese fleet
-planted mines outside the harbor to keep the Russians in,
-and the Russians came out and planted mines of their
-own to entrap the blockaders. While engaged in this
-work, the Russian mine-layer <i>Yenisei</i> had a mine which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">147</a></span>
-had just been lowered through her specially constructed
-sternports thrown by a wave against her rudder, and
-was blown to atoms by the consequent explosion of three
-hundred more in her hold. The flagship <i>Petropavlosk</i>,
-returning from a sortie on April 13, struck a Japanese contact-mine
-and went down with the loss of six hundred
-men, including Vereshchagin, the famous painter of war-scenes,
-and Admiral Makaroff, who was not only the
-commander but the heart and soul of the Russian fleet.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">22</a>
-A month later, another mine cost the Japanese their finest
-battleship, the <i>Hatsuse</i>. Nor was the loss confined either
-to the belligerents or to the duration of the war. Nearly
-one hundred Chinese and other neutral merchant vessels
-were sunk by some of the many mines torn loose from
-their anchors by storms to drift, the least noticeable and
-most terrible of derelicts, over all the seas of the Far
-East, long after peace was declared.</p>
-
-<p>The same thing on a larger scale will doubtless take
-place as a result of the present European War. From
-the Baltic to the Dardanelles, both sides have sown the
-waters thick with contact mines, hundreds of which have
-already broken loose and been cast up on the shores of
-Denmark, Holland, and other neutral lands. How many
-more have been picked up on the coasts of the different
-belligerent countries, the military censors have naturally
-kept a close secret; how many of these infernal machines
-are now drifting about the North Sea, the North Atlantic,
-and the Mediterranean it is impossible to compute.
-Scarcely a week passes without the publication of such<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">148</a></span>
-news items as the following extracts from “Current
-events in Norway,” in the “American-Scandinavian Review”
-for July-August, 1915:</p>
-
-<p>“One hundred and fifty mines had been brought into
-Bergen up to April 12. The steamer <i>Caprivi</i> of Bergen,
-which sank after being struck by a mine off the
-coast of Ireland, was on its way from Baltimore with a
-cargo of 4150 tons of grain, the property of the Norwegian
-government.... The German government has
-declared its willingness to comply with the demand of the
-Norwegian government for compensation for the <i>Belridge</i>,
-provided it be proved that the sinking of the
-steamer was the result of a German torpedo. The pieces
-of the shell found in the side of the vessel are to be sent
-to the German government, and in case there should be
-any disagreement about the facts they will be submitted
-to arbitration.”</p>
-
-<p>Unfortunately in most cases where a neutral ship is
-so sunk, the exploding mine automatically destroys all
-evidence of its own origin, and each belligerent promptly
-and positively declares that it must have been planted,
-if not deliberately set adrift, by the other side. The neutral
-is left to get what satisfaction he can out of the ruling
-of the last Hague Conference that all contact mines
-must be so constructed as to become harmless after breaking
-loose from their moorings. There is nothing mechanically
-difficult about installing such a safety device,
-and all the great powers now at war with each other
-solemnly pledged themselves to do so. But the temptation
-of perhaps destroying a hostile battleship as the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">149</a></span>
-<i>Hatsuse</i> was destroyed, by a drifting mine, has apparently
-been too great.</p>
-
-<p>Premature explosion of the mine during handling and
-planting, such as caused the destruction of the <i>Yenisei</i>
-is, of course, carefully guarded against. One of the
-simplest and most effective safety devices is that used in
-the British navy, where the external parts of the exploding
-apparatus are sealed with a thick layer of sugar,
-which is dissolved by the sea-water after being submerged
-for a few minutes. By then the mine-laying
-vessel has had time to get safely out of the neighborhood.</p>
-
-<p>Modern mines are of various shapes and sizes but are
-as a rule either spherical or shaped like a pear with the
-stem down. The anchor is a hollow, flat-bottomed cylinder,
-containing its own anchor cable wound on a windlass,
-and making a convenient base or stand for the explosive
-chamber or mine proper, so that the whole apparatus
-can be stood or trundled about the deck of a
-mine-layer like a barrel. Once placed in the water either
-by being dropped through the overhanging stern-ports
-of a large sea-going mine-planter like the U.S.S. <i>San
-Francisco</i>, or lowered over the side of a smaller craft
-by a derrick boom, the weight of its anchor causes the
-mine to assume an upright position. This releases a
-small weight or plummet at the end of a short line attached
-to a spring that keeps the windlass inside the
-anchor from revolving. When the plummet has sunk to
-the end of its cord, its weight pulls down the spring,
-and the windlass begins to revolve and unreel the cable,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">150</a></span>
-the end of which is, of course, made fast to the bottom
-of the mine. This causes the anchor, which has been
-held up by the buoyancy of the mine, to sink, and follows
-the plummet till the latter touches the bottom.
-Freed of the plummet’s weight, the spring now flies up
-and stops the windlass. But the hollow anchor is now
-filled with water, whose additional weight drags the mine
-under. When the anchor rests on the bottom, the mine
-will be at the same distance beneath the surface of the
-water as the anchor had to sink after the windlass
-stopped, or the length of the plummet’s line. By regulating
-that, a mine can be made automatically to set itself
-at any desired depth.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_150" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_150.jpg" width="600" height="387" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">(Redrawn from the London Sphere.)</div>
- <div class="caption">Modern Contact-Mine.</div>
- <div class="captionh j">A, Mine-Planter; B, Mine being dropped overboard; C, Plummet-line extended;
-D, Anchor sinking; E, Plummet touching bottom; F, Mine submerged
-and anchored; G, Battleship striking mine; 1, The “Striker”;
-2, Charge of Explosives; 3, Air-space, for Buoyancy; 4, Mine-case; 5,
-Anchor; 6, Plummet.
-</div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">151</a></span>
-Mines are almost never laid singly but in groups, the
-area of water so planted being called a “mine field.”
-A secret, zigzag channel is often left clear for the benefit
-of friendly craft. The rows of mines are usually “staggered”
-or placed like the men on a checker-board, so
-that if a hostile vessel passes through an opening in the
-first row she will strike a mine in the second. Another
-device is to couple together the mooring cables of two
-or more mines so that a ship passing between them will
-draw them in against her sides.</p>
-
-<p>Contact may cause explosion in any one of several
-different ways. The head or sides of the mine may be
-studded with projecting rods like the striker on the nose
-of a Whitehead, to be either driven directly in against
-a detonating charge of fulminate or else open the jaws
-of a clutch and release the spring of a firing-pin. Such
-external movable parts, however, are too prone to become
-overgrown and clogged with barnacles and the like. A
-more modern way is to have the shock of the collision
-with the ship’s hull dislodge a heavy ball held in a cup
-inside the mine. The fall of this weight sets in motion
-machinery which fires the detonating charge. Or the
-device may not be mechanical but electrical, as in the
-type of mine that, when drawn far enough over to one
-side by a vessel passing over it, spills a cupful of mercury.
-This stream of liquid metal closes an electric circuit,
-so that an electric current passes through a piece
-of platinum wire embedded in fulminate and heats it red-hot,
-with obvious results. This current may be obtained
-either from a storage-battery carried in the mine itself,
-or through a wire running down the mooring cable and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">152</a></span>
-over the bottom to the shore. Most shore-control mines
-are so designed that they can either be fired by observation,
-or else turned into electro-contact mines of the
-above-mentioned type by arranging the switches in the
-controlling station. It is also possible to have the contact
-serve to warn the operator on shore by ringing a bell
-and indicating the position of the intruding ship in the
-mine-field.</p>
-
-<p>Just as barbed-wire entanglements on land are blown
-out of the way by small charges of high explosives, so
-mined areas of the sea can be cleared by “counter-mining.”
-One or more strings of linked-together mines, of
-a small, easily-handled type, are carefully placed by light-draft
-vessels in the waters already planted by the enemy.
-When these are exploded together, the concussion is
-enough to destroy any anchored mines near at hand,
-either by setting off their exploding-devices or causing
-their cases to leak, so that they will be filled with water
-and sink harmlessly to the bottom. Or a channel may
-be cleared by “sweeping” it with a drag-rope towed
-along the bottom by two small steamers, exploding the
-mines or tearing them up by the roots. Very effective
-work of this kind has been done by the small steam-trawlers
-used by the North Sea fishermen, and if anything
-of the sort is ever necessary in American waters
-we may be thankful for the powerful sea-going tugs now
-towing strings of barges up and down our coasts.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_153" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_153.jpg" width="600" height="387" alt="" />
- <div class="caption">U. S. Mine-planter <i>San Francisco</i>.</div></div>
-
-<p>But even a light field-piece on shore can shell and
-sink the sort of small, unarmored craft that must be used
-for mine-sweeping. When a fleet attacks a channel or
-harbor entrance properly defended by both mine-fields<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">153</a><a class="hidev" id="Page_154">154</a></span>
-and batteries, each supporting the other, there comes a
-time when the naval forces must wait till troops can be
-landed to drive away the forces protecting the rear of the
-batteries, so that the mine-sweepers can advance and clear
-a channel for the superdreadnoughts. The most striking
-example of this is the holding of the Allied fleet by the
-Turks at the Dardanelles.</p>
-
-<p>There, too, effective use is being made of the latest,
-which is an adaptation of the oldest type of torpedo: the
-drifting mine.<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> This twentieth-century improvement on
-Bushnell’s “kegs charged with powder” floats upright,
-with a vertical-acting propeller on top and another on its
-bottom, and a hydrostatic valve set to maintain it at any
-desired depth. Should it rise or sink, the change in pressure
-will cause the valve to act on the principle already
-explained in connection with the Whitehead torpedo (see
-page <a href="#Page_44">44</a>). Controlled by the valve, the little compressed-air
-motor attached to the vertical propellers will cause
-them to make a few revolutions, just enough to keep the
-mine at a constant depth beneath the surface of the
-Dardanelles, as the four-mile-an-hour current carries it
-down against the Anglo-French fleet. Within a few
-hours of each other, during the furious bombardment
-of the forts on March 18, 1915, the French battleship
-<i>Bouvet</i> was struck by one of these drifting mines and
-went down stern-foremost, then H.M.S. <i>Ocean</i> was sunk
-by another, and the <i>Irresistible</i> forced to run ashore to
-escape sinking, only to be pounded to pieces by the guns
-of the forts. A feature of this type of mine is that its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">155</a></span>
-size and shape enable it to be launched through a torpedo
-tube, either from a surface craft or from a submarine.</p>
-
-<p>Ordinary contact-mines, without anchors and attached
-to floats that held them a few feet below the surface of
-the water, are sometimes dropped overboard from a
-vessel closely pursued by an enemy. A small mine so
-dropped by a German light cruiser returning from an
-attempted raid on the English coast, early in the war,
-was struck by the pursuing British submarine <i>D-5</i> and
-sent her to the bottom. The <i>D-5</i> was running awash
-at the time and only two officers and two seamen were
-saved.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156">156</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">THE SUBMARINE IN ACTION</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class="poem-container">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Hit and hard hit! The blow went home<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The muffled knocking stroke,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The steam that overrides the foam,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The foam that thins to smoke,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The smoke that cloaks the deep aboil,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The deep that chokes her throes,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Till, streaked with ash and sleeked with oil,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The lukewarm whirlpools close!”<br /></span>
-</div>
-<div class="attrib">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Kipling.</span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> first submarine in history to sink a hostile
-warship without also sinking herself is the <i>E-9</i> of
-the British navy. Together with most of her consorts,
-she was sent, at the outbreak of the present war, to explore
-and reconnoiter off the German coast and the island
-fortress of Heligoland to find where the enemy’s ships
-were lying, how they were protected and how they might
-be attacked. After six weeks of such work, the <i>E-9</i>
-entered Heligoland Bight on September 13, 1914, and discharged
-two torpedoes at the German light cruiser <i>Hela</i>.
