Evening star., 1898-05-14

| ana the other simple grapnel coming on
| behind at distance of thirty or forty feet
| The explosive grapnel first picks I'D the
! cable. and when u tug is felt upon the
grapnel line the charge is exploded cleo
trically. This may not completely sever
| the cable, so the other grapnel picks the
| frayed cable up. and the whole thing IS
pulled up to the boat and either severed or
nderrun till junction box of several
mines IL reached ard the whole lot explod-
ed at will. To meet this possibility il is i
common thing to plant dummy mines and
dead cables to deceive an enemy; and it is
quite common to Strew the neighboring bot
tom with chain aad steel rope to catch the
enemy creeps, and false buoys are always
placed SO that they nay purposely mislead
countermining attack.
The Argonnut.
Again. the approaches to either Havana
or Matanzas are too well guarded to make
either ordinary couEtermining or creeping
reasonably safe or successful; and there is
but little chance, indeed. of mines being
found near enough to the surface to he
destroyed by shell attack or the fire from
machine guns Whether not the Vesu-
yluS could accomplish that end at long
range is matter for speculation but there
Is no doubt, whatever, that in the lake
submarine boat ArgOnaut we have a safe
and practicable means of reaching the
spanish mines, and that without suspicion
of her presence.
When this craft was offered in competi-
uon, among other designs, some three
years ago, the notion of a submarine vessel
rolling along on the bottom was given lit
tie encouragement, and the submarine boat
Ilunser. still building, was ordered of the
Holland pattern Today the Argonaut has
established her working possibilities while
the Plunger is yet to have her first trial.
The Argoraut is a cigar-shaped struc-
tUre of steel thirty-six feet long and with
a greatest diameter of nine feet 1t has a
total weight or displacement when sub
merged. of nearly sixty tons, and is amply
stout enough to resist the pressure of water
at depth of $50 feet.
Internal Arrangements.
The body of the boat is divided into three
principal compartments-the largest one,
which occupies about two-thirds of the
length of the craft. contains the propeling
engines, the air and water pumps and the
dynamo The forward compartment is the
pilot house, to speak, and the compart-
ment Immediately next and aft is the air
lock and divers room. From this room the
diver can pass through a manhole in the
floor and out upon the bottom Of the
To accomplish this the airlock is closed to
the other parts of the boat-the pilot being
shut up In his compartment and the rest
of the force being confined TO the great
chamber. The diver and his attendant now
turn on the air from the reservoir and al
low it 70 gather pressure in the airlock till
water outside This is determined by
small cock in the manhole plate, which. If
il does not admit water when turned on in
connection with the water outside, indi-
Gates that a balance Of pressure has been
attained. Then the manhole plate is drop
Ied, and upon the ladder-like rungs fasten-
ed to it the diver passes right out into
the water about the craft. the water stop
ping at the threshold Of the compartment
though hidden TO halt by some sunreme
power With the glow cf the searchlight
at the bow and the small lamp borne i'll
his own suit he is able TO see for a con-
siderable dstarce about him. and being In
constant telephone communication with
the pilot, he is able to direct the increment
of the boat Once in touch with the cables
OF the mineS-and be can readily distin-
guish the dummy from the real thing-it
Is an easy thing either TO sever them or
TO connect them up with a battery on
board the boat. and then, when at safe
distance fire them at will. The Argo-
naut is propelled along the surface by n
gasoline engine, and when going along on
the bottom by storage batteries charged
from the gasoline engine When not sub
merged. air is taken in from without either
through the dome top or through a
hose leading to small float. When sub
merged. the air supply will come down
through the hose 10 the float, and an in
genious arrangement prevents the admis-
sion of water should the float be sunk or
Hooded. The air tanks are charged to a
high pressure, and air enough is carried
persons for quite two days. The water
ballast is under pneumatic control and a
heavy drop keel is fitted as safeguard
against accident. This like the two an
choring weights-one forward and one aft
can be parted with at will. and the boat
allowed TO rise rapidly by virtue of its
own buoyancy. The boat has three wheels
The two forward ones, which bear the bur
den when rolling on the bottom have each
a weight of about ton. and are fixed rig
IDLY to the beat. The third wheel is aft
ana IN me center and much smaller. This
wheel does the steering at all times and
Is the only rudder the boat has She Is
driven by enc screw propeller
How She Will Work.
In practice the Argonaut has shown
sped of six miles; and. resting lightly as
she would on a smooth bottom of sand for
instance, Mr.. Lake says he sees no reason
why she should not travel at the same rate
v her totally submerged. The boat is not
designed to work between the bottom and
the surface. but 1t is perfectly feasible to
mold the boat anywhere between the sur
face and the bottom by means of the two
anchors provided for that purpose. For ma
Val purposes this is a decided advantage
The boat could creep along the surface with
chiy her dome above water till reasonably
near an enemy's vessel. Taking her hearing
and the distance the Argona1It could sinE
and roll along the bottom till Just beneath
Ter Then she could either plant a mine
there or, with the diver on top of the short
deck and her anchors down, the Argonaut
could be allowed to slowly rise till within
touch of the bottom of the enemy's craft
where torpedo could be fastened to be
subsequently exploded when the submarine
boat was at a safe distance. OF course this
could not be done to a moving ship.
In practiced hands wonders could be ac-
complished with this little vessel; and Mr.
Lake Is thor roughly fitted to clear the har-
Dor or Havana or any other place Of tor
pedoes, and to do 1t with that guaranty of
thoroughness and immunity impossible to
any other existing vessel or by any other
conventional means of counter-mining
II Is rot a long trip from Baltimore where
the little craft now Is. to the Cuban coast:
and 1t would not be difficult task to tow
her there at a good round speed and to hays
her ready for service in a few DAYS: her
work TO be well done when the Spaniards
again press those fateful keys only to find
them responseiess- r. G. SKERRETT
Meaning of wisconsin
From the sheboygnn Falls (Wis) News