Every-day Science: Volume VII. The Conquest of Time and Space

years ago; and a little less than half a century ago naval vessels were destroyed in actual warfare by these boats. But curiously enough no vessel has ever been destroyed in actual

lling would be gone did the little submarine boat supplant the battle-ship." We need not, however, depend upon this statement, made as it was three-quarters of a century after the demonstrations by Fulton, for there are many similar statements made at the time to be had at first hand. Thus Admiral Earl St. Vincent, when opposing the views of William Pitt, who had become enthusiastic over the possibilities of Fulton's submarines, is

what it may, it has made slow and laborious work of it; and we are only now approaching a solution of

RST SU

but the first practical submarine boat capable of navigation entirely submerged for any length of time was made by David Bushnell, of Westbrook (then Saybrook), Maine, U. S. A., in 1775. Details as to the const

eceiving fresh air. At the bottom, opposite to the entrance, was fixed a quantity of lead for ballast. At one edge, which was directly before the operator, who sat upright, was an oar for rowing forward and backward. At the other edge was a rudder for steering. An aperture at the bottom, with its valves, was designed to admit water for the purpose of descending,

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 two hundred

mitted too much he ejected as much as was necessary to obtain an equilibrium by the two brass forcing-pumps which were placed at each hand. Whenever the vessel leaked, or he would ascend to the surface, he also made use of these forcing-pumps. When the skillful operator had obtained an equili

its axis entered the vessel, and being turned one way, rowed the vessel forward, but be

us used in firing it, and was secured in its place by a screw turned by the operator. A strong piece of rope extended from the magazine to the wood screw above mentioned, and was fastened to both. When the wood screw was fixed to be cast

d run its time it unpinioned a strong lock resembling a gun-lock, which gave fire to the powder. This apparatus was

approach the stem or stem above the water with very little danger. He could sink very quickly, keep at any depth he pleased, and row a great distance in any direction he de

p were sheathed with copper he might easily have pierced it; but not being well skilled in the management of the vessel, in attempting to move to another place he lost the ship. After seeking her in vain for some time he rowed some distance and rose to the surface of the water, but found daylight had advanced too far that he durst not renew the attempt. He says that he could easily have fastened the magazine under the stem of the ship above the water, as he rowed up to the stern and touched it before he descended. Had he fastened it t

RT F

LTON'S EX

invention, but although certain commissions reported favorably on his ideas, nothing came of them for a time. In 1800, however, Fulton succeeded in interesting Napoleon in his scheme, and the following year he was given the opportunity of building his first submarine boat, the Nautilus. This boat was cigar shaped, about twenty-one feet long and seven feet in diameter, and made of copper supported by iron ribs. When operating at the s

e of his diving boat reimbursed, and a patent be given himself and the members of his crew, so that in case of capture they would be treated as prisoners of war and not hanged as pirates. Strangely enough this latter clause was the greatest stumbling-block, as the proposed methods of destroying battle-ships by torpedoes was held in such dis

including Mr. Pitt, and Fulton was requested to demonstrate what could be done in actual practice by his submarine. On October 15, 1805, an old brig detailed for the purpose was destroyed by Fulton by the explosion of a torpedo contai

al authorities prepared the brig Argus to resist an attack by the submarine. This preparation consisted in surrounding her with protecting booms of logs, supporting strong netting, and held a distance from the hull by spars. In fact all possible means short of actually build

hat the very fact that a war vessel was obliged to make use of such means to protect herself against a system of attack t

at, for surface navigation, he is said to have remarked that, while this invention was important, it could in no wise compare with the revolutionary effects upon navigation that would eventually be produced by submarine boats. And despite hi

s detected by the crew of the man-of-war, who cut their cables, and stood out of the harbor as quickly as possible. In the third attempt, the diving boat succeeded in coming up in a position directly under the Ramillies, fastened itsel

r took on board his vessel a hundred prisoners, apprising the Americans of the fact, and assuring them that a similar action would be taken by all the ships of the British fleet, so that in case a vessel was torpedoed the American pri

ce a hundred years ago. Fulton's attempts were regarded as the acts of a pirat

SFUL DIV

ning of this war, however, efforts were made to perfect diving boats; and these efforts were so well directed that eventually

and-power, eight of the nine members of the crew working on a crank which actuated the propeller. The ninth man, crouching in the bow, steered the boat. No reserve air was carried, and consequently the length of time the boat could remain submerged was limited to a very few minutes. On account of this, and because of its unfortunat

es were built. The only successful attack of any of these Davids, however, was the one which destroyed the Housatonic.