-One exploded against her bow and the other amidships,
-and the cruiser went down almost immediately, drowning
-many of her crew.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_157" class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;">
- <img src="images/i_157.jpg" width="452" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Copyright, London Sphere &amp; N.&nbsp;Y. Herald.</div>
- <div class="caption">English Submarine Rescuing English Sailors.</div></div>
-
-<p>Another British submarine had already appeared in
-action off Heligoland but as a saver instead of a destroyer
-of human life. On the 28th of August a number<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157">157</a><a class="hidev" id="Page_158">158</a></span>
-of German torpedo-craft and light cruisers were decoyed
-out to sea by the appearance and pretended flight of
-some English destroyers. (It has been declared but not
-officially confirmed that the “bait” consisted not of destroyers
-but two British submarines, which rose to the
-surface where one of them pretended to be disabled and
-was slowly towed away by the other till their pursuers
-were almost within range, when the line was cast off and
-both boats dived to safety.) The Germans found themselves
-attacked by a larger British flotilla and a confused
-sort of battle followed. During the mêlée, an English
-cruiser lowered a whaleboat that picked up several survivors
-of a sunken German vessel. The cruiser was then
-driven away by a more powerful German ship, and the
-crew of the whaleboat found themselves left in the
-enemy’s waters without arms, food, or navigating instruments.
-Suddenly a periscope rose out of the water
-alongside, followed by the conning-tower and hull of the
-British submarine <i>E-4</i>, which took the Englishmen on
-board and left the Germans the whaleboat, after which
-both parties went home rejoicing.</p>
-
-<p>Shortly after this, the German submarine <i>U-15</i> boldly
-attacked a British squadron, but revealed herself by the
-white wake of her periscope as it cut through the calm
-water. A beautifully aimed shot from the cruiser <i>Birmingham</i>
-smashed the periscope. The submarine dived,
-temporarily safe but blinded, for she was an old-fashioned
-craft with only one observation instrument. Her
-commander now essayed a swift “porpoise dive” up to
-the surface and down again, exposing only the conning-tower
-for a very few seconds. But a broadside blazed
-from the <i>Birmingham</i>, a shell struck squarely against the
-conning-tower, and the sea poured in through the ragged
-death-wound in the deck of the <i>U-15</i>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">159</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_159" class="figcenter" style="width: 463px;">
- <img src="images/i_159.jpg" width="463" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Copyright, London Sphere &amp; N.&nbsp;Y. Herald.</div>
- <div class="caption">Engagement between the <i>Birmingham</i> and the <i>U-15</i>.</div>
-
- <div class="intact captionl larger in6">
- 1. Submarine’s periscope shot away.<br />
- 2. Submarine dives, temporarily safe but blinded.<br />
- 3. Submarine exposes conning-tower.<br />
- 4. Conning-tower shot away, <i>U-15</i> sinking.<br />
-</div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160">160</a></span>
-But these early affairs were now overshadowed as completely
-as the first Union victories in West Virginia were
-overshadowed by Bull Run. Another British squadron
-encountered another German submarine and this time
-the periscope was not detected. Lieutenant-Commander
-Otto von Weddigen had had ample time to take up an
-ideal position beside the path of his enemies, who passed
-in slow and stately procession before the bow torpedo-tubes
-of the <i>U-9</i>. The German officer pressed a button
-and saw through his periscope the white path of the
-“Schwartzkopf” as it sped straight and true to the tall
-side of the <i>Aboukir</i>. He saw the cruiser heaved into the
-air by the shock of the bursting war-head, then watched
-her settle and go down. Round swung her nearest consort
-to the rescue, lowering her lifeboats as she came.
-But scarcely had the survivors of the <i>Aboukir’s</i> company
-set foot on the deck of the <i>Hogue</i> than she, too, was
-torpedoed, and the half-naked men of both crews went
-tumbling down the slope of the upturned side as she
-rolled over and sank. Up steamed the <i>Cressy</i>, her gun-crews
-standing by their useless pieces, splendid in helpless
-bravery. Half reluctantly, von Weddigen sent his
-remaining foe to the bottom and slipped away under the
-waves, the victor of the strangest naval battle in history.</p>
-
-<p>Not a German had received the slightest injury; fourteen
-hundred Englishmen had been killed. It was the
-loss of these trained officers and seamen, and not that of
-three old cruisers that would soon have been sent to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">161</a></span>
-scrap heap, that was felt by the British navy. Realizing
-that no fears for their own lives would keep the officers
-of a British ship from attempting to rescue the drowning
-crew of another, the Admiralty issued the following order:</p>
-
-<p>“It has been necessary to point out for the future
-guidance of his Majesty’s ships that the conditions that
-prevail when one vessel of a squadron is injured in a
-mine-field or exposed to submarine attack are analogous
-to those which occur in an action and that the rule of
-leaving disabled ships to their own resources is applicable,
-so far at any rate as large vessels are concerned. No act
-of humanity, whether to friend or foe, should lead to a
-neglect of the proper precautions and dispositions of
-war, and no measures can be taken to save life which
-prejudice the military situation.”</p>
-
-<p>Another old cruiser, the <i>Hermes</i>, that had been
-turned into a floating base for sea-planes, was torpedoed
-off Dunkirk by a German submarine, most of the crew
-being rescued by French torpedo boats. On New Year’s
-day, 1915, the battleship <i>Formidable</i> was likewise sent
-to the bottom of the English Channel. She too was a
-rather old ship, of the same class as the <i>Bulwark</i>, which
-had been destroyed by an internal explosion two weeks
-earlier in the Medway, and the <i>Irresistible</i>, afterwards
-sunk by a mine in the Dardanelles.</p>
-
-<p>But there was nothing small or old about the <i>Audacious</i>.
-She was&mdash;or is&mdash;a 24,800 ton superdreadnought,
-launched in 1911 and carrying ten thirteen-and-a-half-inch
-guns. This stupendous war-engine was found
-rolling helpless in the Irish Sea, her after compartments<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">162</a></span>
-flooded by a great hole made either by a drifting mine
-or, what is more likely considering its position, by a torpedo
-from a German submarine. The White Star liner
-<i>Olympic</i>, which had been summoned by wireless, took
-the disabled warship in tow for several hours, after which
-the <i>Audacious</i> was cast off and abandoned. A photograph
-taken by one of the <i>Olympic’s</i> passengers and afterwards
-widely circulated shows the huge ironclad down
-by the stern, listing heavily to one side, and apparently
-on the point of sinking. But her loss has never been admitted
-by the British Admiralty, and it has been repeatedly
-declared by reputable persons that the <i>Audacious</i>
-was kept afloat till the <i>Olympic</i> was out of sight, and was
-then towed by naval vessels into Belfast, where she was
-drydocked and repaired at Harland and Wolff’s shipyard
-to be sent back to the fighting line. Her fate is one of
-the most interesting of the many mysteries of the war
-and will probably not be made clear till peace has come.
-The silence of the British Admiralty is explained by the
-standing orders forbidding the revealing of the whereabouts
-of any of his Majesty’s ships, particularly when
-helpless and disabled. It should be noted in this connection
-that the German government has never admitted the
-loss of the battleship <i>Pommern</i> which the Russians insist
-was sunk by one of their submarines in the Baltic.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">163</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_163" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_163.jpg" width="600" height="362" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Copyright, Illustrated London News &amp; N.&nbsp;Y. Sun.</div>
- <div class="caption">Sinking of the <i>Aboukir</i>, <i>Cressy</i>, and <i>Hogue</i>.</div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">164</a></span>
-Because the overwhelming strength of the Allied fleet
-has kept the German and Austrian battleships safely
-locked up behind shore batteries, mine-fields and nettings,
-the Allies’ submarines have had comparatively few targets
-to try their skill on. The activity of the British
-submarines in the North Sea at the outbreak of the war
-has already been referred to, and a year later they found
-another opportunity in the Baltic. There the German
-fleet had the same preponderance over the Russian as the
-English had over the German battleships in the North
-Sea, but the British dreadnoughts could not be sent
-through the long tortuous passage of the Skagerrack and
-Cattegat, thick-sown with German mines, without cutting
-the British fleet in half and giving the Germans a
-splendid chance to defeat either half and then slip back
-through the Kiel Canal and destroy the other. So England
-sent some of her submarines instead. One of these
-joined the Russian squadron defending the Gulf of Riga
-against a German fleet and decided the fight by disabling
-the great battle-cruiser <i>Moltke</i>. Another, the <i>E-13</i>, ran
-ashore on the Danish island of Saltholm on August 19,
-1915, and was warned by the commander of a Danish
-torpedo-boat that she would be allowed twenty-four
-hours to get off. Before the time-limit had expired and
-while three Danish torpedo-boats were standing by, two
-German destroyers steamed up, torpedoed the <i>E-13</i>, and
-killed half her crew by gun-fire: an outrageous violation
-of Denmark’s neutrality.<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">24</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165">165</a></span>
-Daredevil deeds have been done by the submarines of
-both sides in the Dardanelles. The little <i>B-11</i> swam up
-the straits, threading her way through mine-field after
-mine-field, her captain keeping his course by “dead-reckoning”
-with map and compass and stop watch. To
-have exposed his periscope would have drawn the fire
-of the many shore batteries, to have dived a few feet too
-far in those shallow waters would have meant running
-aground, to have misjudged the swirling, changing currents
-might have meant annihilation. But Commander
-Holbrook brought his vessel safely through, torpedoed
-and sank the guard-ship <i>Messudieh</i>, a Turkish ironclad
-of the vintage of 1874, and returned to receive the Victoria
-Cross from his king and a gigantic “Iron Cross”
-from his brother officers. The <i>E-11</i> went up even to
-Constantinople, torpedoed a Turkish transport within
-sight of the city and threw the whole waterfront into a
-panic. More transports and store-ships were sunk or
-driven on shore in the Sea of Marmora, a gunboat was
-torpedoed, and then the <i>Kheyr-el-din</i>, an old 10,000 ton
-battleship that had been the <i>Kurfürst Freiderich Wilhelm</i>
-before the kaiser sold her to Turkey, was sent to
-the bottom of the same waters by British submarines.
-One of them the <i>E-15</i> ran aground in the Dardanelles and
-was forced to surrender to the Turks, but before they
-could float her off and make use of her, two steam
-launches dashed upstream through the fire of the shore<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166">166</a></span>
-batteries and torpedoed the stranded submarine as Cushing
-blew up the <i>Albemarle</i>.</p>
-
-<p>But on the same day as the <i>E-11’s</i> first exploit&mdash;May
-25, 1915, the British battleship <i>Triumph</i> went down
-with most of her crew off Gallipoli, torpedoed by a German
-submarine. The <i>U-51</i> had made the 2400 mile trip
-from the North Sea, using as tenders a number of small
-tank steamers flying the Spanish flag. These vessels intentionally
-drew the attention of the cordon of British
-destroyers drawn across the Straits of Gibraltar and
-were captured, while the submarine swam safely through
-and traversed the Mediterranean to the Dardanelles.
