The sun. (Wilmington, Del.) 1897-19??, 1898-05-22

! work yet unthought-of horrors in the
next clash of steel navies. Indeed, / be-
lleve there will be no difficulty in send
ing directly through salt water current
OF electricity strong enough to explode q
mine some distance away. without the
use OF wires to connect the mine to the
shore
THE magazines OF battleships are too
well protected and surrounded by yenti-
lating spaces to be in danger of explo-
sion from current OF electricity con.
veyed to them directly through the water
in which the ship is floating, although
such an explosion is conceivable were a
/ high explosive allowed to rest in d.
rect contact with the steel side of the
ship
Nor could her electric lighting plant
be destroyed from without bv electrical
means, Lut her decks might be charged
with electricity enough to kill all on
board who came into contact with it BY
some such device as this: From station
on shore equipped with a powerful cleo
trio plant mortar might be made to fire
two solid shots over the ship, each shot
having copper wire attached to it.
That would be easy enough. II these
wires fell on the metallic structure of the
vessel, resting in contact with it, and
50OO-volt current were sent through them
from shore, they would iuse to the ship,
and the current would be short circuited
harmessly.
"But if either of the wires should rest
upon some non-metallic portion of the
! NJ r,f,, o,1r
then all persons who came in contact
with that wire would be instantly killed,
! as their bodies would complete the cir
cult.
"If it were desired to stop and hold
immovable hostile ship over mine or
in certain position peculiarly exposed
to fire from the shore, that result could
be readily accomplished A magnet ex-
erts pressure of $50 pounds for every
square inch of the surface Of its poles.
! An enormous magnet could be made
very quickly by winding two big guns
with wire and joining their larger ends
in horseshoe shape by boiling on plates.
A sufficient number of these magnets to
grip a steel ship and hold her remorse-
lessly motionless at most dangerous
point could either be floated out to her
like torpedoes, or could be anchored at
the place desired, waterproofed, of
course, and connected by wires with a
shore battery.
'The pressure OF a button in the battery
would be all that would be- necessary to
arouse the force of the magnets, whether
they were f1oated out or were anchored
by chains to the bottom. Nor could all
the ships crew and officers and machin-
cry release her.
THE most effective way to use mine
for coast or harbor defense that | can
conceive of involves the use of "a fixed
camera, which should be set into the
wall OF an observation station or dark
room on shore, it's lens covering the en-
tire panorama of the bay, but especially
the surfaces under which the mines
would be placed.
There might be score of these mines;
each connected with key in the oper-
ator's Keyboard and numbered. The
operator would have his own dynamo
right by him IN the station, and pro-
tected cable would Connect him with
the mines, the ends of the wires resting
in the powder in the heart of the mine
cases. The points at which the wires
be insulated with bushings
in his absolutely dark room, save for
the light that would be admitted by the
lens and be reflected down on his table
by a mirror properly adjusted to the
lens the officer would sit with his chart
outspread before him. Every moving
object on the surface of the water would
be caught instantly by the lens and re-
Elected by the mirror down on to the
chart.
"On this chart the exact location of
each mine in the bay would be marked
by number. We will suppose battle
ship slowly steaming toward the spot
where the mine is set. She is moving
cautiously through hostile waters As
soon as she gets anyw here near the mine
e. photograph is thrown down on the
chart.
''As she moves toward the hidden
peril, so her photograph moves fatefully
overthe chart toward the point where
the mines number appears. At last the
moving Photograph on the chart covers
up the mine number, and. presto! the
operator presses the button, and the ship
is blown up.
"a very small motor attached to a
captive balloon sent up from shipboard
would enable the operator to steer it in
any desired direction and to detect at 4
great distance with powerful glasses the
approach OF an enemy's squadron, which
information he could telephone down to
the commanding officer. He could even
watch a battle in which his own ship
engaged with comparative safety, high
up above the range of the machine
guns"