Rocky Ford enterprise., 1914-08-21

from, tho surface In this fashion reached the Ar
gonaut, Jr.. closed her up and put In pipes 10 pump
her out In my anxiety to succeed toiled uhoer
water for several hours and in consequence spent
the better part OF a week in bed afterward. In that
brief time lost 40 pounds In weight, but didht
mind that because the boat was ahoat again
..The Argonaut, JY, not designed to submerge
deeper than 2s feet and main object in building
her was to show how craft OF that nature couio
he made to travel around the bottom and. by
means of the diving compartment. make 1t possible
to recover things lying upon the waterbed 10 make
a long story short my performances were SO sue
cessful that obtained money and we organized
company in November Of 1895. But we did not
have funds enough to build the big boat had
planned and accordingly we had to curtaii our am
bition and confne efforts to smaller craft FOR
the purpose Of demonstration and as an induce
ment to additional capital Fortunately won the
confidence of the late William T. Malster Of Bal.
timore, then president Of the Columbian Iron
works and afterward mayor of the town
The Argonaut a cigarshaped structure OF
steel SO feet long and feet Of beam. and was
fitted with so h. p. gasoline engine. dynamo.
an air compressor. searchlight. water ballast
pumps-the apparatus necessary for successful
submarine navigation. She had accommodations
inside her for a of Ave- and during 1898 a
cruise of more than 1000 miles was made in the
Chesapea bay and on the Atlantic coast, travel
ing both the surface and submerged. and over
all kinds of bottom That boat, designed for com
mercial purposes was the pioneer OF larger
military underwater craft which we built In
Bridgeport some years later
"As far back 1901 offered navy depart
a boat that could carry guns in addition to
torpedoes. was generally laughed at. as was
for my bottomtraveling wheels. As you know.
most OF the big British submarines carry
guns and other nations profting by those
ampies. The big boats built by me in Russia for
the czar's navy designed to have this very
feature.
I'm view of the actual advances. and knowing
the increasing destructive might OF the torpedo.
find difficulty In subscribing to Admiral Sir
Percy scott's prediction. Yes. of course the idea
is of revolutionary portent. but with the gun to
batter her above water and the torpedo to do
greater damage below. what chance of surviving
has the accepted order of dreadnaughts?
The Proctor the first underwater craft to
provide comfortable quarters for her and to
be equipped with cooking facilities in order that
they might live aboard of her. Even SO. the ruling
spirit of naval board of inspection In 1908
poohpoohed this provision. declaring that moth
ship would always be necessary and that the
would live aboard the larger craft. How far
that mistaken authority erred can be gathered
from the performance Of q sister boat
After that little vessel became part of the
cars fleet she made run from kronstadt to
Libau in October of 1908. The official report of
the commander of the vessel best tells the story:
This trip confirms more the good
going qualities OF boats Of this particular type.
several times were out in cold weather and
posed to high winds and heavy seas. yet. notwith
standing these conditions. the submersible stood
the weather every time quite easily. At time,
for "a hours by reason OF the violence of the wind
and the nature Of the sea, II not possible to
pass food from the conveying vessel During that
period the deck was swept by heavy and the
were able to take the air only top of the
coming tower; but Notwithstanding this when l
proposed to them the next day that they might go
over TO the convoy If they liked they again asked
permission remain the submersble'
Yes. the underwater craft coming into their
own"