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12 MARINE REVIEW. SUBMARINE BOATS. A SUMMARY OF THE EFFORTS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE DURING THREE OEN- TURIES TO BUILD SHIPS FOR SERVICE OF THE DEEP-- SOMETHING ABOUT TORPEDOES. BY LAWRENCE IRWELL. The nations of the earth are preaching peace with an apparent earn- estness of purpose which seems strangely at variance with the prepara- tions for war to be met with all over Europe. The construction of iron- clads of gigantic proportiens is being rapidly pushed forward at an im- mense outlay of public money, for, speaking in round numbers, the man- of-war of today represents the embodiment of an expenditure of $0,- 000,000. Yet so rapid is the onward inexorable march of scientific dis- covery, that these mastless monstrosities are sometimes obsolete within two years of the time when they left the hands of the builders. Nor is this all that can be urged against such leviathans. They cannot be rendered absolutely invulnerable, and practical men are quick to devise some means whereby the ship of an enemy may be placed hors de combat. Electricity and modern explosives have greatly contributed to make almost anything possible to the modern investigator; and a certain amount of uneasiness exists that, in spite of all possible pre- cautions, the battle may be "'to the swift rather than to the strong"--to the manageable sling and stone of the boy, rather than to the cumbrous arms and armor of the giant. In the future, an ironclad may be com- pelled to surround herself with a cordon of boats, in order to be thor- oughly protected from night attacks. During the civil war, twenty-five ships were destroyed by the elec- tric torpedoes of the confederates. The 'infernal machines" used by the Russians during the Crimean War (1854-6) were simply small watertight cans, containing gunpowder, a mixture of sugar and chlorate of potash, and a glass bulb filled with sulphuric acid. The acid escaped when the bulb was broken by a ship striking against the can, and it trickled onto the prepared mixture, after which an explosion ensued. These '"ma- chines" were dangerous both to friends and to the enemy, and were of feeble intensity. Today, electricity is pressed into the dread service, as the igniting agent, and dynamite takes the place of gunpowder, because it explodes with far greater violence. The Whitehead torpedoes cost about $2000 each, are cigar-shaped, and are propelled through the water by the application of compressed air. The torpedo is composed of three parts--the head, which contains the explosive; the reservoir, in which air is compressed until it exerts a pressure of 600 pounds on the square inch; and the tail, containing the machinery of propulsion. This torpedo will travel a mile and a half at a depth of 8 feet under water, the first thousand yards being moved over at the rate of 20 miles an hour. It is liable to be deflected by currents from its otherwise straight course, but it has been asserted that this defect can be allowed for. The torpedo rises to the surface, if, owing to some accident, the explosion does not take place at the moment o striking the object aimea at; and an automatic arrangement renders it harmless, so as to admit of recapture without risk. About ten years since some French newspapers challenged the utility of torpedoes, but since then there has been ample scientific evidence of their value, and the government of France, like every other government, keeps a large stock of them on hand. A common form of "fish-torpedo" is '14 feet long, with a diameter 0° 14 inches, and can travel 1800 yards with a speed of thirty-six miles an hour. A reservoir, coated with a nonconducting material, runs along the center, which is charged with hot water at a pressure of 400 pounds per square inch; and it is believed that the steam given off from the water would drive the torpedo's engine for an hour. The weight o the "fish" remains unaltered during the run, as the steam, when it has done its work, is condensed inside. As is well known, 'ships finding themselves in the vicinity of these destroyers, put out strong nets, so as to entangle the torpedoes within their meshes, and thus avert disaster. Gun-cotton and dynamite are peculiarly sensitive to vibration, and. their detonation is due to this very cause (by detonation is meant the sudden report caused by an explosion); so that, by exploding counter- mines, any torpedoes lying around a ship may be exploded, if they con- tain nitro-glycerine compounds. In the British navy, some of the men- of-war are supplied with a steam pinnace which is used for dropping and exploding counter-mines, in order to destroy the mines of an enemy, and clear a harbor for the attacking fleet. The engine is worked and all its movements controlled by electricity, the cable which supplies the motive- power being unwound from winches as the boat moves along. Wonder- ful as it may seem, the pinnace does its duty without any person >eing aboard of her. Although this accessory has been attached to the British navy for over twelve years, I have not been able to ascertain its exist- ence in the navies of other nations. A commander may perceive ard provide for the torpedo launched against him or sunk at the bottom of a harbor, but there is nothing to betray the presence of a submarine vessel approaching an ironclad, except, perhaps the bead on the water. A brief sketch of the history of submarine boats, which, aided by tur- pedoes, may be destined to be employed in the attempted destruction of ironclads will be of interest. Even in times of remote antiquity, divers were employed io reeuver valuables from. the depths of the sea, and also to carry despatches into besieged places. Aristotle refers to the bagpipes and the diving-bell. Diving-machines were certainly in use in the thirteenth century and writers of that period assert that Alexander the Great was once a passen- ger in some sort of submarine boat. Van Drebbel, a Dutchman, huiit a submarine boat in London in 1664, which could contain twelve RDN as well as some passengers, and on one occasion King James I. took a trip below the water of the river Thames in this vessel. The inventor is said to have discovered a liquid possessing the important property of rendering the air in the confined space under hatches suitable for re- peated inhalation, and thus to prolong the time which could be spent under water. At Amsterdam in 1653 a Frenchman exhibited oct. marine vessel 72 feet in length, but he refused to divulge the sveret of its construction. A learned father of the Roman Catholic church wrote a book in 1664, in which he suggested the possibility of destroying hostiie fleets by means of boats moving under the surface of the water, During the War