-Two days after her first exploit, the <i>U-51</i> or perhaps
-one of her Austrian consorts, sank another British battleship,
-the <i>Majestic</i>, off Gallipoli. The <i>U-51</i> has been
-reported sunk by Russian warships in the Black Sea.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_167" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_167.jpg" width="600" height="223" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Copyright, London Sphere &amp; N.&nbsp;Y. Herald.</div>
- <div class="caption">Tiny target afforded by Periscopes in rough weather.</div></div>
-
-<p>If they could sink two battleships in three days, why
-didn’t the German undersea boats sink a dozen or so
-more and raise the siege of the Dardanelles? Enver
-Pasha, the Turkish minister of war, declared that “the
-presence of the submarines destroyed all hopes of Russia’s
-ever effectively landing troops on the coast north
-of Constantinople.” Then why did they permit the landing
-of British, Australian, New Zealand, and French
-troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula and the plains of
-ancient Troy? It was not until August, 1915, that
-the transport <i>Royal Edward</i> was sunk in the Mediterranean
-by an Austrian submarine. Perhaps before this
-war is over some British transport may be torpedoed in
-the North Sea or the English Channel, but for more than
-a year and a half since its outbreak, troop-ships and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167">167</a><a class="hidev" id="Page_168">168</a></span>
-store-ships have been crossing to France as if there were
-not a hostile “U-boat” in the world. Equally mysterious
-has been the immunity of the light-draft monitors
-and obsolescent gunboats off the Flemish coast, where
-their heavy guns did so much to check the first German
-drive on Calais, and have harassed the invaders’ right
-flank ever since. Many of these are mere floating platforms
-for one or two modern guns, all are slow-steaming,
-and they are not always in water too shallow for an
-undersea boat to swim in, yet none have been sunk by a
-submarine since the loss of the <i>Hermes</i>, in the autumn of
-1914. Zeebrugge, the Belgian port that has been made
-the headquarters for German submarines in the North
-Sea, has been several times bombarded by the British
-fleet and, according to reports from Amsterdam, half-built
-submarines on the shore there have been destroyed
-by shell-fire. Why did the completed undersea boats in
-the harbor fail to come out and torpedo or drive away the
-attacking fleet? We have been shown what modern submarines
-can do; what prevents them from doing much
-more?</p>
-
-<p>Shortly after von Weddigen’s great exploit, a German
-submarine rose to the surface so near the British destroyer
-<i>Badger</i> that before the undersea boat could submerge
-again she was rammed, cut open and sunk. One
-of the most picturesque and least expected features of
-this war has been the revival of old ways; soldiers are
-again wearing breastplates and metal helmets and fighting
-with crossbows and catapults, while against the modern
-submarine, seamen are effectively using the most ancient
-of all naval weapons: the ram. It takes two minutes for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169">169</a></span>
-the average undersea boat to submerge, during which
-time a thirty-knot destroyer can come charging up from
-a mile away, with a good chance of scoring a hit with
-her forward 3-&nbsp;or 4-inch gun, even if she gets there too
-late to ram. In the case of the <i>U-12</i>, the submarine
-dived deep enough to get her hull and superstructure out
-of harm’s way, only to have the top of her conning-tower
-crushed in by the destroyer as it passed over her.
-When the inrush of water forced the <i>U-12</i> to rise to the
-surface and surrender, her crew discovered that the main
-hatch could not be opened because one of the periscopes
-had been bent down across it. Some of them succeeded
-in climbing out of the torpedo-hatch and jumping overboard
-before the <i>U-12</i> went down for good. As she
-sank stern-foremost, it was observed that both of her
-bow-tubes were empty; evidence that she had vainly
-launched two torpedoes at the British flotilla that were
-hunting her down. Though several British destroyers
-and torpedo-boats have been sent to the bottom by German
-submarines, and the English <i>E-9</i> has sunk the German
-destroyer <i>S-126</i>, yet the nimble surface torpedo-craft
-have usually proved too difficult for the undersea
-boats to hit with their fixed tubes that can only fire
-straight ahead or astern.</p>
-
-<p>It has been pointed out that the <i>Aboukir</i>, <i>Cressy</i> and
-<i>Hogue</i>, the <i>Formidable</i>, and the <i>Audacious</i> were all moving
-slowly and unescorted by any destroyers when they
-were attacked and sunk. The same was true of the <i>Leon
-Gambetta</i> and the <i>Giuseppe Garibaldi</i>, when they were
-sent to the bottom of the Mediterranean by Austrian submarines.
-Under modern conditions, such isolated big<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170">170</a></span>
-ships are in much the same perilous position as would
-have been a lonely battery of Union artillery marching
-through a country swarming with Confederate cavalry.
-While an escort of destroyers is no sure guarantee
-against submarine attack, their presence certainly seems
-to act as a powerful deterrent.</p>
-
-<p>Waters suspected of containing hostile submarines are
-swept, very much as they would be for mines, by pairs
-of destroyers or steam trawlers, dragging an arrangement
-of strong cables between them. Sometimes this is festooned
-with explosives to blow in the side of any undersea
-boat it may touch. Usually the vessels engaged in
-this work use a large net. When they feel the weight
-of a catch, it is said that they let go the ends and leave
-it to the submarine’s own twin propellers to entangle
-themselves thoroughly. An undersea boat so entrapped
-is helpless to do anything but either sink or else empty
-her tanks and try to rise and surrender. A submarine
-in trouble usually sends up notification in the form of
-large quantities of escaping oil and gas.</p>
-
-<p>Inventors have been busy devising new kinds of traps,
-snares, and exaggerated lobster-pots to be placed in the
-waters about the British Isles. How many German submarines
-have poked their noses into these devices probably
-not even the British Admiralty could tell, if it was
-so minded, but the traps are said to have been put down
-very plentifully and most of the published designs are
-extremely ingenious.</p>
-
-<p>Individual torpedo-nets for ships have rather gone out
-of fashion, but the most effective way of keeping submarines
-out of a harbor is to close its entrance with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171">171</a></span>
-booms and nettings. The principal naval bases on both
-sides are undoubtedly so protected. It has been persistently
-reported that the immunity of British transports
-crossing the channel is due to a double line of booms, nets
-and mines stretching from one shore to the other, and
-enclosing a broad, safe channel outside which the “U-boats”
-roam hungrily. There would seem to be no great
-difficulty in building such a barrier, but it would be extremely
-difficult to keep intact in heavy weather and for
-that reason most of our naval officers are skeptical of its
-existence.</p>
-
-<p>Microphones which have been placed under water off
-the coasts of France, Great Britain, and Ireland have
-succeeded in detecting the presence of submarines at a
-distance of fifty-five miles. This device has been perfected
-by the joint labors of an American electrical engineer,
-Mr. William Dubilier, and Professor Tissot of
-the French Academy of Science. These two gentlemen,
-experimenting with microphones and a submarine placed
-at their disposal by the French government, “discovered
-in the course of the tests that the underwater craft
-were sources of sound waves of exceedingly high frequency,
-quite distinctive from any other subaqueous
-sounds. While the cause of the high-pitched sound is
-known to the inventors, it cannot be divulged since it
-would then be possible for German submarine constructors
-to eliminate the source of the tell-tale sound waves,
-and thus render void the purpose of the detector installation.”<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">25</a></p>
-
-<p>These microphones, it is believed, are usually arranged<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172">172</a></span>
-in a semicircle. Each instrument records sound waves
-best when they come from one particular direction. The
-operator on shore, listening to a device that eliminates all
-other sounds coming in from under the sea, can tell by
-the way a passing submarine affects the different microphones
-in the semicircle how far off and in what direction
-it is moving, and so warns and summons the ever-watchful
-patrol boats.</p>
-
-<p>Air craft are doubtless being much used in the hunt
-for submarines, for an aviator at a height of several
-hundred feet can distinctly see a submarine swimming
-beneath him in clear water with a good light reflected
-from the bottom. Early in the war, the pilot and observer
-of a “Taube” that was brought down in the
-North Sea were rescued by a British submarine. In the
-attack on Cuxhaven a combined force of submarines, sea-planes,
-and light cruisers was resisted by the German
-shore-batteries, destroyers, “U-boats”, aeroplanes and
-Zeppelins. As the British sea-planes returned from
-dropping bombs on the Cuxhaven navy yard or taking
-observations above the Kiel Canal, some of them were
-shot down by the Germans but the aviators were picked
-up, as had been arranged beforehand, by English submarines.
-In the spring of 1915 there was an engagement
-between a Zeppelin and a British submarine in
-which each side claimed the victory. On August 26
-of the same year the secretary of the British Admiralty
-announced:</p>
-
-<p>“Squadron Commander Arthur Bigsworth, R.N., destroyed
-single-handed a German submarine this morning
-by bombs dropped from an aeroplane. The submarine
-was observed to be completely wrecked, and sank off Ostend.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173">173</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_173" class="figcenter" style="width: 474px;">
- <img src="images/i_173.jpg" width="474" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Copyright, Illustrated London News &amp; Flying.</div>
- <div class="caption">Photograph of a submarine, twenty feet below the surface, taken
-from the aeroplane, whose shadow is shown in the picture.</div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174">174</a></span>
-“It is not the practice of the Admiralty to publish
-statements regarding the losses of German submarines,
-important though they have been, in cases where the
-enemy has no other source of information as to the time
-and place at which these losses have occurred. In the
-case referred to above, however, the brilliant feat of
-Squadron Commander Bigsworth was performed in the
-immediate neighborhood of the coast in occupation of the
-enemy and the position of the sunken submarine has been
-located by a German destroyer.”</p>
-
-<p>“This is inexact,” replied the German Admiralty.
-“The submarine was attacked but not hit and returned
-to port undamaged. One of our submarines on August
-16 destroyed by gunfire the benzol factory with the attached
-benzol warehouses and coke furnaces near Harrington,
-England. The statement of the English press
-that the submarine attacked the open towns of Harrington,
-Parton, and Whitehaven is inexact.”</p>
-
-<p>Equally interesting but unfortunately lacking in details
-are the reports from the Adriatic of submarines fighting
-submarines. There have been three such duels, in
-one an Austrian sank an Italian submarine, in another
-the Italian was victorious, while after the third both
-were found lying on the bottom, each torn open by the
-other’s torpedo. As it is a physical impossibility for the
-pilot of one submarine to see another under the water,
-it would seem as if at least one of the combatants in
-each of these fights must have been running on the surface
-at the time.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175">175</a></span>
-Both Mr. Simon Lake and the late John P. Holland
-were absolutely confident that submarines could not fight
-submarines, that surface craft would be utterly unable
-to injure or resist them, and that therefore the submarine
-boat would make naval warfare impossible and do
-more than anything else to bring about permanent
-peace.</p>
-
-<p>All that can be said at present is that the actual situation
-is much more complex than had been expected.
-Submarines have sunk many surface warships but have
-suffered heavily themselves. The German government
-has admitted the loss of over a dozen “U-boats,” while
-the unofficial estimates of their enemies’ run as high as
-thirty-five or fifty German submarines destroyed or captured.
-Admiral Beatty’s victorious squadron, pursuing
-the German battle-cruisers after the second North Sea
-fight, turned and retreated at the wake of a single torpedo
-and the glimpse of hostile periscopes. But the submarine
-has not yet driven the surface warship from the
-seas and it has signally failed against transports. Its
-moral effect has been very great: British submarines have
-terrorized the citizens of Constantinople; while the victories
-of their beloved “U-boats” have cheered the German
-people as the victories of our frigates cheered us
-in 1812, and have been a somewhat similar shock to the
-nerves of the British navy. But that sturdy organization
-has recovered from more than one attack of nerves.
