The Washington times., 1919-02-02

The Diving Apparatus of the Italian
Inventor, CaValiere Giuseppe Pine, Whose
Construction Anticipated the Use of the
Submarine for Scientific Observations, But
Which Lacks the Mobility of the Boat.
TORcED to high plane Of perfection
through four years Of intensive
naval experiment and construction,
the submarine now looms up in the eyes
OF scientists as an ideal vehicle for ex-
plOrations and sUb-sea observations hither-
20 impossible to carry out
The supersubmarines which Germany
employed to sink vessels of the American
coast in the Summer of 1918 had a nom
stop cruising radius Of 10000 miles and
we're built to Withstand pressure at a
depth Of 600 feet below the sea level.
The ability to fabricate similar craft
scientists claim, foreshadoWs an era of
polar investigation, ocean fora and fauna
observation and maritime archaeological
research with possibilities Of results which
may astound the world. Plans for a scien-
tifc super-submarine are in fact, already
being drawn and few Of its features are,
by permission, reproduced in the pictorial
diagram on this page.
No engine of destruction comes out of
the war with greater potential value for
service to humanity--and no greater rec
ord of inexcusabie murder Through this
medium the veil may be lifted which has
almost completely shroUded whatever Sc
crets the ends of the earth may hold, and
in time perhaps conclusive proof may be
established that ages ago the world was
one vast continent instead of many as
now.
AS pointed out in these pages last week.
the developments in aerial navigation will.
within few months, TevolutiOnize exist
ing means Of transOceanic travel and inter
continental commerce. The submarine of
the present day, evolved through the same
forces Of war, has an equally fertile field
Of conquest as the craft of the air.
Among the many spectacular undertak-
ings suggested are expeditions TO both the
north and south pole. with the end in view
Of discovering new archipelagoes held to
exist in the vast unclarted ice fields Dur
ing such a voyage it would be possible
to carry on painslaking OceanOgraphic
work, besides collecting and studying on
the ground the flora and fauna of the two
polar oceans.
Another quest that has general appeal
to the imagination is that OF investigating
the remains of the haIfmythical continent
Of Atlantis now covered by the Atlantic
Ocean, and which is a standing challenge
to the students Of antiquity. Some claim
that the islands of the West Indies, the
Azores and the Canary Islands are but the
peaks of the lofty mountains of a CONT
'nent which once connected America. Eu-
rope and Africa. 1t will be recalled that
Plato who lived 400 B. c., described such
a continent and placed it west Of the
Straits Of Gibraltar. and from which Ger
tain students to-day believe, the more i'm
portant branches of the human race
STraug.
1'"rn are supposed TO he sea-cOvered
cite. in both the Atlantic and Pacific
There IRE ruined cities in the Gulf of Cam
pechy from ninety 20 one hundred miles
of the coast OF Mexico and Central Amer
ica. Fishermen to-day are still bringing
IN relics Of an ancient civilization there.
According to photographic maps the
depths in this region do not exceed 600
feet
ViIialmur Stefannson, whose polar ex-
plOrations have added a tremendous
amount Of information to sciences pages.
is an advocate of submarines for future
work I'm the ice-bOund regions of the
earth'S ends. He recently pointed out the
advantages Of the undersea. craft to a rep
rcsentative of this magazine. His opinions
are recorded below:
IF il be a fact that submarines of
The type that visited America before the
war can cruise for 10000 miles without
replenishing fuel. they would serve splen-
didly for explorations in the polar basin.
In no place is the basin wider than $500
miles. and with such an ample cruising
-adius the submarine would be infinitely
superior to the airpl2ne; that is, from the
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