of Independence in 1776 Bushnell, a native of Con- necticut, built the first submarine boat, properly so called. She was im- mersed by admitting water into tanks constructed for the purpose, and she rose to the surface again by letting fall leaden weights which were suspended to her keel, and at the same time pumping vut the ballast-tanks, She was propelled under water by an oar placed horizontaliy beneath her, constructed after the fashion of an Archimedean screw, of which a good picture may be found in the Standard Dictionary, page 109. A second oar, placed vertically on the upper part of the boat, regulated the depth of immersion independently of the quantity of water in the tanks. This primitive project scarcely advanced beyond the experimental stage, for the guns of the British ships blew the boat to pieces almost as soon as she was launched. Fulton took up the idea in 1801, and having ex. perimented in France with somewhat favorable results, he published a pamphlet upon the subject of submarine navigation. His 59at was pro- pelled by a screw, but we are ignorant as to what agency was brought into play in order to cause the propeller to revolve. The Nautilus, as she was called, carried four men, and was rigged with masts and sails, which, of course, were lowered previous to immersion. (Compressed air stored up in a copper globe served to renew the vitiated atmosphere at the will of the commander. Fulton was engaged upon a new ship, the Mute, when his death took place. This vessel, perfected by the light of experience, was to be immersed only beneath the immediate surface of the water, and her course was to be directed by a helmsman, whose head just above the deck. ee the brothers Coessin entered the lists at Havre, France, in 1809 with a submarine vessel propelled by oars, which gave to, her, when sub- merged, a speed of 2 miles an hour. The method which they adopted to procure a continuous supply of fresh air was, however, very objection- able. Long leather tubes terminating in floats led from the body of the vessel to the sea-surface, like the tentacles of some strange Sea-serpent. The resistance to the movement of the ship caused by these tubes as they were dragged through the water must have been very considerable, and the chances of their being dragged under water were great. Never- theless, the commissioners appointed by the National Institute of France reported that "there is no longér any doubt of the possibility of estab- lishing submarine navigation and at a trifling expense." A noted smuggler named Johnson designed the largest of all sub- marine boats, in which he proposed to carry off Napoleon from the Island of St. Helena. His vessel was 100 feet in length, and her spars and rigging could be lowered and made fast to the deck. He determined to reach land at sundown, sink beneath the sea-surface, and approach sufficiently close to enable him to land one of the conspirators, who should arrange with the illustrious captive a plan for evading the vigi- lance of the guards. Johnson was promised a large sum of money if success should crown his efforts, and he was to receive £4000 ($20,000) as soon as his vessel was ready for sea. Unfortunately for him, the re- port of Napoleon's death was received on the day that the rescue ship was coppered. Towards the end of Johnson's life he succeeded in building a boat which would remain under the surface of the river Thames for eight hours without any necessity for the introduction of fresh air. Coming down to recent times, we find that, in 1882 a Roumanian invented a submarine ship, wich, according to his specifications, could be guided for twelve hours when completely immersed. The depth of immersion could be varied from 100 to 300 feet at the will of the oper- ator, and enough light was supplied to enable those on board to see a distance of 130 feet ahead. The air supplied to this boat was sufficient to last for fourteen hours, and the air reservoir could be filled again if necessary, even though under water, by means of tubes sent to the sur- face. Her progress through the water was to be absolutely noiseless, and great results were hoped for from this death-dealing apparatus. My efforts to obtain further information concerning this ship were not 'suc- cessful, and I am forced to conclude that she was chiefly a product of the inventor's. enthusiasm--a failure when constructed. The American boat Peacemaker created a great sensation in the nautical world. Like most of her kind, she was cigar-shaped with thinned ends, and when seen floating on the surface of the water some- what resembled a capsized yacht. She was 30 feet long, with & feet beam and 7% feet depth of hold. She had shell-plating seven-eighths of an inch thick, well stiffened, so as to withstand the greatest possible pressure of water. Her crew consisted of a helmsman and an engineer, who obtained an entrance into the hold by a small manhole, which closed with a closely fitting cover. A dome projecting from the upper surface of the hull was fitted with glass windows to enable the helmsman, who stood with his head in this raised space, to attend to the steering when the ship was not submerged. The delicate parts of the boat were pro- tected from injury by a kind of crest, which ran fore and aft, thus giving ~ her a very curious appearance. Some sleeves, made of impermeable ma- terial, were placed on each side of the dome so that the helmsman might readily apply the torpedoes at the most Opportune moment by inserting his hands into the sleeves. Compressed air was stored up in tubes fixed to her sides, and it was proposed to absorb the carbon dioxide and all other deleterious products of combustion by chemical means. The ship was lighted by electricity and propelled by a steam engine of 14 horse-power, having its boiler surrounded by an iron jacket, like one iron pot inside another, enclosing between it and the boiler a saturated solution of caustic soda, which possesses great heating power when water-vapor is passed into it. The result of the Peacemaker's trial trip (in 1887) was said to be very satisfactory, for she attained a speed of 8 miles an hour when well submerged. Her builders, in addition, asserted that she could keep up this rate of travel fer some hours. Her sub- mersion was effected by filling her ballast-tanks with water, and she was raised by working a rudder which was movable around a horizontal axis. A pressure-guage indicated the depth to which the boat had descended, and, owing to the position of the center of gravity, there was believed to be no danger of the boat "turning turtle.' The torpedoes were fastened to her sides, and were made buoyant vy external coverings of cork, and they were furnished with electro-magnets so that they would adhere to [June ti