-And as the war goes on, it becomes increasingly clear
-that it is unfair to expect unsupported submarines, any
-more than unsupported frigates a century ago, to do the
-work of an entire navy. Like the aeroplane, the submarine<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176">176</a></span>
-was first derided as useless, next hailed as a complete
-substitute for all other arms, then found to be an
-indispensable auxiliary, whose scope and value are now
-being determined.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177">177</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">THE SUBMARINE BLOCKADE</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>“It is true that submarine boats have improved, but they are
-as useless as ever. Nevertheless, the German navy is carefully
-watching their progress, though it has no reason to make
-experiments itself.”</p>
-
-<p class="sigright">
-<span class="smcap">Admiral von Tirpitz</span>, in 1901.
-</p></blockquote>
-
-<p class="center vspace b1">
-<span class="larger">“DANGER!</span><br />
-Being the Log of Captain John Sirius<br />
-by<br />
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.”
-</p>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">If</span> you have not read the above-mentioned story by the
-author of Sherlock Holmes, I advise you to go to the
-nearest public library and ask for it. For those that
-cannot spare the time to do this, here are a brief outline
-and a few quotations.</p>
-
-<p>Captain John Sirius is supposed to be chief of submarines
-in the navy of Norland, a small European kingdom
-at war with England. With only eight submarines,
-he establishes a blockade of Great Britain and begins
-sinking all ships bringing in food. He enters a French
-harbor, though France is at peace with his country, and
-sinks three British ships that have taken refuge there.</p>
-
-<p>“I suppose,” says the captain, “they thought they
-were safe in French waters but what did I care about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178">178</a></span>
-three-mile limits and international law! The view of
-my government was that England was blockaded, food
-contraband, and vessels carrying it to be destroyed. The
-lawyers could argue about it afterwards. My business
-was to starve the enemy any way I could.”</p>
-
-<p>Presently he overtook an American ship and sank her
-by gunfire as her skipper shouted protests over the rail.</p>
-
-<p>“It was all the same to me what flag she flew so long
-as she was engaged in carrying contraband of war to the
-British Isles.... Of course I knew there would be a
-big row afterwards and there was.”</p>
-
-<p>“The terror I had caused had cleared the Channel.”</p>
-
-<p>“There was talk of a British invasion (of Norland)
-but I knew this to be absolute nonsense, for the British
-had learned by this time that it would be sheer murder
-to send transports full of soldiers to sea in the face of
-submarines. When they have a Channel tunnel, they
-can use their fine expeditionary force upon the Continent
-but until then it might not exist so far as Europe is concerned.”</p>
-
-<p>“Heavens, what would England have done against a
-foe with thirty or forty submarines?”</p>
-
-<p>The British navy could do nothing to stop Captain
-John Sirius. One of his submarines was sunk by an
-armed liner, but with the remaining seven he sank the
-<i>Olympic</i> and so many other vessels that no one dared
-try to bring food into Great Britain. At the end of six
-weeks, fifty thousand people there had died of starvation
-and the British government had to make peace with Norland
-and pay for all the damage the submarines had
-done to neutrals.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179">179</a></span>
-As a warning to his countrymen, Sir Arthur Conan
-Doyle wrote this story in May, 1914. Before it was
-published,<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> England was at war with Germany. On
-February 4, 1915, the famous “War Zone Decree” was
-published in Berlin.</p>
-
-<p>“The waters around Great Britain, including the
-whole of the English Channel, are declared hereby to be
-included within the zone of war, and after the 18th inst,
-all enemy merchant vessels encountered in these waters
-will be destroyed, even if it may not be possible always
-to save their crews and passengers.</p>
-
-<p>“Within this war-zone neutral vessels are exposed to
-danger since, in view of the misuse of the neutral flags
-ordered by the government of Great Britain on the 31st
-ult., and of the hazards of naval warfare, neutral ships
-cannot always be prevented from suffering from the attacks
-intended for enemy ships.</p>
-
-<p>“The routes of navigation around the north of the
-Shetland Islands in the eastern part of the North Sea
-and in a strip thirty miles wide along the Dutch coast
-are not open to the danger-zone.”</p>
-
-<p>But those routes had been closed three months before
-by the British government, which declared that it had
-had the North Sea planted with anchored contact mines,
-but that all ships trading to neutral ports would, if they
-first called at some British port, be given safe conduct to
-Holland or Scandinavia, by way of the English Channel.
-This way would run through the proposed “war-zone.”</p>
-
-<p>International law says nothing about either “war-zones”
-or submarines. In all probability, special rules<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180">180</a></span>
-for undersea warfare will be drawn up by a conference
-of delegates from the leading countries of the world
-soon after the end of the present war. But till then,
-no such conference can be held, and the United States
-has always maintained, even when it has been to its disadvantage
-to do so, that no one nation can change international
-law to suit herself. We insist that the game
-be played according to the rules. A submarine has no
-more rights than any other warship. It may sink a merchantman
-if the latter tries to fight or escape. If the
-captured vessel is found to be carrying contraband to the
-enemy’s country, the warship may either take her into
-port as a prize or, if this is impracticable, sink her. But
-before an unarmed and unresisting merchant vessel can
-be sunk, the passengers and crew must be given time and
-opportunity to escape.</p>
-
-<p>President Wilson gave notice on February 10, 1915,
-that if, by act of the commander of any German warship,
-an American vessel or the lives of American citizens
-should be lost on the high seas, the United States “would
-be constrained to hold the Imperial government of Germany
-to a strict accountability for such acts of their
-naval authorities and to take any steps that might be
-necessary to safeguard American lives and property and
-to secure to American citizens the full enjoyments of
-their acknowledged rights on the high seas.”</p>
-
-<p>On the same day, a note to Great Britain voiced our
-objection to the “explicit sanction by a belligerent government
-for its merchant ships generally to fly the flag
-of a neutral power within certain portions of the high<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181">181</a></span>
-seas which are presumed to be frequented with hostile
-warships.”</p>
-
-<p>To this Sir Edward Grey replied that “the British
-government have no intention of advising their merchant
-shipping to use foreign flags as a general practice or resort
-to them otherwise than for escaping capture or destruction.”</p>
-
-<p>Such “sailing under false colors” to fool the enemy’s
-cruisers is an old and well-established right of merchantmen
-of belligerent countries. Its abuse, under present-day
-conditions, however, might have given the German
-submarine commanders a plausible excuse for sinking
-neutral vessels. To avoid this, neutral shipowners began
-to paint the name, port, and national colors on the
-broadside of each of their steamers, plain enough to be
-read from afar through a periscope.</p>
-
-<p>Then the time came for the war-zone decree to be put
-into effect, and the world watched with great interest
-and no little apprehension to see what the submarine
-blockaders could do.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_182" class="figcenter" style="width: 501px;">
- <img src="images/i_182.jpg" width="501" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl">Copyright, London Sphere &amp; N.&nbsp;Y. Herald.</div>
- <div class="caption">German Submarine Pursuing English Merchantman.</div>
- <div class="caption smaller">(Note stern torpedo-tubes, and funnel for carrying off exhaust from
- Diesel engine.)</div></div>
-
-<p>Seven British ships were sunk during the first six days.
-Then came a lull, followed by the announcement by the
-British Admiralty that between February 23 to March 3,
-3805 transoceanic ships had arrived at British ports, 669
-had cleared and none had been lost, while two German
-submarines had been sunk. During the eleven weeks between
-the establishing of the blockade and the sinking of
-the <i>Lusitania</i>, forty-two oversea vessels and twenty-eight
-fishing boats of British registry had been sunk by the
-submarines, but 16,190 liners and freighters had safely<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182">182</a></span>
-run the blockade. The largest number of vessels sunk
-by the “U-boats” in any one week was thirty-six, between
-June 23 and 30; while nineteen British merchantmen,
-with a total tonnage of 76,000, and three fishing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183">183</a></span>
-vessels were destroyed either by submarines or mines
-during the week ending August 25. The total number
-sunk in the first six months was 485. But with more
-than fifteen hundred ships coming and going every week,
-the submarine blockade of the British Isles was obviously
-a failure.</p>
-
-<p>It was a costly failure from the military point of
-view. The expenditure of torpedoes alone must have
-been considerable and a modern Whitehead or Schwartzkopf
-costs from five to eight thousand dollars and takes
-several months to build. How many of the “U-boats”
-themselves have fallen prey to the British patroling craft,
-traps, mines, and drag-nets cannot be computed with any
-accuracy, but by the first of September, 1915, the number
-declared to be lost “on the authority of a high official
-in the British Admiralty” ran anywhere from
-thirty to fifty. Even if she has been completing a new
-submarine every week since the war began, Germany
-cannot afford the loss of so much material, and still, less,
-of so many trained men. Captain Persius, one of the
-foremost German writers on naval affairs, pointed this
-out in a newspaper article that brought a hurricane of
-angry criticism about his ears. How great has been the
-wear and tear on the nervous systems of the submarine
-crews is shown by the following extract from the statement
-of Captain Hansen of the captured <i>U-16</i>.</p>
-
-<p>“It is fearfully trying on the nerves. Not every man
-can endure it. While running under the sea there is
-deathlike stillness in the boats, as the electrical machinery
-is noiseless.... As the air becomes heated it gets poor
-and mixed with the odor of oil from the machinery.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184">184</a></span>
-The atmosphere becomes fearful. An overpowering
-sleepiness often attacks new men and one requires the
-utmost will power to keep awake. I have had men who
-did not want to eat during the first three days out because
-they did not want to lose that amount of time from
-sleep. Day after day spent in such cramped quarters,
-where there is hardly room to stretch your legs, and remaining
-constantly on the alert, is a tremendous strain
-on the nerves.”</p>
-
-<p>But if there is discomfort below the surface there is
-peril of death above. Yet a submarine must spend as
-much time as possible on top of the water, even off the
-enemy’s coast, to spare the precious storage batteries and
-let the Diesel engines grind oil into electricity by using
-the electric motor as a dynamo. If she could renew her
-batteries under water or pick up a useable supply of current
-as she can pick up a drum of oil from a given spot
-on the sea-bottom, then the modern submarine would indeed
-be a hard fish to catch. As it is, great ingenuity
-has been shown by the German skippers in minimizing
-the dangers of surface cruising and at the same time
-stalking their prey. One big submarine masqueraded
-as a steamer, with dummy masts and funnel. Innocent-looking
-steam trawlers flying neutral flags acted as
-screens and lookouts, besides carrying supplies. One of
-these boldly entered a British harbor, where it was noticed
-that her decks were cumbered with very many coils
-of rope. The authorities investigated and found snugly
-stowed in the center of each a large can of fuel-oil. Another
-trawler, flying the Dutch flag, was stopped in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185">185</a></span>
-North Sea by a British cruiser and searched by a boarding-party.
-They were going back into their boat, after
-finding everything apparently as it should be, when one
-of the Englishmen noticed a mysterious pipe sticking
-out of the trawler’s side. They swarmed on board
-again and discovered that the fishing-boat had a complete
-double hull, the space between being filled with oil. The
-trawler’s crew were removed to the cruiser and a strong
-detachment of bluejackets left in their place. A few
-hours afterwards, there was a swirl of water alongside
-and a German submarine came up for refreshments.
-It was promptly captured and so was another that presently
-followed it: a good day’s catch for one small fishing-boat.</p>
-
-<p>Because of the uncertainty and danger of depending
-on underwater caches and tenders, each blockader usually
-returned at the end of two or three weeks to Heligoland,
-Zeebruge, Ostend, or some other base to take on supplies,
-report progress and rest the crew. This of course
-reduces the number of submarines actually on guard.
-How large that number may have been at any particular
-time since the blockade began is unknown to everybody
-except a few persons in Berlin. At the outbreak of the
-war, Germany had between twenty and twenty-five submarines
-in commission and a dozen or so under construction.
