The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1906-1907, 1906-09-10
Story Of a Submarine
lortxinaLl

battle OF the Sea OF japan. ! n@Ve
heard that your arm Of the service
the submarines-aceOmplished nothing,
% you must have had fine chance to
see the night"
Him." grunted Ishiro Ishimura, that
comes Of orders for secrecy. How
ever, I don't mind telling you fellows
an experiences Of twelve Of N that was
more terrible than any other IN that
terrible fight At any rate IL was
unique. vs
1--WE were ordered to torpedo the
Russian naaship. Well, you know the
secrecy OF our government. IL was,
not desired that any success Ok our
submarines should be known. 90 we
were, all sworn 70 secrecy. A. soon
e We. sighted the neef and located the
flagship We skinned the surface be-
bahind and, concealed by one, Of our
ewn vessels till We got II position, then
Ailed the tanks. closed the coming
tower and settled down. A submarine
has O vertical and horizontal ruddm,
ana a. soon aa va reached the proper
depth to move forward under water
ne horizontal ruddeF was turned to
keep her from going down farther.
At the same time tho propeller WAS
started.
Perhaps II one Of you landlubbsrs
had been aboard you wouldn't have
had sense enough 70 be frightened az
noticing that the boat didn't obey her
rudder. Instead Of moving straight
ahead ahe kept going lower. There y
q tank In q submarine to be used only
in an emergency. 1t holds i've tons o.
water and can be smptied In a Jlny.
Our lieutenant In command ordered
this tank emptied. E
I'VE all expected TO see our boat rise
like n cork. She didn't do any such
thing. She started to rise, but soon
began sinking again. The screw
should have been stopped. for since our
nose was pointed down we only sank
the quicker. Down, down we went
till there was a shock. and we knew
ahe had struck bottom, It was at
least comforting to know that we
couldn't go any lower-that ID, II there
q any comfort In being at the bottom
OF che sea without much hope OF get
ting 70 the surface. The officers were
cool, but any one could see that they
expected almost certain daath.
glanced at the depth register and was
horrifled to sec that we were 40 feet
beneath the surface.
'Threo alternatives threatened us.
First, there were many tons Of water
holding down the coming tower, our
only means Of getting out; second, the
terrible pressure without was forcing
the water In through leaks that were
starting and threatened TO drown u.s.
and. third. we would at last be suffO-
Gated by poisonous gases,
"And yet you say the men In the
submarines had nothing to do but look
q the fight. All we could see OF II
was through the perlscops, but we
weren't looking at tbs fight We were
making hght for cur lives.
I'VE must rise to the lsurfaee at once
or never. The lieutenant ordered the
rotary pump started TO expel the wa
ter ballast from the tanks What was
our horror 10 ind that the pressure OF
water from the outside was greater
than the forca OF the pump, But one
hope remained hand pump. On
this we must put q greater force than
on the mechanical pump. Would Il
stand 20 great a strainf
There was not a man put to work
On that pump but expended more pow.
or than ha had ever expended before or
ever would again. AL pumped. know
ing that II the attempt was a failure
there was nothing more to be done.
''The pump proved strong enough for
the work. and the men proved strUnR
enough 20 expel the water against the
enormous pressure from wlthOut.
ssrhe hAppieat momeAt of my life
was feeling tia boat leave the bottOm.
TIE question now was whether We
eould get ont OF thu dsptha before a
collapse. Il was IIka, the last mo.
mants oe race when q apAsmodic ef.
fort h, needed 10 win. Under such an
effort we rose slowly an we reached
The surface. Then we easped IN r.
Hare
so yOu failsa y torpedo ths nas,
ehlpY"
Ishlmura cast q look Of scOrn at the
speaker, mot 90 fast II you please,
Our commander gave as ten minutes to
rest, while the sweat poured out OF ~
IN streams. Then we Owed again"
"Dlved againG'' exclaimed every one
| at once.
~Yss. the lieutenant had no fancy eOv
haraklrl. which woald have been nee
easary for him hnA b. failed to make
q seeond attempt % We Oiled tanks
and down We went. This time she
Obeyed her Fudder. and we moved
along about ten feet below the sur
face. We could feel a tr0mor at sv.
cry explosion Of eannoa TIE lieuten.
ant watched the Russian through the
porlpcope. and II was difleult. I car
tsll you. to keep The thing Just abovs
the surface. and whsa We got into DO
sltion | was orSiersd 10 let little wa
tsr out Of the forward trimming tank
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