The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-02-17
FRENCH MARINE MYSTERY.
somc,,,inr OF the Submarine Boat Of
Which Much Is respected.

Which Much Is Expected.
For several years French naval offaeers
and slGn-bn.lders haze been working at
submarine navigation with the perseEe1-
ance and Ingenuity characteristic OF
French research an those branches OIL
me ana MICS which appeal TO the magma
fiy., side of their disposition. Inc NOISE
3 ,,,h;,.h ,,a:.fc-snei The trial trip on Mon
day at tShea0ourE, is certainly "a great
Improvement ON its prototype, the 6o'l-
bet. which visited five or SIX years ago.
Mondays trials have Called 1oiiai the
aee.est Interest in the public. IN whose
minds the idea OF a great victory over
IrSlanti always lies dormant
Beth General Andre, the Minister of
Mar. and NJ de Lanessans the Minister
OF Marine, showed their sense OF the
Importance of Mondays trials by gong
deN., to Cherbourg and spending a few
hours o., board the Morse as She steamer
outside the roads and then took the
plunge.
Needless TO say, the designs Of the sub
marine Morse are as close secret as
the famous hydraulic brake OF the 1oS-
r,ifi1netre gan. French naval ofncers.
instructed by their tragic experience OF
one of their comrades of the sister ser
vice. who was thought TO want to Know
TOO mlIcli. fight shy Of the Morse. Mere
yards at all while she was undeS- trial.
but inconsistentiy enough, N Cailnette.
a correspondent of the Figaro. was on
board the whole time, and q. great deei
may be gathered from his account. Read
ing II myself in the light of NY expert
eDcas on board the Gou5et. / think L am
safe in sa wing there is nothing in the
Morse worth making a mystery about It
sppcars to be the best type Of submarine
heat nut afioat, but it rs likely that any
British or Irish ship-buiider, by using
crl, information that is public knowl-
edSe, could turn out something as good
THE Morse is ciSar-siaped, being sur
mounted by a little. coming tower about
twenty inches high. with portfolios all
around The cisar-silaped hull just rises
above the level OF the water whtll ct rest.
The way in is by "a: hatchway twenty
inches in diameter, also used as an ar
mole when the boat is at rest. Inside
q narrow passage runs from fore TO aft
he whole length OF the Morse. This
alley. wirch is "a inches broad, not quite
feet high. and 100 feet long, is divided
/ in ahree sections (not water-tight COM
!. partments, for You can see the whole
interior from end to end). The fore
most section contains tire torpedo tubes.
A great boast of secrecy is made of this
part of the arrangements. The second
section, arn:dSllips. contains the accumu-
e1S1ilSs, IeStlL III tiitS
sfhird section is the dynamo that Drope1s
The screw. A number of Tater-ballasst
compartments are placed under the floor.
They may be filled or emptled by electric
nachiury in q few seconds. according as
the boat is to be sunk or sent up to the
surface.
The vessel carries further ballast in the
shape of leaden keel, which, in case of
extreme danger-for example, a break
A. of he ma f.h he irOnneE
when The vessel pops UP to the surface.
NJ Calmette hints obScurely at a. new
arrangement for relocating accumulators
out at sea, which is to be introduced in
the submarine boats now building-tfle
Francais, Algerien and Matin, the latter
built by a patriotic subscription Of readers
of the Matin. The weak point of every
submarine boat hitherto built is itlle sight
ing apparatus, though inventors, L find,
are Very sensitive 10 criticism in this
regard. NJ. Calmette has been assured
that the .tperiscope.' as this apparatus
IS called on board the Morse, gives every
satisfaction. I take for granted 1t con-
sists of a long tube, which may be pushed
up above when under water, with a sight
ing apparatus at the surface to explore
the horizon. M. CalInette says the peri
scope can reach the surface from any
depth whatever. The crew consists of
twelve men and an officer. On Monday
there were three guests, besides General
Andre, NJ. de LaneSsan, and the Figaro
correspondent, and there was no room for
anybody else. On reaching the break
water matches We're closed down, and in
seventy seconds the Morse had sunk to
the depth of ten feet, former boats
requiring half an hour. Motion was
delightfully."- smootll-in fact, not appar-
ent. The water was, of course. pitch
dark The Morse rose again to the
surface three miles out at sea and then
returned.-Paris Correspondence in Lon
don News