-If, as is claimed, the Germans have been completing
-a new undersea boat every week since the war began,
-that would have given them by August 1, 1915, a flotilla
-of seventy-seven, exclusive of losses. If only thirty had
-been lost, that would have left fewer than fifty submarines<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186">186</a></span>
-to blockade more than fifty seaports, great and
-small, scattered over more than twenty-five hundred miles
-of coast.</p>
-
-<p>Moreover, these widely scattered blockaders would
-have to be on duty by night as well as by day. But at
-night or in fog the periscope is useless; to intercept an
-incoming steamer, running swiftly and without lights,
-the submarine must rise and cruise on the surface. It
-cannot use a searchlight to locate the blockade-runner
-without consuming much precious voltage and at the
-same time attracting the nearest patrol-boat.</p>
-
-<p>The same disadvantages apply to sending wireless messages
-from one blockading submarine to another. And
-as the wireless apparatus of an undersea boat is necessarily
-low-powered and has a narrow radius, while “oscillators,”
-bells, and other underwater signaling devices
-are still in their infancy, it would seem as if the German
-“U-boats” in British waters must have been suffering
-from lack of coöperation and team-play. If the captain
-of a Union gunboat, lying off Charleston during the Civil
-War, caught a glimpse of a blockade runner, he could
-alarm the rest of the fleet with rockets and signal guns,
-but the commander of the <i>U-99</i> off Queenstown cannot
-count on his consorts if he himself fails to sink an approaching
-liner.</p>
-
-<p>Perhaps the most notable shortcoming of the submarine
-blockade has been its failure to inspire terror. Contrary
-to the expectations of nearly every forecaster from
-Robert Fulton to Conan Doyle, the sinking of the first
-merchant vessels by submarines failed to frighten away
-any others. Cargo rates are high in war-time and insurance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">187</a></span>
-covers the owners’ risk, so few sailing orders
-were canceled. As for the captains, they are not noted
-for timidity, and professional pride is strong among
-them; most of them have families to provide for, and
-every one of them knows that behind him stands an
-eager young mate with a master’s ticket, ready to take
-the risk and take out the ship if the skipper quits. So
-the merchant marine accepted the submarine as one of
-the risks of the trade.</p>
-
-<p>When a big German submarine rose up off the Irish
-coast within easy gunshot of the homeward-bound
-British steamer <i>Anglo-Californian</i> and signaled for her
-to heave to, the plucky English skipper slammed his engine-room
-telegraph over to “Full speed ahead.” Away
-dashed the steamer and after her came the submarine,<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">27</a>
-making good practice with her 8.8 centimeter gun.
-Twenty shrapnel shells burst over the <i>Anglo-Californian</i>,
-riddling her upper works, slaughtering thirty of her
-cargo of horses, killing seven of her crew and wounding
-eight more. Steering with his own hands, Captain
-Archibald Panlow held his vessel on her course till a
-shrapnel bullet killed him, when the wheel was taken by
-his son, the second mate, who brought the <i>Anglo-Californian</i>
-safely into Queenstown. It is men of this breed
-who have kept Admiral von Tirpitz from saying, in the
-words of the fictitious Captain John Sirius,</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188">188</a></span>
-“The terror I had caused had cleared the channel.”</p>
-
-<p>But because the “Campaign of Frightfulness” has
-failed and a few score of unsupported submarines have
-been unable to blockade the British Isles, it is stupid to
-pretend that there has been no progress since 1901 and
-say as Admiral von Tirpitz said then,</p>
-
-<p>“Submarines are as useless as ever.”</p>
-
-<p>Like every other type of naval craft, submarines are
-useful but not omnipotent. We have seen what they can
-do in action and what they have failed to do. As
-scouts in the enemy’s waters they are invaluable. As
-commerce destroyers, they do the work of the swift-sailing
-privateers of a century ago. In the fall of 1915,
-British submarines in the Baltic almost put a stop to the
-trade between Germany and Sweden. But to blockade
-a coast effectively, submarines must have tenders, which
-must have destroyers and light cruisers to defend them,
-which in turn require the support of battle-cruisers and
-dreadnoughts, with their attendant host of colliers, hospital
-ships and air-scouts. Nor can a coast be long defended
-by submarines, mine-fields and shore-batteries, if
-there are not enough trained troops to keep the enemy,
-who can always land at some remote spot, from marching
-round to the rear of the coast-defenses. This war
-is simply repeating the old, old lesson that there are no
-cheap and easy substitutes for a real army and a real
-navy.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189">189</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">THE SUBMARINE AND NEUTRALS</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap b"><span class="smcap1">Both</span> Admiral von Tirpitz and the Austrian Admiralty
-seem to have begun their submarine campaigns
-after the method of Captain John Sirius: to starve
-the enemy any way they could and let the lawyers argue
-about it afterwards. From the beginning of the blockade,
-Scandinavian, Dutch, and Spanish vessels, even when
-bound from one neutral port to another, were torpedoed
-and sunk without warning by the German submarines.
-Their governments protested vigorously but without effect.
-Then came the turn of the United States.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Falaba</i>, a small British passenger steamer outward
-bound from Liverpool to the west coast of Africa was
-pursued and overtaken off the coast of Wales on March
-28, 1915, by the fast German submarine <i>U-28</i>. Realizing
-that their vessel would be sunk but expecting that
-their lives would be spared, the crew and passengers began
-filling and lowering away the boats as rapidly as possible
-but without panic. The wireless operator had been
-sending calls for help but ceased when ordered to by the
-captain of the <i>U-28</i>. No patrol boats were in sight and
-the submarine was standing by on the surface, with both
-gun and torpedo-tubes trained on the motionless steamer
-and in absolute command of the situation. Without the
-slightest excuse or warning, a torpedo was then discharged<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190">190</a></span>
-and exploded against the <i>Falaba’s</i> side, directly
-beneath a half-lowered and crowded lifeboat. The lifeboat
-was blown to pieces and the steamer sunk, with the
-loss of one hundred and twelve lives, including that of
-an American citizen, Mr. Leon C. Thrasher, of Hardwick,
-Massachusetts.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_190" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_190.jpg" width="600" height="451" alt="" />
- <div class="captionl"><i>Photo by Brown Bros.</i></div>
- <div class="caption">British Submarine, showing one type of disappearing deck-gun
- now in use.</div></div>
-
-<p>This cold-blooded slaughter of the helpless horrified
-the rest of the world and did Germany’s cause an incalculable
-amount of harm. The German people were
-in no state of mind to realize this, for they had gone
-literally submarine-mad. They rejoiced in the cartoons
-depicting John Bull marooned on his island or dragged
-under and drowned by the swarming “U-boats.” They<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191">191</a></span>
-sincerely believed that within a few months the power of
-the British navy would be broken forever and that in the
-meanwhile the German submarines could do no wrong.
-This feeling was presently intensified by the loss of their
-hero, the gallant von Weddigen. Decorated, together
-with every man of his crew, with the Iron Cross and promoted
-to the command of a fine new submarine, the
-<i>U-29</i>, he did effective work as a blockader and captured
-and sank several prizes, but only after carefully removing
-those on board. Then the <i>U-29</i> was sunk with all
-hands, by an armed patrol boat, the British declare:
-treacherously, the German people believe, by a merchant
-ship whose crew von Weddigen was trying to
-spare.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">28</a></p>
-
-<p>No attempt was made to warn the American tank
-steamer <i>Gulflight</i>, bound for Rouen, France, with a contraband
-cargo of oil, when she was torpedoed by a German
-submarine on May 1. The vessel stayed afloat but
-the wireless operator and one of the sailors, terrified by
-the shock, jumped overboard and were both drowned,
-while the captain died of heart failure a few hours later
-on board the British patrol boat that took off the crew
-and brought the <i>Gulflight</i> into port.</p>
-
-<p>On the same day that the <i>Gulflight</i> was torpedoed,
-these two advertisements appeared together in the New
-York newspapers:</p>
-
-<p class="newpage"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192">192</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_192" class="figcenter">
- <div class="caption notbold">
- <div class="intact">
- <p class="center vspace">OCEAN STEAMSHIPS.<br />
- <span class="xxlarge bold">CUNARD</span></p>
-
- <img src="images/i_192.jpg" width="349" height="277" class="nobreak" alt="" />
-
- <div class="larger vspace gesperrt"><span class="notbold">EUROPE <span class="smcap">via</span> LIVERPOOL</span><br />
- <span class="xlarge gesperrt">LUSITANIA</span></div>
-
- <p class="center notbold">Fastest and Largest Steamer<br />
- now in Atlantic Service Sails<br />
- SATURDAY, MAY 1, 10 A. M.</p>
- </div>
-
- <table id="schedule" class="intact" summary="sailing schedule">
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Transylvania,</td>
- <td class="tdl">Fri.,</td>
- <td class="tdl">May</td>
- <td class="tdr">7,</td>
- <td class="tdr">5 P. M.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Orduna,</td>
- <td class="tdl">Tues.,</td>
- <td class="tdl">May</td>
- <td class="tdr">18,</td>
- <td class="tdr">10 A. M.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Tuscania,</td>
- <td class="tdl">Fri.,</td>
- <td class="tdl">May</td>
- <td class="tdr">21,</td>
- <td class="tdr">5 P. M.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">LUSITANIA,</td>
- <td class="tdl">Sat.,</td>
- <td class="tdl">May</td>
- <td class="tdr">29,</td>
- <td class="tdr">10 A. M.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Transylvania,</td>
- <td class="tdl">Fri.,</td>
- <td class="tdl">June</td>
- <td class="tdr">4,</td>
- <td class="tdr">5 P. M.</td></tr>
- </table>
-
- <p class="center b0">Gibraltar&mdash;Genoa&mdash;Naples&mdash;Piraeus<br />
- S.S. Carpathia, Thur., May 13, Noon.</p>
-
- <p class="center b0">ROUND THE WORLD TOURS</p>
-
- <p class="p0 center smaller">Through bookings to all principal Ports of the World.<br />
- Company’s Office, <span class="in5">21&ndash;24 State St., N.&nbsp;Y.</span></p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<div class="dbox"><div class="ibox">
-
-<p class="p0 center larger bold">NOTICE!</p>
-
-<p>TRAVELERS intending to embark on the Atlantic
-voyage are reminded that a state of war
-exists between Germany and her allies and Great
-Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes
-the waters adjacent to the British isles;
-that, in accordance with formal notice given by
-the Imperial German Government, vessels flying
-the flag of Great Britain, or of any of her allies,
-are liable to destruction in those waters and that
-travelers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great
-Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.</p>
-
-<p class="center">
-IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY,<br />
-WASHINGTON, D. C., APRIL 22, 1915
-</p>
-</div></div>
-</blockquote>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193">193</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="newpage">This warning was not taken seriously. It was pointed
-out that the German submarines had sunk only comparatively
-small and slow steamers, and generally believed
-that it would be impossible for them to hit a fast-moving
-vessel. Not a single passenger canceled his passage
-on the <i>Lusitania</i>, though all admitted that the Germans
-would have a perfect right to sink her if they
-could, as she was laden with rifle-cartridges and shell-cases
-for the Allies. But every passenger knew that he
-had a perfect right to be taken off first, and trusted to
-the Government that had given him his passports to
-maintain it.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Lusitania</i> left New York on the first of May. At
-two o’clock on the afternoon of Friday, May 7, she was
-about ten miles from the Irish coast, off the Old Head
-of Kinsale, and running slowly to avoid reaching Queenstown
-at an unfavorable turn of the tide, when Captain
-Turner and many others saw a periscope rise out of the
-water about half a mile away.</p>
-
-<p>“I saw a torpedo speeding toward us,” declared the
-captain afterwards, “and immediately I tried to change
-our course, but was unable to manœuver out of the way.
