The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-04-25
A sinh. marine Boat with Ten Men On
the BottOn Of the Sea.

The HerdIfs Valparaiso correspond
ent sends the following: After the bonn
bardment of Valparaiso, and while the
Spanish fleet was at Callao, German
residing at Valparaiso constructed a
submarine boat for the purpose Of ap-
plying torpedoes to the bottom Of the
Spanish frigates. The boat was 40 feet
long and was propelled by screw
worked by hand. So confident was her
builder in her efficiency that at the first
experiment in the bay he took with
him into the boat his son and eight
friends. After sailing about few mo-
ments on the surface, the boat was made
to sink without the precaution of hav-
ing the cables attached for use in case of
accident, or even buoy to mark the
spot where she went down. Several
hours elapsed and the boat failing to re-
turn, the spectators crowded on the
mole. began to fear that all was not
right, and as the day passed away, the
conviction became general that the ad-
venturous party had gone to the bot
tom. Late in the afternoon the mail
steamer from Panama came in and fired
a gun near the spot where the boat dis
appeared.
AS the small boats were passing to
and from the steamer with passengers,
etc, bubbles were discovered rising up
on the surface of the. water where the
sub. marine boat was last seen; and as
they came up at regular intervals in
small numbers it was supposed that the
party was still alive, and hearing the
steamers gun, and knowing that a
great many boats would be going to and
fro, was signaling for help by ejecting
air. A diver belonging to one of the
English men -of.war was at once sent
down, and after an hours anxious wait
ing he returned with the intelligence
that the boat was on the bottom, in 80
fathoms of water. Chains and cables
we're Immediately attached to the boat,
and repeated efforts were made to raise
her, but without avail, her bottom seem.
inc 10 have been smoked into the oozy
bed of the sea and become firmly fasten.
ed. All night and the next day until
afternoon the bubbles kept coming up
like Signals, sometimes not appearing
for half an hour at q time, and then
suddenly rushing up for q few seconds
with great force. The feeling Of the
populace assembled to rescue the party
| FROM their terrible fate may be imagin
ed: but what must have been the refiec.
tions of the men during those awful
hours at the bottom of the bay, know.
ing, as they did, what little hope there
| was for them.
They could have heard the diver.
working on the sides Of their boat at
taehing the chains and perhaps felt the
strain as the cables drew taut; but al
time sped away without their beins
raised, despair worse than death mus,
have taken possession Of them. Doubt
less they tried to signal through the
sides of their boat to the diver hammer.
| ing outside, but he in his diving dress
could hear nothing. The aperture tc
the interior was so small that but ont
person could pass through it at time
and that very slowly, so that if an at
were made to escape by that means al
would inevitably be drowned. Aftel
many hours of laborious efforts to rails,
the boat, the hoisting machinery broke
and the attempt was necessarily aban
doned. About the middle of tho after
noon Of the second day the bubbles corn
menced growing fainter and moro rare
and before sundown entirely ceased
The boat still lies where it went down
and passengers arriving by the steameI
are told by the boatmen, as they fov
towards shore, the painful story of thcs'
ten mems fate, and of the females wh'
stin mourn in Valparaiso for their fa
thers and brothers in the iron coffin .
the bottom Of the sea.