The Opelousas courier., 1904-08-06
500 Passengers Went Down
In Sight of Thousands Boat Sinks and
No One Offers Aid-World's Fair
Tourists Have Thrilling Experience

tourists Have IhFlliing Experience
The spectacle of half a thousand men,
women and children voluntarily board
ing a boat they know is going to sink
strikes us as sufficiently novel to chrOn-
icle in these colnmns. 1t happened on
the Pike pnd in front of one of the
mammoth structures on that highway.
In the lobby of this building, known as
Under and Over the Sea- Concession,
is a miniature harbOr of real water.
The exact depth of this little ocean we
cannot say positively, but we can tes-
tify to what we saw with 0ur own eyes
on a recent visit to the Worlds Fair.
In plain view OF strolEers on the Pike
may ha seen in this miniature harhOr a
submarine boat moOred to u dock, with
its hatciiway 0pen and passengers going
aboard. The writer counted I'D less
than 500 human beings seeking the sen-
.~satiOns to be found in submarine navi-
CATION. When they were all aboard,
the Captain commanded the sailors on
the dock to unfasten the ropes that held
the vessel, and himself going below, the
llatchway was closed and sealed her
metically, absolutely water-tight. The
boat then sank from sight in the great
tank of water, and a submarine jour
ney TO Paris has commenced. On reach
ing IL certain great depth of the waters,
indicated 10y one of the ships instlN-
ments OF measurement, the prOpellefs
were set in motion 10y a slightSsessure
of the electric button, the ess4fe motive
force employe6sssSss queer craft used
in the journey "Under and Over the
Sea" being electrical. The huge steel
hull trembled, the great, mighty engine
%throbbed, the most powerful propeliers
churneA the waters into a fOaming fury,
and the boat darted forward through
the transparent watery mass. Enorm-
Gus seareA lights illuminated the ships
curse several hundred yards, and very
strange. indeed. was the spectacle seer
through the plate. glass windows. Sea
life of all descriptions, fish of every |
size, form and shape, scrambling, sour |
rying, darling about, frightened into |
unusual activity at the sudden advent |
of this strange monster in their midst.
Onward we rush, the ever-changlng
temperatures of our course revealing |
different characters of sea life. First, |
sea moss, plants, trees. fungi, then
shells and rock caverns, nil harborinE
some form of sea life. Flowers of a
thousand c%olors, coral reefs, etc. Here
and there b remains of an unfortunate |
wrecked vessel, the silent tombs of the |
unknown lost. At a greater depth in
the ocean sea monsters, unicGrns of the
deep and .narwhales are encountered. |
Even a shOal of graceful mermaids are
seen at play. and finally, after a short
journey mp the River Seine, we ascend
bark at our Paris landing dock. Pass |
ing through several Partisan thorough.
fares to the base of Eiffel Tower, as
cen6ing to its summit in a large eleva-
tor, we board the great bird like craft
restlessly Juggling at it's moorings, any
iOus for it's flight along the milky way,
and all aboard, the ship casts adrift and
our aerial journey has commenced. A
fine ~birds-eye view of Paris IS afforded
from this vantage point, but rapidly
does the French Metropolis recede in
the distance as with the speed of light
we glide along v green fields and
valleys, the smaller cities of Switzer-
land and her ~snow-capped Alps; flying
above Berlin. over the Straits of Dover
to London, and then turning about, our
carries us over the great Attain
lie. Night comes On, rain drops fall
about us, lightning flashes, mutterings
,f distant thunder are heard. The rain
Increases, the heavens are illuminated,
,he thunderstorm is deafening, pande-
nonium reigns. Our great bird-like
raft weathers the storm. and passing
,ver the City of New York a hurried
yisit, and then a glimpse of the Capitol
Building as W. fly above Washington,
when our vessels course is shaped
westward. Flying far above the earth,
indiana ia seen in the grasp of a cy-
lone. Speeding onward, the Missis-
ippi River appears in the distance and
ar below. Crossing this stream at the
Sads Bridge, over the City of st. Louis,
covering above the Exposition, the
movement Of the great wings decreas-
ng, the ship carefully settles down on
OPP of the Under and Over the Sea-
Building, the landing dock of the Air
hip on the Pike.