The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-11-25
SUBMARINE A DEATH TRAP

The series of fatal and in many ways peculiarly shocking accidents which have dogged the footsteps of the sub marine in the British navy are breed ing growing public anxiety and skep- ticism as to the desirability of these subaqueous torpedo boats. If in time of peace they are to deplete the naval forces of the country at a faster rate than all other branches of the service combined; if they are prone to dive with coming tower open, independ- ently, and even in spite of. the helms man, as happened in the sace of 4 8, when all hands were drowned like rats in a trap; if they are liable to explo- sions of gasoline through small leaks in feeder pipes that cannot be absolute ly guarded against, which killed a, num-
 Der of the crew of A 5; if their accum-
 ulators, when accidently flooded with sea water, generate so much chlorine Ca peculiarly irritating and poisonous gas) as to rapidly choke the officers and crew to death; if they are likely to sink when tightly closed, and then return to the surface, bottom up, so that no one can get out, and, finally, sink again and slowly asphyxiate the crew, as did a French submarine; if they are liable to be run down and sunk when travelling just below the surface by merchantmen, with the des- truction of all on board, as in the case of A i; if, in short, any of these acci- dents, and perhaps others, cannot be guarded against in this form of vessel by ordinary watchfulness and caution, the very pertinent question is raised whether such a dangerous and unreli- able engine of destruction-to it's own crew is not more valuable to a coun- try in the enemy's navy than as part of it's own fleet. This question has been again raised by the court-martial of Lieutenant Nasmith, who was charged with ''hazarding A A. submarine of which he was in command. A was engaged in experiments with sound signals. was almost aWash, but had to keep open 4-inch ventilator, through which a flag was used for signalling. | Suddenly water began to enter through the ventilator, and A started for the | bottom. It seems, according to the evil dence given at the court-martial, that | these vessels have to be kept so near the sinking point at certain times that the entrance of eighty gallons, or about two barrels, of water is sufficient to send them below the surface.
 It required but a moment for these two barrels to flow in through the 4 inch ventilator and destroy the buoy ancy of A 4. By the greatest coolness and bravery on the part of both officers and men A was stopped in her down. ward plunge at a depth of ninety feet, The lights had all been extinguished, and the atmosphere was so full of chlo-
 rine gas as to be hardly breathable.
 ''As the pumps got the better of the water, A gradually turned about and started back to the world again.
 Nothing, says the report of the court
 martial, but the .steadiness of the men
 and presence of mind of the officers
 saved England from another appalling | submarine disaster. -..-
 According to the latest British Ad-
 miralty. return, England has seventeen
 completed submarines and thirty-two
 building, against Frances thirty-seven
 and thirty-two, respectively England $