-There was a terrible impact as the torpedo struck the
-starboard side of the vessel, and a second torpedo followed
-almost immediately. This one struck squarely
-over the boilers.</p>
-
-<p>“I tried to turn the <i>Lusitania</i> shoreward, hoping to
-beach her, but her engines were crippled and it was impossible.</p>
-
-<p>“There has been some criticism because I did not
-order the lifeboats out sooner, but no matter what may<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194">194</a></span>
-be done there are always some to criticize. Until the
-<i>Lusitania</i> came to a standstill it was absolutely impossible
-to launch the boats&mdash;they would have been
-swamped.”</p>
-
-<p>The great ship heeled over to port so rapidly that by
-the time she could be brought to a stop it was no longer
-possible to lower the boats on the starboard side. There
-was no panic-stricken rush for the boats that could be
-lowered; all was order and seemliness and quiet heroism.
-Alfred Vanderbilt stripped off the lifebelt that might
-have saved him and buckled it about a woman; Lindon
-Bates, Jr., was last seen trying to save three children.
-Elbert Hubbard, Charles Klein, Justus Miles Forman,
-and more than a hundred other Americans died, and died
-bravely. As the <i>Lusitania</i> went down beneath them,
-Charles Frohman smiled at his companion and said:</p>
-
-<p>“Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure
-of life.”</p>
-
-<p>“I turned around to watch the great ship heel over,”
-said a passenger who had dived overboard and swum to
-a safe distance.</p>
-
-<p>“The monster took a sudden plunge, and I saw a
-crowd still on her decks, and boats filled with helpless
-women and children glued to her side. I sickened with
-horror at the sight.</p>
-
-<p>“There was a thunderous roar, as of the collapse
-of a great building on fire; then she disappeared, dragging
-with her hundreds of fellow-creatures into the vortex.
-Many never rose to the surface, but the sea rapidly
-grew thick with the figures of struggling men and
-women and children.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195">195</a></span>
-The total number of deaths was more than a thousand.</p>
-
-<p>The most fitting comment on the sinking of the <i>Lusitania</i>
-were the words of Tinkling Cloud, a full-blooded
-Sioux Indian:</p>
-
-<p>“Now you white men can never call us red men savages
-again.”</p>
-
-<p>Resting its case on “Many sacred principles of justice
-and humanity,” refusing to accept the warning published
-in the advertising columns of the newspapers by the
-German embassy either “as an excuse or palliation,” and
-assuming that the commanders of submarines guilty of
-torpedoing without warning vessels carrying non-combatants
-had acted “under a misapprehension of orders,”
-the United States concluded its note to Germany, six
-days after the sinking of the <i>Lusitania</i>, with these words
-of warning:</p>
-
-<p>“The Imperial German government will not expect
-the government of the United States to omit any word
-or act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of
-maintaining the rights of the United States and its citizens
-and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment.”</p>
-
-<p>Before any reply had been made to this, a German
-submarine torpedoed without warning the American
-freight steamer <i>Nebraskan</i>, on May 25, a few hours
-after she had left Liverpool in ballast for the United
-States. Fortunately no lives were lost, and although
-the <i>Nebraskan’s</i> bows had been blown wide open by the
-explosion, she remained afloat and was brought back to
-Liverpool under her own steam. The attack was tardily<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196">196</a></span>
-admitted by Germany and explained by the fact that it
-had been made at dusk, when the commander of the submarine
-had been unable to recognize the steamer’s nationality.</p>
-
-<p>On the last day of May, Germany’s answer was received.
-The Imperial government declared that the
-<i>Lusitania</i> had not been an unarmed merchantman but an
-auxiliary cruiser of the British navy. That she had had
-masked guns mounted on her lower deck, that she had
-Canadian troops among her passengers, and that in violation
-of American law she had been laden with high
-explosives which were the real cause of her destruction
-because they were set off by the detonation of the single
-torpedo that had been discharged by the submarine.</p>
-
-<p>To these allegations, unaccompanied by the slightest
-proof and contradicted by the testimony both of British
-and American eye-witnesses, the United States replied
-calmly and categorically. It was pointed out that if the
-German ambassador at Washington or the German consul
-at New York had complained to the Federal authorities
-before the <i>Lusitania</i> sailed and either guns or troops
-had been found concealed on her, she would have been
-interned. The statement of Mr. Dudley Field Malone,
-collector of the Port of New York, that the <i>Lusitania</i>
-was not armed, may be accepted as final. Gustav Stahl,
-the German reservist who signed an affidavit that he had
-seen guns on board her, later pleaded guilty to a charge
-of perjury and was sentenced to eighteen months in a
-Federal penitentiary. As for her cargo, every passenger
-train and steamer in this country is allowed to transport
-boxes of revolver and rifle cartridges&mdash;the only explosives<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197">197</a></span>
-carried on the <i>Lusitania</i>&mdash;because it is extremely
-difficult to set off any number of them together,
-either by heat or concussion.</p>
-
-<p>Dropping these points, Germany then pledged the
-safety of American ships in the war zone, if distinctly
-marked, and to facilitate American travel offered to permit
-the United States to hoist its flag on four belligerent
-passenger steamers. This, if accepted, would by implication
-have made Americans fair game anywhere else
-on the high seas, and was accordingly rejected in the
-strong American note of July 21.</p>
-
-<p>“The rights of neutrals in time of war,” declared
-President Wilson through the medium of Secretary Lansing,
-“are based upon principle, not upon expediency,
-and the principles are immutable. It is the duty and
-obligation of belligerents to find a way to adapt the new
-circumstances to them.</p>
-
-<p>“The events of the past two months have clearly indicated
-that it is possible and practicable to conduct such
-submarine operations as have characterized the activity
-of the Imperial German naval commanders within the
-so-called war-zone in substantial accord with the accepted
-practices of regulated warfare. The whole world has
-looked with interest and increasing satisfaction at the
-demonstration of that possibility by German naval commanders.
-It is manifestly possible, therefore, to lift
-the whole practice of submarine attack above the criticism
-which it has aroused and remove the chief causes
-of offense.”</p>
-
-<p>Repetition by the commanders of German naval vessels
-of acts contravening neutral rights “must be regarded<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198">198</a></span>
-by the Government of the United States, where
-they effect American citizens, as deliberately unfriendly.”</p>
-
-<p>On July 9, a German submarine discharged a torpedo
-at the west-bound Cunard liner <i>Orduna</i>, narrowly
-missed her, rose to the surface and fired some twenty
-shells before the steamer got out of range. Fortunately,
-none of these took effect. There were American passengers
-on board and nothing but bad marksmanship
-averted another <i>Lusitania</i> horror.</p>
-
-<p>Three days later, another German submarine stopped
-an American freight steamer, the <i>Leelanlaw</i>, and had her
-visited and searched by a boarding party, who reported
-that she was carrying contraband to Great Britain. Because
-the vessel could not be taken into a German port
-and there was no time to throw her cargo overboard,
-the crew were taken off and she was sunk.</p>
-
-<p>Here was a perfectly proper procedure, where no neutral
-lives had been endangered and the question of the
-damage to property could be settled amicably in a court
-of law. It was to the practice in the <i>Leelanlaw</i> case
-that President Wilson referred to so hopefully in his
-note of July 21. Though the weeks went by without any
-answer from Germany, it was hoped that the Imperial
-government had quietly amended the orders to its submarine
-commanders and that no more passenger ships
-would be attacked without warning.</p>
-
-<p>But on the 19th of August, the White Star liner
-<i>Arabic</i> sighted and went to the rescue of a sinking ship.
-This proved to be the British steamer <i>Dunsley</i>, which
-had been torpedoed by a German submarine. As the
-<i>Arabic</i> came up and prepared to lower her boats, another<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199">199</a></span>
-torpedo from the same submarine exploded against
-the liner’s side, killing several of her crew and sending
-her to the bottom in eleven minutes. She went down
-within fifty miles of the resting place of the <i>Lusitania</i>.
-She was sunk without warning and without cause, for
-she had been bound to New York, with neither arms nor
-ammunition on board, nor had she made the slightest attempt
-either to escape or attack the submarine. She
-carried one hundred and eighty-one passengers, twenty-five
-of whom were Americans. Two Americans were
-drowned.</p>
-
-<p>The German government at once asked for time in
-which to explain, and the Imperial chancellor hinted that
-the commander of the submarine that sank the <i>Arabic</i>
-might have “gone beyond his instructions, in which case
-the Imperial government would not hesitate to give such
-complete satisfaction to the United States as would conform
-to the friendly relations existing between both
-governments.”</p>
-
-<p>Great was the rejoicing on the first of September,
-when Ambassador von Bernstorff declared himself authorized
-to say to the State Department that:</p>
-
-<p>“Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without
-warning and without safety of the lives of non-combatants,
-provided that the liners do not try to escape or
-offer resistance.”</p>
-
-<p>But only three days afterwards, the west-bound
-Canadian liner <i>Hesperian</i> was sunk by the explosion of
-what seemed to have been a torpedo launched without
-warning from a hostile submarine. And on top of this
-disturbing incident came the German note on the sinking<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200">200</a></span>
-of the <i>Arabic</i>, the perusal of which sent a chill
-through every peace-lover in America. Affirming that
-the captain of the <i>Arabic</i> had tried to ram the submarine,
-the note declared that orders had been issued to commanders
-of German submarines not to sink liners without
-provocation, but added that if by mistake or otherwise
-liners were sunk without provocation, Germany
-would not be responsible.</p>
-
-<p>“The German government,” it ran, “is unable to acknowledge
-any obligation to grant indemnity in the matter,
-even if the commander should have been mistaken as
-to the aggressive intention of the <i>Arabic</i>.</p>
-
-<p>“If it should prove to be the case that it is impossible
-for the German and American governments to reach a
-harmonious opinion on this point, the German government
-would be prepared to submit the difference of opinion,
-as being a question of international law, to The
-Hague Tribunal for arbitration....</p>
-
-<p>“In so doing, it assumes that, as matter of course, the
-arbitral decision shall not be admitted to have the importance
-of a general decision on the permissibility ...
-under international law of German submarine warfare.”</p>
-
-<p>Assuming that this extraordinary stand was based on
-a misapprehension of the facts, the United States submitted
-to Germany the testimony of American passengers
-on the <i>Arabic</i>, and the sworn affidavits of her
-officers, that the submarine had not been sighted from
-the steamer and that no attempt had been made to ram
-the undersea boat or do anything but rescue the crew
-of the <i>Dunsley</i>.</p>
-
-<p>By this time a change had come over the spirit of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201">201</a></span>
-Imperial German government. It realized that the submarine
-blockade of the British Isles had broken down,
-and that further examples of “Frightfulness” on the
-high seas would do Germany no good and would probably
-force the United States into the ranks of Germany’s
-enemies. The sensible and obvious thing to do was to
-take the easy and honorable way out the American government
-was holding open. On October 6, Ambassador
-von Bernstorff gave out the following statement:</p>
-
-<p>“Prompted by the desire to reach a satisfactory agreement
-with regard to the <i>Arabic</i> incident, my government
-has given me the following instructions:</p>
-
-<p>“The order issued by His Majesty the Emperor to
-the commanders of the German submarines, of which I
-notified you on a previous occasion, has been made so
-stringent that the recurrence of incidents similar to the
-<i>Arabic</i> case is considered out of the question.</p>
-
-<p>“According to the report of Commander Schneider of
-the submarine which sank the <i>Arabic</i>, and his affidavit,
-as well as those of his men, Commander Schneider was
-convinced that the <i>Arabic</i> intended to ram the submarine.</p>
-
-<p>“On the other hand, the Imperial government does
-not doubt the good faith of the affidavit of the British
-officers of the <i>Arabic</i>, according to which the <i>Arabic</i>
-did not intend to ram the submarine. The attack of the
-submarine was undertaken against the instructions issued
-to the commander. The Imperial government regrets
-and disavows this act, and has notified Commander
-Schneider accordingly.</p>
-
-<p>“Under these circumstances, my government is prepared
-to pay an indemnity for American lives which, to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202">202</a></span>
-its deep regret, have been lost on the <i>Arabic</i>. I am authorized
-to negotiate with you about the amount of this
-indemnity.”</p>
-
-<p>In the meantime, fragments of the metal box of high
-explosives that had blown in the side of the <i>Hesperian</i>
-had been picked up on her deck, and forwarded by the
-British government to America. United States naval
-experts examined the twisted bits of metal and declared
-them to have been pieces, not of a mine, as the German
-government insists, but of an automobile torpedo.
