The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-12-11

NEW YORK. November A.-In the
presence of big crowd which, despite
the storm. assembled To witness the
emerging of the submarine boat Fulton,
that craft rose from the bottom of the
bay this morning at 1880 o'clock, with
all well and greatly surprised to hnd
there was "A storm raging. The test OF
the Fulton's staying was highly salts
factory. not only to the officers OF the
company that built her and the naval
officers present, but those who went to
the bottom in the boat. They report
there was not the slightest discomfort
to them during their more than htteen
hours of submersion below the surface.
Captain Gable of the Holland Com
pany. who was i'm command, said that
the boat could have remained down TOT
three months II there were food enough
on board Although there was but six
feet of water over the top Of the turreJ
those on board felt nothing OF the
storm Through the night there was a
light rolling motion to the craft but
this was ascribed to the regular motion
of the water and not to the disturbance
which was rolling the waves nigh on
the shore.
Immediately on comming to the sur
face. the Fulton. under her own power,
ran alongside the dock and tied up.
Members of the crew say they eXpe-
rienced no difficulty in breathing, and
that the air was all that could be desir-
ed and much purer and better than IN
an ordinary closed room in which are
seVera persons. Every piece OF
machinery worked to perfection during
the night The men ate two meals
while under water and most of them OBJ
tanned three or four hours sleep.
Rear Admiral Lowe said later:
when we went down | assisted Cap
tain Gable in making an inspection OF
the ship. Then / retired, while the crew
played cards and read. Every rev
hours | was awakened and made in
spections of the conditions. Early tins
morning Captain Gable called my atten-
ton to the pressure gauge, when IN IL
Gates the depth. 1t showed that We
were lower in the water than at h1Sh
tide last night, when we were submerg7
ed. There was nothing to show us why
it was. but a little while later noticed
that the water, Us we saw it through
the headlights was very dirty ana l
imagined that a storm was blowing.
There was no rock or roll OF the vessel
to indicate what was going on.
Not once" added the admiral, did
| notice any sign of bad air, gas or other
impurity. Considering that we old not
draw on the tanks at all l consider This
is wonderful. 1t upsets all theories q
physicians and scientists, who tell us
that what we did last night was impos-
sible. 1 was critical all night and moth"
ing escaped me-
The experts present unite in calling
attention to the sea-going qualities of
the Fulton. The submarine boat was
not affected by the sea or the high wind
which prevailed. Other boats of twice
its tonnage rolled and tossed so that
they had to get under way and seek a
sheltered harbor.
The longest time that any submarine
boat had been under water heretofore in
the United States was three hours.
Lieutenant Harry Colwell kept the Hol-
land submerged that long in the Poto-
mac last year. The Fulton had never
been under longer than twenty-five
minutes when she made a two-mile run
submerged a few weeks ago.