The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-09-13
Sea Lions Taught
To Catch SUBS
(Philadelphia RecnrdD

WIN tht war Wflen even me animals
of the deep could be trained to
make war on them" While nothing
thereof has been known by the
world at large up to this time. il
appear, now, from information
that The British government has
Just permitted to get out. chat the
Rritons trained sea lions to locate
German submarines.
Among the many methods dPvel-
opcd for fighting the tf-bOatS his
would seem to take the prize for
novelty incidentally, in connection
with their training. many interest
ing facts regarding their ways, and
particularly the high order of in
telliGrnCc Of these animals have
come to light. 1t seems strange
that Il creature living q consider
able part of its life in the water.
and being to all intcnts and pur-
poses a sea animal, should be pos
sessed of brain development sur
passing that of any other animal,
except the dog and The elephant
However, such appears to be the
case.
Strange Methods Tried
1t was in the simmer of 1917,
when ruthless submarine warfare
was making terrible inroadS into
allied shipping. Established meth
DDS Of naval warfare were proving
inadequate and many strange ways
of coping with the terror were
tried Two sea lions were trained
first as an experiment. The plan
proposed was TO teach them to
swim after a submarine, trailing a
long line with red float attached,
which would serve as a signal to
the British sailors engaged to has
ten to the spot and drop a depth
bomb where it could wipe the Ger
man undcrsea pirate out of exist
enCe.
First of all. the sea lions learned
to locate a noise made with a buz
zer resembling the sound of a sub
marines propclIers. The sea lions
were kept on the deck of a British
submarine and the buZZer sounded
under water at various places The
animals. out Of curiosity some
times swan after the sound, and
when they did so the received
liberal feed of fish as a reward.
Thus the intelligent beasts soon
learned il was a wise thing to swim
after an buZzing noise under water. !
AS more advanced step they
We're taught to swim after noise
made by a buzzer and propeller
combined. Next they were taught !.
to carry the float, an inrumbrance !
that would make almost any other
animal fight angrily. A collar was !
put on each sea lions neck. with a
long, light line of gut attached to .
it, AT one end of the line was a
light. Cigar-shaped float painted
red. In this manner the animals
Whereabouts could be aSCcrtained
as he towed it along with him on
the top of the water
These stages of the sea lions ed
ucation were carried out in Ports
mouth harbOr The animals were
then taken out to sea for more ser
ious work. They were now fitted
with wire muzzlcS, so that they
might not be tempted to go on fish
ing expeditions Of their own in
stead of chasing submarines
In the muZzle was little trap
door which could be lifted up cas-
lily, so that the sea lion could be fed
At any time without removing the
entire cOntrivance.
A Critical Step
Out at sea the sea lions first
learned to follow a submarine on
he surface. Then came the very
important and critical step of teach
ng them to follow diving sub
marine. One danger here was that
he sea lion would get tangled up in
he propellers of the British sub
marine that was training him and
wreck the boat. The sea lion could
,asily outswim the submarine. To
vert this danger of an accident a
nan on the patrol boat sgnalled to
he captain of the submarine, who
vas watching through his peri
cope. when the seal was near
he submarine commander then
Il l.. 1.