Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-08-23
THE UNDER-SEA SAILORS.
Dangers and Hardships a Grow of tho
Submarine Must Face.

Dangers and Hardships a Grow of the
Submarine Must Face.
Stroll through the art gallery, and
what painting first holds the glance? ?
Is 1t not often the lifeboat crew push
| ing their craft through the breakers
to the rescue Of the men clingng to
the rigging Of the rock-riven ship? 1t
; Is an illustration Of heroism that gives
| the artist a chance to play upon ones
sympathy and admiration. Yes, the
man before the mast the man on the
| bridgedeck, Is a hero in the mind Of
the passenger even when he Is per-
forming his daily duty, for one knows
that In the storm and the shpwreck
ne must be relied upon to save.
But how about the man whose work
Is below the waves; who, day after
day, sometimes night after night, is as
much out Of the world as if dead; who
sleeps, II he can sleep, huddled upon
perhaps a blanket, perhaps the bare
floor; who must breathe the artificial
air instead of the ozone of the sea
breeze; and whose only light Is that Of
the electric lamps? Such is another
sort Of sailor that the coming of the
submarine has created. In every mo-
decn navy In the world does this un-
der-water mariner serve, for the boat
that plies beneath the sea is consider
ed as necessary to the war fleet as the
battleship itself. The steel tube the
submarine can throw from it's hull is
t:!led with such power that the percus-
sion cap or the electric spark makes it
a. engine Of destruction that may be
lcore menacing, that may be more
death dealing, than the entire arma-
ment Of the cruiser. Machinery does
much to move and guide the subma
rine and to discharge it's weapons;
but behind the wheels and levers and
pushbuttons must be men who know
what to do when the time comes, and
how to do it.
In the harbors Of Britain, perhaps
in the stormy English channel and
along Americas Atlantic coast, you
may see what looks like pole moving
through the water. From it flutters a
tiny flag, but that is all that is visible.
The lookout says the submarine is
running awash" just below the sur
face. The pole rises higher and high
er, and finally you see what would re-
mind you Of the back Of huge black
cylinder with headlight windows In It.
Now the craft is afloat, but so little Of
1t Is to be seen even at close range
that a mile away the cylinder might
be taken for a buoy or a bit of drift
wood. Into the cabins and the BERTH
decks Of the warship the sun throws
its morning rays; the seabreeze blows
day and night into the vessel, purify
ing and invigorating the air. The crew
perform their daily duties and go
through their drills with plenty Of
room to exercise. Down in the hold is
an ample store of food, in the galleys
1t Is cooked, and seated at the long ta-
bles every man from quartermaster to
StOkeT cdl eat HIS liedi III Soiiiioi - III
that blackened steel tube are half
dozen or dozen men who may not have
seen daylight for a week. They have
not had even a breath Of fresh air. No
hammocks, no hunks save possibly cots
for the officers. No deck to stroll
upon. Her space is precious. Ma
chinery takes first place. Humanity
gets what is left.
And the under water sailor has to
know more things than his mate upon
the deck. He is trained in the use OF
many curious devices. Before he Is
assigned to a vessel he becomes quite
an electrician. He understands how
to run the air-compressors, how the
water tanks may. be filled and so sink
the craft, the operation Of the electric
pumps that, sucking the water from
the tanks, cause the boat to rise. Then
there are gauges he must read so that
when on watch at night he can tell
how much oxygen Is pouring into the
air purifiers. and If enough electricity
is being generated. Every man on
board Is responsible for the lives Of
all. If he is ignorant of the purpose
of q tiny wire or forgets to open or
close a valve, every human being may
be suffocated from poisonous gases,
or the boat sink to where the sea
pressure will crush her hull like an
egg shell because her gravity is too
much for her buoyancy. A tiny hand
moving around a dial tells the depth
of the draught in water. 1t is the duty
of at least one of the crew to continu-
ally watch that hand.
There are no stoves or steam in the
submarine-no room for such Things
In summer heat is not greatly needed,
but with winter you may hear a sail
or call his craft an "iceboX." Officers
and men say they prefer to be sub
merged in summer rather than winter
They would rather work under the sea
stripped to the skin than swaddled In
woolens. In winter with little room
to move about, the men of the crews
are subjected to a cOld-storage tenn
perature They get all the chills OF
sleigh-ride party with the thermome-
ter at Zeroi2but none Of the eXhilara-
ton. But when the snow appears the
life below continues. The boats are
usually out in the morning and in the
afternoon, and sometimes longer.
In the American fleet, one of the sta
tions most dreaded by the submarine
crews is Newport, so far north that
the winters are long and bitter. The
waters off Newport form one of the
principal cruising grounds, and the
little fleet is kept at practice there un-
til sometimes the ice covers the wa
ters. Last winter they were kept un-
til the ice-cakes were in the harbOr.
Then the submarines were sent south.
When the fotilla reached New York
ice held the boats in the bay. They
put out to sea, and the men in the lit
tie craft kept on bucking the tide and
lodging ice cakes; and though forced
once to come into port for repairs. fl
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