-However, in view of the fact that the <i>Hesperian</i> was
-armed with a 4.7 gun, and because of the happy outcome
-of the <i>Arabic</i> affair, it seems unlikely that anything will
-be done about it.</p>
-
-<p>But only a month later there was begun another
-“Campaign of Frightfulness,” this time by Austrian
-submarines in the Mediterranean. As the passengers on
-the Italian liner <i>Ancona</i>, one day out from Naples to
-New York, were sitting at luncheon on November 7th,
-they “felt a tremor through the ship as her engines
-stopped and reversed.”<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> Then, while we were stopping,
-there was an explosion forward. A shell had struck us.</p>
-
-<p>“When I reached the deck,” continues Dr. Greil,
-“shell was fairly pouring into us from the submarine,
-which we could see through the fog, about 100 yards
-away. I hurried below to pack a few things in my
-trunk. As I was standing over it, a shell came through
-the porthole and struck my maid, who was standing at
-my side. It tore away her scalp and part of her skull<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203">203</a></span>
-and went on through the wall, bursting somewhere inside
-the ship.</p>
-
-<p>“When I went on deck again I found the wildest excitement.
-It was like the old-time stories one used to
-read of shipwrecks at sea. I will not say anything about
-the crew because I could not say anything good. They
-launched fifteen boats but only eight got away. I was
-in one of these.... I do not believe the submarine
-fired deliberately on the lifeboats. They were trying to
-sink the <i>Ancona</i> with shells, but they finally used a torpedo
-to send her to the bottom. I looked at my watch
-when she took her last plunge. It was 12.45. We were
-picked up by the French cruiser <i>Pluton</i> about midnight.”</p>
-
-<p>The commander of the submarine declared, in his official
-report, that he had fired only because the <i>Ancona</i>
-had tried to escape, that he had ceased firing as soon as
-she came to a stop, that the loss of life was due to the
-incompetence of the panic-stricken crew of the liner,
-whom the Austrian officer allowed forty-five minutes in
-which to launch the lifeboats. He admitted, however,
-that at the expiration of this time he had torpedoed and
-sunk the <i>Ancona</i>, while there were still a number of
-people on her decks.</p>
-
-<p>About two hundred of the passengers and crew were
-drowned or killed by shellfire. Among them were several
-American citizens.</p>
-
-<p>“The conduct of the commander,” declared the
-strongly-worded American note of December 6th, “can
-only be characterized as wanton slaughter of defenseless
-non-combatants.”... The government of the United
-States is unwilling ... to credit the Austro-Hungarian<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204">204</a></span>
-government with an intention to permit its submarines
-to destroy the lives of helpless men, women, and children.
-It prefers to believe that the commander of the
-submarine committed this outrage without authority and
-contrary to the general or special instructions which he
-had received.</p>
-
-<p>“As the good relations of the two countries must rest
-upon a common regard for law and humanity, the government
-of the United States cannot be expected to do
-otherwise than to denounce the sinking of the <i>Ancona</i>
-as an illegal and indefensible act, and to demand that the
-officer who perpetrated the deed be punished, and that
-reparation by the payment of an indemnity be made for
-the citizens of the United States who were killed or injured
-by the attack on the vessel.”</p>
-
-<p>This undiplomatic language caused no little resentment
-in Vienna. But after a restatement of the Austrian case,
-and a much milder rejoinder from Washington, the
-American demands were apparently acceded to. In the
-second Austro-Hungarian note, which was published in
-America on January 1st, 1915, the government of the
-Dual-Monarchy disavowed the act of its submarine commander,
-declared that he had acted in violation of his
-orders and would be punished therefore, and agreed to
-pay an indemnity for the American citizens who had been
-killed or injured.</p>
-
-<p>“The Imperial and Royal Government,” the note continued,
-“agrees thoroughly with the American Cabinet
-that the sacred commandments of humanity must be observed
-also in war.... The Imperial and Royal Government
-can also substantially concur in the principle expressed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205">205</a></span>
-... that private ships, in so far as they do not
-attempt to escape or offer resistance, may not be destroyed
-without the persons aboard being brought into
-safety.”</p>
-
-<p>Like the settlement of the <i>Arabic</i> case, this was hailed
-as a great diplomatic victory for the United States.
-Unlike it, there was no question of sharing the credit
-with the anti-submarine activities of the Allies, whose
-merchant ships in the Mediterranean were being torpedoed
-with startling frequency. On December 21st, the
-new 12,000 ton Japanese liner <i>Yasaka Maru</i> was sunk
-without warning, near Port Said. Thanks to the splendid
-discipline of her crew, no lives were lost. There was an
-alleged American on board, but there was some irregularity
-about his citizenship papers. Nor were there any
-Americans aboard the French passenger ship <i>Ville de la
-Ciotat</i>, torpedoed on Christmas Eve, with the loss of
-seventy lives. There was nothing to mar the smug satisfaction
-of the American people on New Year’s Day.</p>
-
-<p>Then came the news of the sinking of the Peninsular
-and Oriental liner <i>Persia</i>, on December 30th, off the
-Island of Crete.</p>
-
-<p>“I was in the dining room of the <i>Persia</i> at 1.05 <span class="smcap smaller">P.M.</span>,”
-declares Mr. Charles Grant of Boston, who was one of
-the two Americans on board. “I had just finished my
-soup, and the steward was asking me what I would take
-for my second course, when a terrific explosion occurred.</p>
-
-<p>“The saloon became filled with smoke, broken glass
-and steam from the boiler, which appeared to have burst.
-There was no panic on board. We went on deck as
-though we were at drill, and reported at the lifeboats on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206">206</a></span>
-the starboard side, as the vessel had listed to port....</p>
-
-<p>“The last I saw of the <i>Persia</i>, she had her bow in the
-air, five minutes after the explosion....</p>
-
-<p>“Robert McNeely, American Consul at Aden, sat at
-the same table with me on the voyage. He was not seen,
-probably because his cabin was on the port side.</p>
-
-<p>“It was a horrible scene. The water was black as ink.
-Some passengers were screaming, others were calling out
-good-by. Those in one boat sang hymns.”</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Persia</i> was apparently torpedoed, without warning.
-Like the <i>Hesperian</i>, she was armed with a 4.7 gun.
-One of the ship’s officers saw the white wake of the
-torpedo. But no one saw the submarine.</p>
-
-<p>The commander of that submarine evidently believed,
-like Captain Sirius, in striking first and letting the lawyers
-talk about it afterwards.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207">207</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2>
-
-<ul class="index">
-
-<li class="ifrst">
-<i>A-1</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>A-3</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>A-5</i>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>A-7</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>A-8</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Aboukir</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Accidents, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aeroplanes, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Air-chamber, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Alabama</i>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Albemarle</i>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Alert</i>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alkmaar, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Alstitt’s submarine, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Ancona</i>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Anglo-Californian</i>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Apostoloff’s submarine, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Arabic</i>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Argo</i>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Argonaut</i>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Argonaut Jr.</i>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Argus</i>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Asia</i>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aube, Admiral, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Audacious</i>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Awash condition, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>B-2</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>B-11</i>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Badger</i>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Baker’s submarine, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Balance-chamber, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ballast-tanks, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Baralong</i> case, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, note.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barber, Lieutenant F.&nbsp;M., <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barlow, Joel, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bates, Jr., Lindon, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Battle of the Kegs,” <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bauer, Wilhelm, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, note.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beatty, Admiral, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beauregard, General, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Belridge</i>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Berwick Castle</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bigskorth, Squadron Commander, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Birmingham</i>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Blake, Mr., <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Blockade, <a href="#Page_177">177</a> <i>et seq.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Blowing the tanks,” <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Booms, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Borelli, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boucher’s submarine, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bourgois, Captain, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bourne, William, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boush, Rear-Admiral, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Bouvet</i>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Boyle, Robert, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">British Hollands, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">British Navy, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brun, Monsieur, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Bulwark</i>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Buoyancy chamber, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bushnell, David, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a> to <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>C-11</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>C-14</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cable-cutting, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Cairo</i>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Caldwell, Lieutenant H.&nbsp;C., <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Caprivi</i>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Carlson, Captain, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Cerberus</i>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chandler, Mr. Edward F., <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chlorin gas, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Clairmont</i>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Commodore Jones</i>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Compass, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Compensation-tank, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Compressed-air tank, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Conning-tower, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Constantin’s submarine, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208">208</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cooking, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Copper sheathing, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Cressy</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Crilley, Frank, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cushing, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>D-5</i>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Daniels, Secretary, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dardanelles, the, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>David</i>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Davis, Commander, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Day, J., <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Delaying-valve, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Demologos</i>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Depth-control, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Destroyers, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Delfin</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dewey, Admiral, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Diable Marin</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, note.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Diesel, Dr., <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Diesel engines, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Divers, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Diving-bells, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Diving compartment, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx" id="diving">Diving-planes, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dixon, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Dorothea</i>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Doughty, Thomas, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Drzewiecki, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Dunsely</i>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dubilier, Mr. W., <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>E-4</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>E-5</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>E-9</i>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>E-11</i>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>E-13</i>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>E-15</i>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Eagle</i>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Edison battery, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Eel-boats, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Electric Boat Company, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Electric motors, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Electric submarines, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, note.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Emerald Isle</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Emergency drop-keel, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Enver Pasha, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ericsson, John, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Escape from sunken submarine, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Even-keel submergence, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>F-4</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Falaba</i>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Faotomu, Lieutenant Takuma, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Farfadet</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Farragut, Admiral, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fenian Brotherhood, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Fenian Ram</i>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fessenden oscillator, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fishing for submarines, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Foca</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Folger, Commander, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Forman, Justus Miles, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Formidable</i>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Frohman, Charles, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Fulton</i>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fulton, Robert, <a href="#Page_26">26</a> to <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Gages, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Garett, Rev. Mr., <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gasoline engines, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gasoline fumes, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">German contributions, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gimlets, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Goubet submarines, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grant, Charles, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Greased leather, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Greil, Dr. Cecile L., <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Giuseppe Garibaldi</i>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Gulflight</i>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guns, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Guncotton, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Gustave Zédé</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Gymnote</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gyroscope, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gyroscopic compass, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Hague Tribunal, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Halstead, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hammond, Jr., Mr. John Hays, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209">209</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hanson, Captain, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Harsdoffer, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Hatsuse</i>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hautefeullie, Abbé de, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Hela</i>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Hermes</i>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Hesperian</i>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Hogue</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holbrook, Commander, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holland, John P., <a href="#Page_68">68</a> to <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Holland</i>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a> to <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Holland No. 1</i>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Holland No. 2</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Holland No. 8</i>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Holland Torpedo-boat Company, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Horn of the Nautilus,” <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Housatonic</i>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Howard, Ensign, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hovgaard, Commander, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Huascar</i>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hubbard, Elbert, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Hundley</i>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a> to <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hydroplanes, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hydrostatic valve, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>Intelligent Whale</i>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">International law, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Irresistible</i>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">James I, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Jammer,” the, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jefferson, Thomas, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jonson, Ben, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>K</i>-class, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Kambala</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Kearsarge</i>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Kheyr-el-din</i>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Klein, Charles, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Krupps, the, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Labeuf, Monsieur, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lacavalerier, Señor, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lacomme, Dr., <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lake, Mr. Simon, <a href="#Page_82">82</a> to <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Laurenti, Major Cesare, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Laurenti dock, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Le Son, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lee, Ezra, <a href="#Page_15">15</a> to <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Leelanlaw</i>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Leon Gambetta</i>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Leveling-vanes, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lifeboats, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">List, Carl Frank, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lord St. Vincent, Admiral, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lupuis, Captain, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Lusitania</i>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a> to <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Lutin</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">McNeely, Robert, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Maine</i>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Majestic</i>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Makaroff, Admiral, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Malone, Mr. Dudley Field, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Marblehead</i>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Maryland</i>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Merrimac</i>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mersenne, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Messudieh</i>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Microphones, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mines, Confederate, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, note.</li>
