The Irish standard., 1898-05-28


under the water. launch torpedoes and
destroy the largest ships afoat. Some of
us, of course, were rather incredulous,
but you couldn't put Holland down in
those days, any more than you can now.
"And SO we told him to go ahead and
build his boat-that is, Jim Reynolds and
Breslin did, for I had nothing officially
to do with the matter, though was In
their closest confidence through it all.
To get the money was an easy matter in
those days. The Fenians had plenty of
money at their disposal. We could raise
contribution of almost any amount If
our people knew that it was for Ireland.
And the money to build Hollands boat
was raised in this way. The pennies and
the dimes and the dollars came rolling
in to Reynolds, who was the treasurer Of
the committee, as soon as he said he
needed money for the old country's sake
Almost $4,000, believe, though I can't
remember exactly, was raised in a short
time. 1t was placed at Hollands dis.
posal, and he was told to go ahead and
build his boat. He began at once. He
gave the contract to the Delamater iron
works of New York, which went about it
in secrecy. Throughout the two years
she was building no one, as we thought,
except few of the Fenian Brotherhood,
knew anything about our scheme. She
was built entirely of iron, and was of
cigar shape-just as his present boat is.
! She was twenty-nine feet long, six feet
deep, and displaced twenty tons. She
was divided into three parts. She had
cabin ten feet long, and at the stern
and bow there were compressed air
chambers. She had fine little engine,
for which oil furnished the motive power
Hollands new boat works by electricity,
which is almost his only change from the
vessel he built twenty-five years ago.
ut was an anxious moment, tell you,
when the vessel made her trial trip. She
was sunk first, of course, with no one
on board and seemed to work we'll. All
that was ever visible above the water
was small hatchway, about one foot
wide by eighteen inches long. So she
always, you see, furnished small mark
to the enemy. Jim Reynolds was on
board on almost the boats first trip; l
myself went down in her later, when she
was brought up to New Haven, so know
just how it was. The vessel sank; there
were two compartments into which we
let the water for this purpose The
cabin was just large enough for three
! men. One of these worked the engine,
! another steered and the third managed
/ the torpedo tube. There was a small
window in front, before which the steers
| men stood to guide the vessel l we'll
remember my trips and the strange SEN
sation l had while going down. It took
= great deal Of courage at first, though
there was really nothing to be afraid Of
There had been a great many attempts,
/ you know, to build submarine boat
and many men had found their collins
| in them. All these stories were upper
! most in my mind when climbed through
the hatchway one morning to take a seat
in the little cabin for my first trip. Ev-
| erything inside was comfortable; there
was plenty of light furnished by the small
kerosene lamps and lots of air. Holland
furnished enough air for two hours trip,
and if we needed more there was small
tube arrangement that we could raise to
the surface and get all we wanted. In
spite Of all these attractions felt rather
green around the gills when heard the
hatchway shut above me and felt myself
sinking, sinking! There was no physical
discomfort, of course, but it was mighty
queer sensation, that's all!
"The boat had rudder on the end for
guiding purposes and one on each side,
like f1shs fins. These controlled the
rise and fall. was mighty glad when
the captain reversed the rudders, as l
suppose you would call it, and stopped
that sinking sensation These side rud-
ders worked beautifully, too. AS quick
as they were applied our boat stopped
short and stood floating some fifty or
sixty feet under the water. l got a look
out of the little glass window in front,
but l did not see all the wonderful things
Jules Verne writes about The captain
gave the signal, the engines started ,1p
and the boat darted ahead like an ar
row. She could sail fast, l tell you BY
this time l had got used to it all and
was having mighty good time We
sailed around for two hours and then
rose to the surface as nice as you please.
Before we went up we fired a torpedo
or rather a dummy, for torpedoes are ex-
pensive-just for the fun Of it. The tor
pedo tube was on the bow of the boat
and was operated with compressed air.
If that had been real torpedo and if
thero had been a real warship near by
there would have been the devil to Day.
Jim Reynolds once told me that they
fired a block Of wood into bank and
that all three men could not pull it out.
This old Fenian ram, therefore - 1t
has always been called ram, though it
wasn't heavy enough for such pur-
pose-was complete success Holland