Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-02-06
The FLOATING MINE
A Scrap of Very Sinister History
Recalled. ,
Primitive Contriv ances of Destruction
Its Application in Our own Civil
Wharf.-The weapons of Cush-
Ag's Time.

In view Of the complete failure OF
The Hague conference to reach sat
isfactory agreement on the question
OF the use of mines. and in view of
its practical rejection OF the British
proposal which would have saved tho
lives of innocent non -combatauts in
the next naval war. special interest
attaches to tho following article
tracing the history OF the mines, says
the London Mail, which continues:
1t is now a commonplace that the
mine will play an enormous part in
the next naval struggle. In the last
naval war. that Of 19o4-05, it ac-
counted for the total destruction OF
three battlcships and the more or less
temporary disablement of four
others.
Probably the most noteworthy
achievement OF The Hague confer
ence has been a negative one-viz.,
the rejection of Great Britain's pro-
rosal to abolish floating mines. on
account OF tho injury they are liable
TO in1ict on the innocent third party
who. IT seems, in warfare as in every
day life, generally gets the worst OF
it.
t.NCrNpONN Knows WndL n 0OaI-
ing mine is-a gigantic submerged
Internal machine. charged with high
explosive, and capable Of "hcaving
whole to the congor' any vessel that
strikes IT, 1t is usually anchored. but
occasionallv it gets adrift, and then
no peril Of the deep is more for
inidable.
That is the floating mine Of to-day
dates it is difficult 10 determine but
It was not until the middle Of the
last century that the mine or fixed
torpedo, came into being as recoe-
nizcd instrument of war at sea.
In the Crimea not much was heard
Of II. although there is a story Of a
cunning engineer who screwed a pc
tard on to the bottom Of his own adj
Inirars flagship in mistake for Rus
sian vessel. Fortunately, he discover
I'd his mistake in time. II was in the
war OF Secession between the north
ern and southcrn States Of America
that tho formidable nature Of the tor
pedo began to be understood In the
course Of that IRENE ndous conflict no
fewer than twenty eight vessels were
destroyed by mines, the greatest suf-
fcrcrs being the attacking naval
power, the federals
The mines of the sixties were very
primitive affairs, even at their best.
Electricity being then in it's infancy.
observation mines-i. G. mines fired
by an operator on shore-were not
very formidable. In certain places,
close 10 land, or in narrow reaches,
mines were sometimes laid. which
were connected with the shore by a
string. Somewhere near the water
ridge man would be ambushed and
as soon as the enemy's vessel was
over the mine he would pull the cord,
release the trigger inside the mine.
and explode the charge. The action
~ these defcnccs was. for Obvious
reasons. uncertain Another device
was even less dependable. Sometimes
the news would come OF the advance
of a notilIa that wanted stopping. As
proper mines were not always avail
able, the ready southerner would
knock together few Internal ma
chimes, fix slow match to them, and
leave them in the fairway. on the
off chance OF their exploding at the
right time.
The most formidable mines were
contact mines, resembling very
nearly tho contact" mine Of today
"a machine almost as dangerous TO
friends 40 to foes), except that acids
were used. as now in anarchist bombs,
to explode tho charge instead Of
electricity Tho principle on which
these were worked was simple and
easily inteliigible. Inside n water
tight cask, or drum, was heavy
charge OF powder, together with the
proper chemical arrangements for
getting the intense heat that was 10
cause the explosion. The acid was
of course, carefully sealed UP In a
glass tube. When a vessel bumped
against one Of these mines It was
hound to touch striker. Then, il
all worked well, tho striked would be
brought into violent contact with the
glass tube, tho tube would break, tho
acid be liberated, the charge ex.
ploded. and down would go the YES.
sci with its bottom blown in.
The feierals had a most disastrou.
experience of the terrible effectiveness,
Of these machines in the RIakeI,
river. A few instances of the de-
structive power of mines had Eiver
them very healthy respect for sub
marine engineering as an art Of de
fence. So they sent launches ahca,
and carefully dragged the channel
When all was reported clear the,
steamed on, and almost immediatef,
lost the Milwaukee and the Osare
both of which sank In a few minutes
Happily, the loss OF life was small
The very next day the tin steamc
Rudolf, on its way TO save the Mi
waukee. struck another mine an,
went down.
The confefcrates, indeed brouEh
submarine mining to a high state O
efficiency considering the means a
their disposal. At the beginning o
the war mines were attached T.
weighted baTks OF timber, which wer
fiXed or anchored as well as might b
"a clumsy arrangement. Subsequent
ly some genius thought OF dividinl
the mine into two compartments, on
buoyant, fun of air, the other de
structive, full of powder, so that
could either be easily anchored by
sinker or left to noat about OF n
own free will as Surface contact
mine.
These Internal devices provided on
of the most dramatic incidents OF tn
war. Farragut was sweeping up Mo
bile bay (Alabama), with laudable in
tent to wipe out the enemy. wheI