The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-06-02
THE VOLTA BLOWN UP
col. COLT SUPERVISED THE RE-
MARkkBLe EXHIBITION.

Forty Thousand saw the First Explosion
BY the Nil If tG!octricity-The S.cre-
tary of War Was Present In Castle
Garden.
The civilized world had a hearty
laugh at the unique proposal that some
one in authority arrange q naval battle
between the United States and Spain
outside the harbor of New York. 1t
was received as the suggestion of q
humorist. And yet there is no reason
why fierce encounter between the
naval fleets would not furnish q grand
spectacular demonstration in compar-
ison with which yacht races would be
the tamest Of pastlmes. The crowds
who would take all risks in order to
witness such an engagement would be
unparalleled. To-day we consider 1t
ultra-sensalional to have two engines
run into each other to show how ter
rfble railroad collision ma be, and IL
the crowds that visit wreck long after
1t has taken place be an index to the
public appetite, fully half of New
York's three millions would go upon
the water to see real naval battle.
Fifty-six years ago over 10000 people
witnessed the explosion of a steamer in
New York harbor by Colonel Colt.
This was one Of the great events Of
submarine history, and in these COM
paratively quiet times caused the ad-
iournment Of Congress and the suspen-
sion from his duties of no less a per-
sonage than the Secretary of War.
Though Robert Fulton was one Of
ne first improvers of the torpedo, 1t Is
. OF generally known that Samuel Colt
Of the Colt revolver fame. was the
father of the modern submarine bat
terry in the days of President Tyler.
Indeed the use of torpedoes in war
'awn to the days of Tyler was regarded
aI,n the same nameless feeling of hor-
ror as the Guy Fawkes story produced
Tor three hundred years in England.
In was considered an inhuman inven-
tfon due to "water-worms, fire-devils,
and submarine assassins." Fulton
himself was described by squeamish
writer in the Naval Chronicle, as "a
crafty, murderous ruffian." But Pres
dent Tyler took different view of the
submarine battery. He had an appro-
oriation of $17 900 made to Colt for the
perfection of his invention under the
Tollowing circumstances.
The Government placed schooner at
Colts disposal in August, 1912, to ex-
pertinent upon on the Potomac. The
President, General Winfield Scott and
he heads of the various Departments
n Washington took day off to see
Colt experiment on her. He destroyed
he schooner from an observation
:ower on the hanks Of the Potomac
while five miles distant; feat which
was then considered a most unparal-
leled al. extra o. 1.nary triumph OF Sci
.nce. He asserted that he could ex-
plode shell under water at a distance
If ten miles by the same methods, and
it was in order to produce such a feat
hat Congress voted the appropriation.
Two months later, October 1S, 1912.
Colts battery produced still more
notable effect in New York Harbor in
he presence of 10000 citizens, who
went down the Bay to see it with as
much interest as they now would 60
o see yacht race.
It is worth reproducing the report
made in the Evening Post of October
%. 1912 of this event, not only to show
the entire Juccess of the experiment
and the manner of reporting the events
If that period, but to contrast the
space afforded and the utter absence
If that vivid description with a similar
spectacular event of the present day
journalism:
"A vast multitude assembled yester-
lay afternoon to witness the explosion
Of Colts submarine battery placed un-
der vessel Of 260 tons. The North
Carolina, seventy-four. about four
o'clock gave d salute of thirteen guns.
Immediately afterwards the signal for
he explosion was given. The vessel
rose bodily out of the water and then
separated into fragments which were
thrown about seventy feet in the air.
The next moment nothing was seen of
her except a few pieces of the wreck
"e<ASh "SiO hootihko oh lut water anu
of which the boats lying near hastened
% possess themselves. The Secretary
II War was present in Castle Garden"
The name OF the vessel was the brig
Volta" The experiment was per-
formed under the auspices of the
American Institute. while Colonel Colt
applied the electric spark from bat
:ery on board the revenue cutter
Swing" It IS also noteworthy, en-
passant, that other papers like the
Morning Courier and Inquirer" did
not give a single lire to this phenom-
snal triumph Of American science;
hough the Courier" of the next day
save whole column to a foreign dis
1atch relating to a fire in Liverpool
which took place on the same day that
Colts battery blew up this brig, and
he very explosion of which must have
shaken the windows of the Courier"
office. The same paper also printed a