The Van Buren press., 1867-05-17
A ,ubmarine Boat With ten Men on the
Bottom of the Sea.

hii'i tHt btHstaitiitHt VI fSiiSiaisV'
and while the Spanish fleet was at Callao,
a German residing at Valparaiso con
structed n submarine boat for the purpose
of applying tOrpcdocs to the bottom of
the Spanish frigatcs. The boat was forty
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.
Aeer sailing about on the surface q few
moments, the boat was made to sink
without the prccaution of having the
cables attached for use in case of accident,
or even buoy to mark the spot where
she wont down. Several hours elapsed
and the boat failing to return, the specta
tors crowded or the mole began to fear
that all was not right; and rs the day
passed away, the conviction became gen
eral that the adventurous party had gone
to the bottom Late III the afternoon, the
mail steamer from Panama came in and
fired gun near the spot where the boat
disappeared.
As the small boats we've passing to and
from the steamer with passengers, etc,
bubbles were discovered rising from the
surface Of the water where the submarine
boat was last seen and as they came up
at regular intervals in small numbers it
supposed that the party was still alive,
and hearing the steamer gun, and know
ing that 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 anyi-
Gus waiting he returned with the intelli-
gcnce that the boat was on the bottom in
33 fathoms of water
Chains and cables were Immediately
attached to the boat and repeated efforts
were made TO raise her, but without avail,
her bottom seeming to have been sucked
into the oozy bed Of the sea and become
firmly fastened. All night and the next
day, until afternoon the bubbles kept
coming up like signals. sometimes not
not appearing for half an hour at time,
and then suddenly rushing up for few
seconds with great force. The feeling of
the populace assembled to rescue the
party from their terrible fate may be i'm
aged but what must have been the re
fections of the men during those awful
hours at the bottom of the bay, knowing
as they did, what little hope there was
for them.
They could have heard the divers work
ing at the sides of their boats, attaching
the chains, and perhaps felt the strain as
the cables drew taut; but as time sped
away without their being raised, despair
worse than death must have taken pos
session Of them. Doubtless they tried to
signal through the sides Of their boat to
the diver hammering outside, but in his
diving dress could hear nothing, The
aperture to the interior was so small that
but one person could pass through it at
a time, and that very slowly, so that if an
attempt were made to escape by that
means all would inevitably be drowned
After many hours Of laborious efforts
to raise the boat the hosting machinery
broke, and the attempt was necessarily
abandoned. About the middle Of the
afternoon Of the second day the bubbles
commenced growing fainter and more
rare, and before the sun went down, and
passengers arriving by the steamer are
told by the boatmen, as they row toward
shore, the painful story of those ten mems
fate and Of the females who still mourn
in Valparaiso tor their fathers and bro
theirs in the iron coffin at the bottom OF
the sea-