The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-30

u
mx ID SubrueTsible. About half OF the
second volume il devoted to an investiga.
ton of the Holland submarine boats, and
the rest to a consideration of the theory
Of submarine navigation, which includes
such topics OF discussion as submersion
stability, form, orientation, direction, So
curity, Availability, motive power and
armament, the adaptability OF various
explosives being compared under the last
named head The book ends with a sum
mary of comments. partly original and
partly quoted. on the military and tactical
value of the submarine. This is likely TO
remain for some time to come the standard
work on the subject.
Our author points out in his first chapter
that, although submarine navigation-the
word navigation being used in the strictest
sense-was not attempted until A. D. 1920,
several inventors are known to have made
descents beneath the surface Of the sea
for the purpose of exploration. We learn
from Aristotle that Alexander the Great
used diving bells with some success in
the siege Of Tyre, 1872 B. c., but nothing is
known concerning their mode OF descent
or the manner of sustaining life therein.
An Arabian historian named Bohaddin. liv-
ing about A. ID. 1850. relates that diver
entered Ptolemais during siege by means
of submarine apparatus. In 1888 an In
vention for descending into the sea was
heard Of at Toledo, and Charles v. Is said
to have interested himself in 1t. Forty
two years later an Englishman, William
Bourne, devised plunging apparatus,
which in out ward form resembled that con-
structed by another Englishman, Symons,
about l747, but the means employed for
submersion were different. Bourne sub
merged his vessel by contracting its size
by means Of a number of hand vises, and
thus reduced its volume. Twenty-Five
years afterward Magnus Pegelius launched
a similar craft. which was regarded as
marvel in its time None of these early
experiments, however, deserve much at
tention in history Of submarine naviga-
ton. the structures to which we have re-
ferred, being for the most part simply sus-
pended from vessels as is the case with the
diving bells of to-day.
The honor Of having fashioned the first
submarine boat belongs to Cornelius van
Drebel. Dutch physician His first expert
ment was made in 1920. when he built and
launched navigable submersible boat
that proved so successful that he had two
other vessels constructed on the same
plans, in the larger of which James l., of
whom Van Drebel was an intimate friend,
made a long trip. These early craft were
built Of wood, and rendered watertight
by creased leather stretched all over the
hull. According to a nearly contem-
porary description OF the largest of these
submarine boats, she carried twelve rowers
besides passengers, and made a journey
of several hours, at depth OF from twelve
TO fifteen feet. The holes for the oars
were made TO hold the water by leather
joints Drebel accounted his chief secret
to be "thc composition of a liquid that
would speedily restore TO the troubled air
such proportion of vital parts as would
make it again for good while fit for res
piration' The composition of this liquid
for enabling air TO be used again was never
made public Drebel died in 1881, without
having completed his experiments, and
left behind him no document relative TO
his work on the subject
In April, 1882, one Richard Norwood took
out 2 patent for submarine invention in
which he proposed making and using
engines or Instruments for diving and
for raising or bringing out Of the sea and
other deep water any goods lost or cast
away by shipwreck or otherwise" He
was the first to patent an idea relative to
submarine navigation. In 1894, two priests
of the order of Minims wrote small book
on mathematical and physical, az well
as theological and moral questions in
which a description of a submarine boat
is given. One of these priests, Father Mer-
senne, was the first to propose metallic
hull for submarine craft. He likewise
point ed out that all vessels of this nature
should be pisciform. The two extremit les,
he thought, ought to be spindle-shaped
so that progress might be equally easy in
eithe direction. In 1910, Frenchman
named Jean Barrie obt aimed a pat ent from
Louis XIII, by which his Majesty granted
him the privilege for twelve years of taking
from the bottom of the sea by means of
vessel moving under water any merchandise
that might be found there. Mr.. Burgoyne
thinks that this vessel was nothing but
diving bell. In 1854, French engineer
named De Son constructed a submarine
boat at Rott erdam. This vessel resembled
that OF Van Drohel in many respects, but
was larger, and was propelled by paddle
wheel inst cad Of oars. The length was
~ feet the beam 3 feet and the depth II feet
In 1885 Louis XIV received a communica-
ton setting forth the invention Of a Nea-
politan Jesuit, Ciminius by name The
invention professed to provide the means
for men and ships to rise or sink at will, ,
and TO remain with freedom OF action at
the bottom Of the sea for at least seven
hours, if not for a whole day Three years
later one Roger Boligny, proposed to the
same King machine by which one might
go beneath the surface of the sea, and sink
to the bottom. The inventor maintained
that. with such vessel. one might destroy
all the ornaments of ones enemies and
enter or leave at will any hostile port, de-
stroying therein all shipping, merchandise
or ob7tructions, and II necessary, aiding
landing party.
In the records OF the English patent
Office there is, under the date of 1901, a refer
ence to one John Holland who patented an
engine for submarine navigation, II is a
curious coincidence that the vessel Of a
present-day John Holland should DO ac-
cepted by the British Admiralty as the most
"a n,f.