Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1917-05-01

ed the engineer. "It makes no differ
ence who goes first on the chance Of
swimming up over hundred feet to
find a torpedo at night, but some one
must remain to fire out the last man."
II remain" said Breen. II am the
commander. Who goes first, now"
II WILL" said one Of the trimming
tank men. "But, lieutenant" he add
ed, 1--WE can swim up In two minutes,
I should think, and I've held my breath
three. But how'll We know which
way to swim? It's night up there.
We can't see."
IF your head and stomach don't
tell you let your knife hang loose by
the lanyard. It'll hang down. Swim
parallel. Hold on. Keep your shoes
on" The man was shedding them.
'9Take all weights out that you can.
Put your coats on, all Of you. It's a
cold night up above. You'll need your
/ coats riding torpedo"
"Goodby, sir. Goodby, boys, all
round"
he threw open the breech of the
tube and crawled in. A man stood
with his hand on the compressed air
valve; another stood by the bow port
lever; Breen himself was at the breech.
Take a good breath when you hear
the breech closed" he called In and
was answered. Then he slammed to
the swinging breech door, locked 1t
and waved his hand to his men. They
knew the drill. Water was admitted
at once, the bow port was lifted, COM
pressed air was turned on, there was
the usual cough and thud and inrush
of water, and man under a pressure
of four atmospheres was swimming
somewhere through water black as
night, guided only by his knife Ian
yard or the feel Of his head and
stomach.
Breen himself elected the last man
and stood up alone In boat 14O feet
beneath the surface Of the sea, her
bow lifted on an angle Of 80 degrees
from the horizontal, her main motor
drowned and her auxiliary motor burn
ed. There was one chance in q mil
lion that he would be rescued. Two
hours later when he looked at the
depth indicator he saw reading Of 300.
He scas fifty fathoms belo,o the surface.
Breen looked around, first at the air
pressure indicators. All but two regis
tered at zero. He had two tanks at
1000 pounds pressure, and he could
have blown out few more torpedoes
or men or tanks of water, but not that
water washing about aft. He thought
of the storage battery beneath the
fooring-ninety large jars Of sulphur
ic acid in danger from contact with
that washing salt water, bad COM
bination, and inspected it. He found
that the last jars aft lifted six inches
above the water level and, knowing
that they were designed for an inclina-
ton of 45 degrees, was reassured.
he looked at the burned out motor
overhead in the handling room. It
worked the air compressor and one OF
the bilge pumps. the other being con-
nected to the main motor, under water
and equally useless. He had naval
officers knowledge of electricity and
motors, acquired at Annapolis, and
this told him that it would be hopeless,
even for an expert mechanic, to at
tempt rewinding that small motor with
the dried out wires Of the other.
He studied the main motor, nearly
buried in water. When dry 1t worked
with seventy horsepower. 1t would
pump out against the pressure Of the
sea the water that kept the boat down
If clear Of this water it would dry out
In time. In what time? Breen had
fifteen days supply Of food and water
for a crew Of eight, 120 days supply
for himself. His air supply was short,
but suffocation Is long death.
The lower part Of the armature and
fully half the height Of the field mag
nets were still immersed. He needed
more weight forward or less aft, and
as his eye roved about the maze OF
ixtures-pipes, valves and machinery
it rested upon the useless gasoline
engine, a 1000 pound weight. Remov.
Ing his coat, he first made sure that
| the gas feed valve was screwed tight
then, delving for wrenches, spanners
and hammers In the engineers locker
attacked the engine.
Two weeks later he dragged forward
with bleeding hands the connecting
rod Of the after cylinder and piled ul
a scrap heap of similar fragments be-
side the torpedo tube In the bow.
The engine was stripped to the sup
porting column that bore the weight OF
the motor and the pump, and the boat
was not yet on an even keel, but the
last lower coil Of the field magnet was
lifted from the water by the shifting
| Of the weight, and when he had clear
ed the storage battery wires from all
contact with water he rewarded him
self with few deep inhalations from
bis nearly exhausted compressed all
supply and sat down to wait until the
insulation was dry.
He had kept the log and knew the
fight of time by this and the clock
and in another week he realized with
sinking heart that the motor wat
not drying out. A little reflection told
him why. In the sealed up hull thu
atmosphere was saturated with mois
ture, and no more evaporation could
take place. A drying agent for gases
What was it? Then it came to him
out of the forgotten chemistry in his
subconscious -"sulphuric acid"
He had ninety jars Of It under his
feet. He had lead and copper piping
in his scrap heap forward: he had
two electric fans used for ventilation
on the surface and blower fixed II
the air pipe, but available on a pinch
oil four wired and ready. with 3,6Ot
ampere hour battery to drive them.
In three hours he had constructed
from the back Of his coat cone
shaped funnel that stretched around
the wire guard of a fan wheel, ant
this he fitted on to the end Of length
Of lead pipe, the other end Of which
was all but immersed in the acid Of
battery Jar in the hold. With the far
buzzing and blowing into this funne
and a stream Of air rufling the sur
face of the acid he yet went on con