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, in a line with the magazine. The man who steered her knew where the vu

day was 'Sauve qui peut.' A boat was despatched to the Canandaigua, not far off, and that vessel

ture these men had engaged in, and one in which they could scarcely have hoped to succeed. They had tried it once before inside the harbor, and some of the crew had been blown overboard. How could they hope to succeed on the outside, where the sea might be rough, when the speed of the

ARINES AND

pted the construction of such vessels, but without success. Yet the possibility of producing these boats was becoming more apparent every year by t

are largely responsible for the present fleet of submarine boats built already, or in the process of construction, as well as for those of several foreign countries. Indeed, in the matter of submarine inventions, only one country ca

n by horizontal rudders alone, and may be said to mark an epoch in submarine navigation. But the No. 3 had many defects, and Mr. Holland continued to build and improve new boats, until finally his ninth boat, which is the one familiarly known as the Holland, represented a practical form of submarine vessel. This boat was 53 feet 10 inches long, 10 feet 3 inches in diameter, had a

using it to descend to the desired depth, and keeping it at an approximately uniform distance from the surface while running submerged. By this arrangement the bo

e a?rial guns was placed in the bow, and one in the stem; but later the stern tube was abandoned. The bow gun was designed to discharge projectiles a distance of about one mile, such projectiles weighing so

to this time. France and Russia had produced successful diving boats; and in America those invented by Simon Lake, some of which are used for wrecking and salvage work as well as for war purposes, have proved quite as practical as t

e "even-keel" type. These terms refer to the method of submergence, the diving boats changing their

ment with an opening in the bottom through which a diver can emerge and work on wreckage, or laying and disconnecting mines. These boats have also a safety device in the form of a detachable keel weighing several tons. In case of accident, when it might otherwise be impossible to rise to t

AT "CUTTLEFISH" IN DRY DOC

gasoline motors for motive power while running at the surface. These gasoline engines are used at the same time for charging the storage batteries; so that the submersible is a much more practical boat than the submarine, and at the same time is quite as good a diver. Indeed, although many naval wr

me reserve buoyancy. The advantage claimed for the no-floatability class of boats is that, having no buoyancy, they are kept more easily at a

rudders, when her buoyancy is small, has long since been established in submarine navigation; and the simplicity of this method naturally helps its popularity. If there were no shifting of weight in a submarine, or no wave disturbance, it would not be difficult to set the rudders at such an angle that the boat would

last; a certain amount of leakage of water cannot be avoided, and the sudden discharge of a torpedo weighing several hundred pounds from her bow tends to bring the boat quickly

marine is under water it is in utter darkness as far as seeing to steer is concerned; and what adds to the difficulty is the fact that the compass cannot be relied upon, because of the surrounding electrical apparatus. It

nd protruding above the water. In the upper end are a mirror and lenses so arranged that the surrounding objects are reflected downward through the tube, and show on a screen, or some other device, so that the helmsman sees things of exactly the same size that they would appear to the naked

nconspicuous, however, that it might enable a submarine to creep within torpedo range even in daylight, and launch the torp

TUS OF SUBM

ine boats played no part in it whatever. There is only one possible conclusion to be drawn from this

st as well as boats on the surface. Nothing is farther from the truth. Under ideal (and consequently unusual) conditions, the submarines, and submersibles, have done, and can do, some remarkable things, such as staying submerged for hours, diving to a depth of two hundred feet, and running long distances. But these are only the first

ling with difficulties that oppose its perfection. The fanciful illustration seen so often of a submarine diving hundreds of feet deep in the water, swimming about and finally coming up under the keel of a battle ship and destroyi

ittle use to the submarine; and there is always another difficulty-the leviathan battle-ship does not lie still waiting to be stabbed by its sword-fish enemy, but keeps moving about, twisting and turning, at a rate of from fourteen to eighteen knots an hour, while the submarine can only make about eleven knots when submerged. In a stern chase, theref

esent an inconspicuous target. The early Holland boats did not have this, although the American Lake boats have had it from the first; but at the present time all boats are being so made. At first these towers were made circular in f

finally completely submerged, nothing appearing at the surface but the periscope tube just above the waves. With the aid of this instrument the target may still be seen distinctly, but the arc of vision is limited, and guessing the distance or rate of speed of the target is very difficult. Nevertheless, by estimating the distance before submerging, and knowing the rate of speed of his little craft, the submarine gunner may still get

ack, but to offset this disadvantage the crew was fully aware of the exact time that the attack was to be made. Indeed the officers of the cruiser had watched the submarines steam

of the proximity of the diving boats was the striking of five torpedoes against the cruiser's hull. Each submarine had scored a bull's-eye. Not

eries which furnish the power for running while submerged, but these, at best, are but feeble generators of energy, although Edison's recent improvements may materially improve their power. If gasoline engines could be used during submergence a far greater speed would be acquired; but this is out of the que

e by a flotilla of Italian submersibles shows that such boats are no longer harbor-locked vessels. In 1908 the Italian flotilla in question made a voyage from Venice to Spezia, a distance of thirteen hundred miles, without assistance from auxiliary boats. About the same time a British submarine flotilla, on a three-hundred mile trip, remained submerged for forty consecutive hours. The depth of the s

SUB-MARINES MAN?UVE

t the target without being detected, go on cruises unattended for more than a thousand miles, and

ecessary. The submarine proper has only from five to eight per cent. buoyancy, while some of the submersibles have twenty-five per cent. or more. With such boats of the ordinary size some fifty tons of water must be admitted before bringing

ossible, therefore, that swift aeroplanes circling about a fleet of war vessels might be able to detect submarine boats when these boats were near enough the surface to use their periscopes. If so it might be possible for the aeroplanes to drop torpedoes upon the submerged boats without dange