The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-19
A NONDIKE UNDER THE SEA.
u,r ARGoNAUT STARTS OUT NEXT
WEEK TO BRING BACK THE GOLD.

,sburv Park, Sept. I7.-There will ar
1.-Two here within a few days the most dis
,,rquisbed visitor Asbury Park has ever
Nv, This will be the locomotive div
tng boat Argonaut, which was recently
,onrcbed at Baltimore and will soon make
fits trial trip.
Immediately after the trial trip, or on
,ha conclusion of it, it will be towed to
Asburv Park, where it will go to work
mon the great business for which it was
built.
The Argonaut is a diving boat invented
nv simon Lake and built at the Columbia
Iron Works, of Maryland.
Its object and the entire purpose for
which it was constructed is the recovery
of the treasure that lies on the bottom of
the ocean.
There has been a great deal written
about this suuken ocean treasure, and a
great deal has been conjectured about it,
but all uncertainties aside the official
statistics show that every year 1000 YES
sells sink to the bottom of the ocean.
These average $4,000 each in value,
which is a very low estimate of the cargo
of a vessel, so that there goes down to the
bottom of the sea every year $l0O,Oo0,0O0
in vauables.
One Of the most famous of these sunken
vessels is the New Era, which was sunk
off Asbury Park forty-five years ago. 1t
had 200 passengers aboard and very large
quantity of gold and silver. Few of the
bodies were ever recovered and none of
the treasure.
Another boat which lies at the bottom
IL
by Lord Nelson at the battle of the Nile,
with S30000O0 aboadr in ammunition,
specie, firearms and other valuable cargo.
The De Brake was lost off Delaware Bay
and was loaded with Spanish bullion, and
about forty years ago the Golden Gate,
while on its way from California loaded
with gold, was sunk off Cape Hatteras.
In Zuyder Zee the La Tune, with &c.,
10000 in specie went down, and off Ha-
wall the Tacoma took fire, burnt and final
" sunk with S25,000G coo in ore.
These are only few of the celebrated
ships that lie at the bottom of the OCEAN
only very few of the 1900 vessels that
have gone down every year since the sta
tisucs of the country were compiled. The
reason for their going down is varied. 1t
Is always due to an ocean mishap, but
these mishaps are only what must be ex-
pected considering the uncertainty of the
element with which the ships have to
deal
The first work of the Argonaut will be
necessarily experimental, and as the New
Era was sunk not so very far from the
mainland it is thought best that she
should be brought here to do what she
could towards getting up the specie, which
must now lie in the wreck on the oceans
bottom.
The Argonaut is built on entirely differ
ent principles from any other submarine
craft 1t looks like a cigar, and in that
respect is not so different from the tor
pedo boat, but here all resemblance ends.
Underneath the Argonaut there are
wheels, smooth ones for the rear, and
spiked ones for the front.
When at work on the bottom of the sea
the Argonaut runs by means of these
spiked wheels, which are propelled by
electricity Attached to it at the rear are
several small cars, into which can be
loaded the treasure that is found.
The boat when getting ready for action
Aes on the surface of the sea. Inside it
are SIX people, captain and engineer and
lour divers. When the location of the
treasure is known the boat is lowered
directly upon the spot. This Is done by
means Of large tanks of water which are
taken aboard. Very heavy weights are
then dropped to the bed of the ocean, af-
yer which the ropes attached to the
Seshts are wound into the boat and the
poat Is thus drawn downward, slowly but
surely. When it reaches the bed of the
Vean the weights can be taken on board
eul IN case of a miscalculation the boat
can be set going like locomotive until it
reaches the scene of the wreck
a very novel feature in the boat is the
eoor by which the divers go back and
to'h. 1t is in the middle chamber and
" opens downward. BY a piece of me-
,laLism the door cannot be opened until
we ar IN the room is of the same press
le as the water outside. This is shown
~ gauge The door is then opened and
Az water falls into the boat
10 Illustrate this very simply invert a
% ot'Hoer and press it downward in a pan
NJ "a'er. No water will enter the glass,
do. matter how deep it may be placed IN
uer the surface.
~ ine divers can go back and forth into
al room at their convenience, working
Nay udy and coming in to rest as they
vpTaSe' they suffering no Inconvenience.
is ogn 'ney have finished, the outside door
Cd Oseu and the air in the room is chang
,ra Que arrangement for air is also a very
a re one. In the engine-room there
NV storage tanks in which the air is com
m seventy times natural density.
I'M, Impressed air is let out to the liv-
f. h. .1oins in the boat and the foul air. as
slHks is pumped out. This keeps the
car sphere perfectly fresh and the divers
On 'ei'dn in water for weeks at a time
thai ~. he features of the Argonaut Is
and oa e can descend to depth OF 800 feet
w. T SINK and rise rapidly and perfect
deptb ms takes her down beyond the
to % which any diver has yet been able
dive. 9eventy-five feet is very deep for
the vataH.d below that the pressure of
but nv Is so great that IL brushes him.
Guilty NJ AIsonaut will experience no diff
is 6u,I, depth of 300 feet for her hull
n 1t witbs.ot steel and so strongly rugged
the sonlNus pressure of 1870 pounds to
The dontt inch, which is the weight at
When VI 6V feet below the surface
the ooaunnlng on the bottom of
the from, a1 the spiked wheels in
ly alone slak into the sand and go rapid
The wbeaiH propelled by the electric motor
large wsta. at the back is to support the
side tb%y,snt Of the craft AFT. On each
divers can are windows, out Of which the
turret watch, and in the TOP there is
be direct nom which the searchlight can
cles ' and a lookout kept for obsta-
u will be V D Of the strange vessel there
SEND ita Powerful searchiight, which viii
distance st,eys through the water long