Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1901-12-04

eih men, heFnetfcaHy sealed In. Ate
Slept. Talked. Read and Played
! Card. In Comfort While Submerged
Fifteen Hours at Bottom of Long
Island sound as . storm Ragged
Overhead.
Up from the depths of Long Island
sound boat that looked like a whale
rose the other day while the storm
was at its height When the ship rest
ed upon the bosom of the waters in
which IL had been buried many hours
the coming tower was thrown open.
and man stepped forth and looked
around In astonishment at the wildness
Of the elements.
WELL" said he to . little knot of
weary faced watchers on shore who
had spent the night with their eyes
glued to the spot where the vessel bad
sunk from sight the evening before. Il
hadn't expected to see anything like
this"
The man was Captain Frank Gable.
torpedo boat Fulton. and he. with five
other daring souls. had just spent ff
teen hours at the bottom of the sound
with so much water above them that
they did not know that a fierce storm
had ragged so many hours. says the
New York World. The six adventur-
ers had come back to the surface after
participating In test that has no par
ailel in history and one of worldwide
Importance.
The Fulton had not been connected
with the surface or with the shore by
even so much as a wire throughout the
test Not foot of air had been sent
to the six men within her. and yet
when they walked out OF her at 1890
O'Clock in the morning and greeted
those who waited for them on the
wharf of the Crescent company's ship
yard at New Suffolk, N. Y. they were
rs bright eyed. hearty and cheerful as
II they had just finished a good break
fast at home
They had had a night Of fine. whole
some sleep underneath the water Be
fore any of them went to bed they
whiled away the hours with cards.
with the magazines and with sub
stantiai luncheon. Then four of them
lay down in white clothed beds and
slept undisturbed. while above the
calm of their submerged home the
wind howled and shrieked and the
great waves rolled and lowered and
broke on the shore with a mighty roar.
The men in the wonderful craft
heard nothing of this. The two who
watched and who also slept when II
came their turn thought that the sea
above must indeed be gentle. for there
was not the slightest movement of the
vessel. not even the roll 10 be expected
from the incoming tide.
The men looked out at the glass win
dows OF the cabin. but could see only
few feet. If they had cared to. they
could have shut off all the light within
and So, .oin. lie boats electric search
light forward Then they could have
seen far into the waters ahead They
knew they could do this from former
experiments. and they were after
more important certificate Of useful
ness.
At the expiration OF the fifteen hours
the Fulton shot up from the depths SO
suddenly as to startle those who watch
ed workman swung out over the
Il
heavy plate glass observation port
holes into the cabin and then cried out
TO those on shore:
They're all right!'
Within a few moments the cover of
the coming tower fell over with a
clang. and Captain Cable. smiling and
rudy. stepped out. The wind was still
shrieking. and the waves washed up
and over the back of the boat The
voyagers had fully expected to see a
dead calm. and there was much laugh
ter when Captain Cable explained his
blank look at the storm swept sound.
Rear Admiral Lowe was the second
man whose head showed out through
the coming tower. He was fresh faced
and smiling. 1t was a merry little
crowd that walked on to the wharf
and talked 10 those who had watched
to see that there could be nothing to
criticise about the test Captain Gable
gave an account of the fifteen hours
under water
Il had no particular sensation when
going down for the test" said he Il
have been down too often for anything
like that. The Fulton went down as
usual and rested on the bottom without
any considerable motion, as you could
tell by the flagstaff. and none of us
suspected there was fierce storm rag
ing over the six feet of water above us
We were well Clothed and eomforta bic.
The temperature fell some toward the
close of the test. We would have been
warmer with one or two more electric
heaters
The air apparently was as good at
the end as when we went on board al
though none OF the valves OF the air
TASKS was opened There was a small
amount about Toe pounds. that escaped
from one OF them through a little leak
There are twelve OF tue TASKS, holding
q total Of sixty-niDe gallons AT pE''s-
sure OF 1900 pounds TO the square inch.
There was no foul air expelled from
the boat for the ejector pump was not
used once 10 remove il. When we came
CD. | used compressed air to expel the