The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-11-10

Lenses are also arranged to project Q
beam of light to either side of the
boat, 80 that objects may be seen in
the vicinity of the vessel as she passes
along.
Her speed is estimated to be about
eight miles an hour on the surface and
about five miles on the bottom. She
will have an electric storage capacity
for run of about 1000 miles. The
crew will consist of captain, an en-
gineer and four divers. It is claimed
that one man can handle her if neces-
sary.
&: When not engaged in saving valu-
ables from wrecks along the coast, she
is to run on the surface of the sea with
Z her string of barges like q atugboat and
her tow. She is also to sink herself
and bsrges to the bottom of the coast
and run over the hard sands as if she
were locomotive with train of cars.
The inventor of the craft proposes
to look for some of the 1000 vessels
snnk and the 800, 900, 600 lost annu-
ally at sea. The boat may also be used
in laying foundations for piers, light
houses, bridges, docks, breakwaters,
etc. She may also make journeys among
beds of coral and sponge for business
purposes, or to take down scientific
and pleasure parties for an inside
view of old Neptune. The boat is to
be able to descend to depth of 300
feet or more, and is to be sunk or
raised at the will of the operator,
% The Argonaut will make her trial
trip in the Chesapeake Bay during
the next few weeks. Probably the
first vessel that the inventor will at
!; tempt to find is the New Era which
,.;Swent down off Asbury Park, N. j., in
1852, with 200 passengers and large
amount of specie aboard.
Another queer craft which electric
ity has made possible, and which In
ventor Knapp, who constructed it, be-
Ieves will revolutionize the speed of
ocean travel, was recently launched at
Toronto. 1t is called the roller boat
and is certainly novelty, though not
exactly the first of it's kind.
Owing to the strange nature of the
craft large crowd gathered to see the
mass OF steel drop, or rather roll, III
to the water. No doubt many of them
expected to see the boat disappear out
ofsight below the waves, but in this
they were disappointed. Preparatory
to the launching the huge bulk Of
cylindrical steel rested on stocks about
ten feet back from the edge of the
slip, and in order to launch her slides,
we'll creased with soft soap, we're built
from the stocks to the edge of the
water. When all was ready planks
were removed until the cylinder was
held by but single support, and at a
given signal this was knocked away.
Slowly the cylinder started down the
soapy incline, and then, moving lit
tie faster. it leaped into the water with
a great splash. The waves it caused
leaped high on the opposite side OF the
slip and the crowd there was very
freely sprinkled. Over and over the
I. craft rolled until she touched the op-
posite side of the slip, and when all
was quiet on the water it was seen that
she drew but little over two feet Of
water.
The craft just launched is but trial
ship. Mr.. Knapp's ideal for passen-
ger service would be about l5O feet IN
diameter and nearly 800 feet long, with
8 engines that would make 600 revolu-
tions minute. The trial boat is only