Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-05-14

The New York HeTalfs Valparaiso cor
respondent sends the following:
After she bomhardment Of Valparaiso,
and while the Spanish feet was at Callao,
a German residing at Valparaiso construc-
ted q submarine boat for the purpose Of
applying torpedoes 10 the bottom Of the
spanish frigates The boat was about
forty feet long, and was propelled by a 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 a few moments on the
surface, the boat was made 10 sink without
the precaution of having the cables
attached for use in case Of accident, or even
a buoy to mark the spot where she went
down. Several hours elapsed, and, the
boar falling to appear, 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
adventurous party had gone to the bottom.
Late in the afternoon the mail steamer
from Panama came in and fired gun near
the spot where the boat had disappeared.
As the small boats were passing 10 and
from the steamer with passengers, etc, bub-
bles were discovered rising upon the
surface Of the water where the submarine
boat was last seen; aud as those came up
al regular intervals in small numbers il
was supposed that the party was still alive,
and hearing the steamers gun and knowing
that a great many boats would be going 10
and fro, was signaling for help by eiecting
air. A diver belonging to one Of the
English men oi-war was at once sent down,
and after half an hours anxious waiting
he returned with the intelligence that the
boat was on the bottom in 30 fathoms of wa
Ter. Chains and cables were Immediately al
tached 10 the boat, aud repeated efforts were
made to raise her bat without avail, her
bottom seemed TO have been sucked into
the oozy bed OF the sea aud becoming firmly
fastened
Ali night and the next day until after
noon the bubbles kept coming up, like
signals sometime not appearing for half
an boar at a time. aud then suddenly
rushing mp for few seconds with great
force The feeling Of the popnlace Assem-
bled to rescue the party from their terrible
fate may be imag ined bat what must
have been the reflections of the aen during
those awful hours al the bottom of the bay,
knowing, az they did, what little hope
there was for them. They could have
heard the divers working On the sides Of
their boat attaching the chains, and per
haps felt the STRAIN "a the cable drew taut
bal a. time sped away without their being
raised, despair worse than death must have |
taken possession of them. Doubtless they |
tried 10 signal through the sides of their
boat TO the diver hammering outside, but |
he in his diving dress could hear nothing.
The aperture to the interior was so small |
shat but one person could pass through itat |
time, and that very slowly; SO that if an /
empt was ma de 10 escape by that means |
all would inevitably be drowned, After |
many hours of lsborious efforts TO raise the /
boat the machinery broke and the attempt |
was necessarily abandoned. About the mid.
die Of the afternoon Of the second day the /
bubbles commenced growing fainter and /
more rare and before sundoWn entirely |
ceased The boat still lies where il went /
down, and passengers arriving by the /
atsamer are told by the boatmen, as they
row toward shore the painful story Of those
ten mems fate, and Of the families who still
moan in Valparaiso for their fathers and
brothers in their iron coffin al the bottom
Of the sea.