The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1901-12-27

crew were divided into watches, each
man standing two hours. The FIRST two
on watch were Morrell and Saunders.
The next two were Wilson and myself.
The rest turned In. There were four OF
us asleep all the time. Admiral Lowe
was asleep nearly all the time, surely
ten hours out of the fifteen. There was
nothing to do about the machinery IN
the boat.
"The only thing for us to do was 60
be comfortable and watch the air and
see that it Kept good. We bad no ap.
| paratus TO indicate the condition Of the
| atmosphere. but depended upon our
own feelings. The boat is more than
siXty-three feet long, and 1t was the
air in this space not displaced by the
machinery that we breathed.
eve had good supply Of the late
magazines and funny papers TO read.
a game or two OF euchre were played.
and we spun yarns. The wort done 10y
the foreign submarine boats, the
French and English ones, was discuss
ed. OF course the Holland was ahead
of them all In our estimation.
This test exceeds anything accom-.
plished by the other boats. IL is some
thing never accomplished In the world
before. We need not have come up as
soon as we did. but the fifteen hours
were over. believe with the twelve
TASKS we could have stayed down
| three months.
"Our motor will carry US 40 miles,
so II would be possible to go right from
New Suffolk TO New York city and
travel the entire distance under water,
coming to the surface only occasional
ly to take an observation. We could do
this using our electricity economically.
The motor Is of seventy horsepower
Our 40 horsepower gas engine would
carry us still farther.
II had been declared against the Hol
land submarine boats that, while OF
course they could go under water, they
could, not stay submerged any length OF
time with safety to their crews. EX-
perts In the United States navy bitter
ly opposed the adoption of the boats for
fighting purposes, declaring that they
were mere toys. Mr.. Holland. the in
ventor. and his supporters said that the
hest answer to the charges against the
boats would be TO put one Of them un-
der the water and let 1t stay there until
the critics were robbed OF their am
munltlon.
So the present test was arranged. A
large number OF persons congregated at
the Crescent shipyards to witness 1t.
Some of them thought they were to see
several foolhardy men go to their
death. The observation of the test was
to be made officially by Lawrence
Spear, superintendent of United States
naval construction, who is on duty al
the yards watching the building of sew.
eral of the Holland boats.
When bedding and provisions had
been put on board the Fulton and all
had been made tidy below for the ad-
venturers, Mr.. Spear gave the signal to
begin the test At 1880 p. m. the in
vestigators and crew went aboard.
They were Rear Admiral John Lowe,
U. S. A., retired; Lieutenant Arthur
Macarthur, son of General Macarthur
and commander of the torpedo boat
Winslow, now lying at the Crescent
wharf, who is to command the subma-
rine boat Adder under way; Captain
Gable, chief navigator for the Holland
company; John Wilson, machlnist;
John Saunders, engineer, and ii. Nor.
rell, electrician.
The coming tower cover was closed
over them, and I'm a moment the Full
ton was seen TO be settling in the wa
ter. A fresh easterly breeze and fall.
ing raindrops gave promise of n com
ing storm. Swung high over the set
Ting boat was an arc light, which
brilliantly Illuminated the scene for
those on the wharf.
Soon the Fulton had disappeared
from view, but out from the dark wa.
ters came the glimmer of her lights,
seen through her glass portfolios. 1t
was then low tide, and as the storm
came up and became wild and the sea
broke over the spot where the vessel
had sunk the edge of the coming tow
er was seen 10 be awash as a gulf
opened In the angry waters. Soon the
tide rose. and, although the sea be-
came rougher and the CULTS yawned
deeper. nothing could be seen OF the
Fulton. She was down so far that
the glimmer of her lights was nc Ion
ger perceptible.
A measurement showed that the boat
was six feet under water. and at this
depth she remained until the test was
finished. A code of signals, TO be de-
livered by rapplng on the sides of the
steel boat, had been arranged, but the
signals, though msde, were not heard.