The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-07-19

be surmised. The boat had set out secretly
to destroy the Housatonic, but no one
could tell the tale of her experience
There were other DavidS in the waters, and
hundreds of fixed and floating torpedoes
in the channels. The men of the Housa-
tonic could give no account of the affair
other than the shadowy plank" story, but
whether the plank were an automaton, a
floating torpedo impelled by cog work, or
the missing edgar boat" no one knew.
1t had disappeared with the vessel de-
stroyed.
After the war the secret came out; the
edgar boat" had justified her inventor.
The wrecks of the harbor were cleared by
divers, and while exploring the depths
around the Housatonic they found the
rusty iron machine partially buried in
drifting debris about a hundred feet away
from the hull of the man-of-war, her PROV
pointing toward it. OF course her daring
crew had paid the penalty and were Sc
curely cofined inside The Housatonic
was one of the new war vessels. She was
q screw sloop, mounting eleven guns, and
Lad been in the South Atlantic squadron
since 1862. Her destruction was warning
to the whole feet and an encouragement
also to the Confederates, who after this
made several efforts, some of them sue
cessful.
Notwithstanding the reality of this sub
marine engine, such boats are at this date
deemed chimerical, and popularity supposed
to exist only in the brains of crazy invent
ors or the imagination of romancers.
Jules Verne puzzled and amused the read
ing world with Capt Nemos strange craft
- Thnr,coT,A Ind
the Sea" Gen Lloyd Brice, in a recent
satire on American "Reminiscences, brings
into action wonderful fish boat, invented
and managed by anerratic shirt manufact-
urer, as though no sane man of science
would waste time on scheme of that nat
ure. What has been considered creation
Of fancy, however, has been proven fruit
full reality, as in the case of this Charleston
boat.
Jules Verne's submarine vessel was
cigar shaped, and recently Spanish naval
officer constructed a boat over which he
had dreamed for many years. The Spanish
government thought so well Of the plan
that the inventor, Lieut.. Peral, was given
the means to experiment, and his boat, FL
Peral, was successfully launched and
made several trips, justifying the hopes of
Qer projectors. lDlS DOdU Is q llJIle moro
than double the size of the Confederate
boat, being "A feet loEg and % feet broad.
She is fitted out as a torpedo boat, and can
run six knots an hour under water.
The torpedo boat had it's origin in the
civil war, and the Confederates developed
it to a greater degree than did their adver-
saries. Since that time all first class powers
have been experimenting, but no satisfac-
tory result has been reached. There are at
present boats of three or four hundred tons
armed with torpedoes. small boats carried
upon war vessels to be lowered when in
close quarters with the adversary, and a
coast torpedo boat, having its hull sub
merged All of these are liable TO detec-
ton and destruction By the enemy. The
situation calls for a noiSeless, invisible en-
CINE thst can work in all weather and
at any hour, day or night as the Confed-
crate David was intended TO do. The prob
lena when solved will be By a submarine
craft not unlike the i'll fated one whose
story is rold here. But surely 10 contriv-
ance of this character ever had more de-
voted adherents. more ventureSome and
painstsking operators than the cigar
boat of Charleston harbor.
GEO. L huMER.