-<li class="isub1">contact, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a> to <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">drifting, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">electric, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">observation, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mine-field, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mine-planter, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mine-sweeping, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Moltke</i>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Monitor</i>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mother-ship, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Mute</i>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Napier, John, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Napoleon, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Narval</i>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Nautilus</i>, Fulton’s, <a href="#Page_27">27</a> to <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Nautilus</i>, Jules Verne’s, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Navigating bridge, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Nebraskan</i>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nemo, Captain, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>New Ironsides</i>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>New York</i>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210">210</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nordenfeldt, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Nordenfeldt II</i>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Notes, American, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a> to <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Austrian, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">British, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">German, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>No. 6</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Oars, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Ocean</i>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oil-engine, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Olympic</i>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Orduna</i>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Osage</i>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oxygen, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Ozark</i>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Panlow, Captain Archibald, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Panoramas, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Payne, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pendulum, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Peral</i>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Peripatetic Coffin,” <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Persia</i>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Persius, Captain, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Periscope, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Petropavlosk</i>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip, Captain, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Phosphorescence, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pipe-masts, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pitt, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Plongeur</i>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Plunger</i>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Pluton</i>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Pluviôse</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pneumatic gun, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Pommern</i>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Porpoise dive,” <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Porter, Admiral David, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Primer,” the, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Propellers, adjustable, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">primitive, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">transverse, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">vertical-acting, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a> <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Protector</i>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pumps, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>Ramillies</i>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ramming, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Reducing-valve, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rescuing, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Resurgam</i>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Riou, Olivier, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rogers, Commodore, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Rotterdam Boat</i>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Royal Edward</i>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rudders, bow, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">horizontal (see <a href="#diving">diving-planes</a>).</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>S-126</i>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>San Francisco</i>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Safety-buoy, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">catch, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">helmets, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">jackets, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sails, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Salvage docks, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sampson, Admiral, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Schneider, Commander, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Scope, Lieutenant Perry, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Searchlight, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Selfridge, Rear-admiral, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Servo-motor, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sirius, Captain John, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Skerrett, Mr. R.&nbsp;G., <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Spuyten Duyvil</i>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Stahl, Gustav, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Staple of News, the,” <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Steam submarine, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Steamboat, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Storage-batteries, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Striker,” the, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Stromboli</i>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Submarine fighting submarine, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Submarine railroad, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Submersible, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Superstructure, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Symons’s submarine, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Taylor, D.&nbsp;W., Chief Constructor, U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;N., <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Telephoning from submarines, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Tecumseh</i>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Templo, Alvary, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Texas</i>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211">211</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Thrasher, Leon C., <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tinkling Cloud, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tissot, Professor, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Torpedo, automobile, <a href="#Page_44">44</a> to <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">boats, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Brennan, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Chandler, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">controllable, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">cost of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Davis gun-, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Fulton’s anchored, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Hammond wireless, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Torpedo-nets, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">origin of name, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">practice, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">recovering, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Schwartzkopf, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">Sims-Edison, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">spar, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">tubes, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li>
-<li class="isub1">wake of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Torpedo War and Submarine Explosions,” <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Torpedo, Whitehead, <a href="#Page_44">44</a> to <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Transports, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trim, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trimming-tanks, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trinitrotuluol, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Triumph</i>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Trumbull, Governor, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Turner, Captain, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Turtle</i>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a> to <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>U-1</i>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>U-3</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>U-9</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>U-12</i>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>U-15</i>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>U-16</i>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>U-28</i>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>U-29</i>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>U-39</i>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, note.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>U-51</i>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Vanderbilt, Alfred, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vand der Wonde, Cornelius, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Van Drebel, Cornelius, <a href="#Page_4">4</a> to <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Vendémiaire</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vereshchagin, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vickers Sons &amp; Maxim, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Ville de la Ciotat</i>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Von Weddigen, Lieutenant-commander, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Von Bernstorff, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Von Tirpitz, Admiral, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Vulcan</i>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Waddington, Mr. J.&nbsp;F., <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, note.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">War-head, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">War Zone, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Washington, George, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wheeled submarines, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">White mice, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Whitehead, Mr., <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Whitney, Secretary, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wilson, President, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wright brothers, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>X-4</i>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a> to <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><i>Yasaka Maru</i>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Yenisei</i>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Zeppelins, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>
-
-</ul>
-</div>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<div class="footnotes">
-<h2 id="FOOTNOTES" class="nobreak p1">FOOTNOTES</h2>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> Also spelled Van Drebbel, Drebell, Dreble, and Trebel. He is
-the man Ben Jonson calls “Cornelius’ son.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> Harsdoffer.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> “New Experiments touching the Spring of the Air and its Effects,”
-by Robert Boyle, Oxford, 1662, p. 188.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> The only submarine built before this for military purposes, the
-<i>Rotterdam Boat</i>, remained private property, and King James’s “eel-boats”
-were merely pleasure craft.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> Sergeant Ezra Lee’s letter to Gen. David Humphreys, written in
-1815. Published in the “Magazine of American History,” Vol. 29,
-p. 261.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> “General Washington and his associates in the secret took their
-stations upon a house in Broadway, anxiously awaiting the result.”
-From Ezra Lee’s obituary, New York “Commercial Advertiser,”
-November 15, 1821.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> According to Bushnell, the screw struck an iron bar securing the
-rudder.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> This survivor was examined by the captain of the <i>Cerberus</i>, who
-reported that the schooner’s crew had drawn the machine on board
-and by rashly tampering with its mechanism caused it to explode.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> See the “Scientific American,” August 7, 1915.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> Herbert C. Fyfe, “Submarine Warfare,” p. 269.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> But Fulton’s <i>Nautilus</i> could not possibly have made the dives with
-which she is credited except by the use of the horizontal rudders
-which she possessed in conjunction with the push of her man-power
-propellor. Holland had carefully studied the plans and letters of
-Bushnell and Fulton.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> Mr. J. F. Waddington used vertical propellers in tubes through
-the vessel for keeping her on an even keel or submerging when
-stationary, on a small electric submarine he invented, built and
-demonstrated at Liverpool in 1886.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> Quotations in this chapter are from Mr. Lake’s articles published
-in “International Marine Engineering,” and are here reprinted by
-his kind permission.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> Electric current.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> From an article by Admiral Selfridge in the “Outlook.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> The velocity of sound in dry air at a temperature of 32 degrees
-Fahrenheit is about 1087 feet a second, in water at 44 degrees, about
-4708 feet a second.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> The sound of the first gun of the salute fired by the Russian fleet
-in Cronstadt harbor to celebrate the coronation of Alexander II in
-1855 was the signal for the crew of the submerged submarine <i>Le
-Diable Marin</i> to begin singing the National Anthem. Their voices,
-accompanied by a band of four pieces, were distinctly heard above
-the surface. This novel concert had been planned by Wilhelm Bauer,
-the designer of the submarine and one of the earliest students of
-under-water acoustics. He succeeded in signaling from one side
-of the harbor to another by striking a submerged piece of sheet-iron
-with a hammer.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> “Scientific American,” January 28, 1911, page 87.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> “Scientific American,” November 23, 1912.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> Titherington’s History of the Spanish-American War, p. 139.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, page 202.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> He had done notable work with mines himself, during the Russo-Turkish
-War of 1878.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> This was a very popular type with the Confederate Torpedo
-Service in the Civil War.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> London, Jan. 4.&mdash;A British official statement issued to-day says:
-</p>
-<p>
-“Sir Edward Grey, secretary for foreign affairs, has answered the
-complaint by the Germans through the American embassies regarding
-the destruction off the coast of Ireland of a German submarine and
-crew, by the British auxiliary <i>Baralong</i>, by referring to various German
-outrages.
-</p>
-<p>
-“Sir Edward Grey offers to submit such incidents, including the
-<i>Baralong</i> case, to an impartial tribunal composed, say, of officers of
-the United States navy.
-</p>
-<p>
-“The Foreign Office has presented to the House of Commons the
-full correspondence between Ambassador Page and Sir Edward Grey
-concerning the case. A memorandum from Germany concerning the
-sinking of the submarine includes affidavits from six Americans who
-were muleteers aboard the steamer <i>Nicosian</i> and witnessed the <i>Baralong’s</i>
-destruction of the submarine. A further affidavit from Larimore
-Holland, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, who was a member of the
-crew of the <i>Baralong</i>, was submitted. All the affidavits speak of the
-<i>Baralong</i> as disguised and flying the American flag.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> “Scientific American,” October 16, 1915.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> In “Collier’s Weekly,” August 22, and 29, 1914.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="fnanchor">27</a> This submarine was the <i>U-39</i>. On board her was an American
-boy, Carl Frank List, who was taken off a Norwegian ship and
-spent eleven days on the <i>U-39</i>, during which time she sank eleven
-ships. In each case the crew were given ample time to take to the
-boats. List’s intensely interesting narrative appeared in the “New
-York American” for September 3, 5, and 7, 1915.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> “Von Weddigen, I was told, met his death chasing an armed
-British steamer. Commanding the <i>U-29</i>, he went after a whale of
-a British freighter in the Irish Sea, signaled her to stop. She
-stopped but hoisted the Spanish flag. As he came alongside, the
-steamer let drive with her two four-point-sevens at the submarine,
-sinking it immediately.” Statement of Carl Frank List.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> Statement of Dr. Cecile L. Greil, the only native-born American
-on board.</p></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<div class="transnote">
-<h2 class="nobreak p1"><a id="Transcribers_Notes"></a>Transcriber’s Notes</h2>
-
-<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
-preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.</p>
-
-<p>Words spelled differently in quoted passages than in the author’s own
-text have not been changed.</p>
-
-<p>Simple typographical errors were silently corrected; occasional unbalanced
-quotation marks retained.</p>
-
-<p><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Chapter II’s</a> footnotes originally skipped number “3”. The omission
-is not apparent in this eBook, in which all footnotes are in a
-single ascending sequence.</p>
-
-<p>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.</p>
-
-<p>For consistency, all occurrences of “bow-foremost” and “stern-foremost”
-are hyphenated in this eBook.</p>
-
-<p>Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.</p>
-</div></div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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