The sun., 1898-12-11
HER TRIP ACROSS DELAWARE
Several Months Ago This Marine
Marvel AstOnished the Natives
of This State as She Passed
Through the ID. & @.
Canal.

Through the ID. & 9.
Canal.
On September 90, The Sun published
an exclusive story Of the run Of the SUBJ
marine wonder Of the age, the Argonaut,
through the State Of Delaware via. the
Delaware and Chesapeake canal.
For time after that date the Argo-
naut lay at the pier at Delaware City and
was visited by hundreds Of Delawareans.
Its passage through the Delaware and
Chesapeake canal was made partly under
water and partly above in order to
demonstrate its ability as a sub-mar inc
boat.
Last Saturday the Argonaut after rid
ing out the hurricane at her anchorage
off the Atlantic Highlands had her star
board bulwarks crushed and her propel-
lor carried away as she lay in her slip by
the Panama liner advance. The Ad-
vance was being berthed at the Iron
Pier and she swung a trife too far to
starboard. Before her headway could be
checked she struck the low-lying Argo-
naut, which narrowly escaped being
smashed like fly against the spiling.
The submarine boat was held at At
lantic Highlands all through the storm
by hundred-pound cable. Simon Lake,
her inventor, who took her through the
Delaware and Chesapeake, took her to
New York. He had spent two days on
board, and during the gale Of Saturday
he slept in the living compartment while
the Argonaut lay at anchor in the Horse
shoe.
Though her hull is not damaged, the
little craft, which has braved the ferc-
est storms, quietly sinking beneath the
waves when they became too boisterous,
will have to be dry docked for repairs.
She will probably be thoroughly over
hauled and her machinery cleaned be-
fore s.e again rolls along the bottom
of the ocean on her three strong steel
wheels.
The wheels were out of sight as she
floated in the slip, and the curious
throng that gathered to look at the sub
marine craft had not the faintest idea
they existed. They are actuall one of
the most important features of this
curious little boat. The two forward
wheels, each weighing 5000 pounds, are
solidly attached to shaft that revolves
in journals fastened to the bottom of
the hull little forward Of the midship
section.
The after wheel, weighing 1000
To bn
when on the bottom this wheel is used
as a guide, the same as the third wheel
or tricycle.. The curious part of it is
that by the simple method of increasing
of decreasing the buoyancy of the Argo-
naut she is made to rest on her wheels on
the bottom with her full weight or with
the weight of five pounds. Her lightness
on the bottom accounts for the readiness
with which she surmounts obstructons,
often climbing over powders that would
form serious obstacle to land vehicle.
The interior of the argonaut is like
that of an elongated barrel 1t measures
fourteen feet from the point aft, in front
of the machinery where the engineer
stands, to the ''air lock" Of the diving
compartment. The 'ar lJck' is in re-
ality small iron walled corridor, for
ward, from which entrance is gained to
the diving compartment. The door of
the diving room can be clamped air tight
after the diver has entered, and it can
also be operated from the living compart-
ment. Forward of the diving compart-
ment is another tiny room, in which has
been p laced the electric searchlight and
telephone instrument, so that the diver
can communicate with the occupants of
the living room after he has clamped the
door.
A peculiar feature OF this diving rooIl
is that it is never filed with water.
When the diver desires to walk on the
bottom Of the sea lie opens valve, and
compressed air rushes into the chamber
until the atmospheric pressure is equal
to that of the water. Then he opens a
trap door in the floor and descends into
the water, while the Argonaut remains
stationary few feet above the bottom.
Not drop of water can folce its way up
ward through the trap door because of
the air pressure.
The Argonaut does not dive; it sinks
to the bottom in an almost perpendicular
line at speed regulated by the engi-
neer. Two weights, eacll of 1000
pounds, fitted into pockets or hollows in
the outside OF the bottom and attached
to wire cables running to drums in the
living compartment, materially assist
the boats descents. These weights are
lowered when descent is desired until
they rest on the bottom. When the
water chambers fill and the boats buoy
ancy is reduced to the sinking point the
drums wind in the cables attached to
the weights and the Argonaut sinks
until the weights slip again into the
pockets in the hull and she rests on the
bottom.
Her mas,s are hollow, and up to GER
tain depth air is supplied through one to
the occupants at natural pressure and
expelled through the other. But the
boat also carries power and hand air
compressors, and the air chambers can
easily be filled with compressed air
enough to last for many hours.