Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-03-11
TRAPPED IN A SUBMARINE.
And How a Trapped Sailor Made His
Escape,

IArchimedeS'S principles ana later
thanked his lucky stars, is told in the
March number of Popular Science
Monthly, by Joseph Brinker:
what was Boyle or the laws that
gases and liquids under pressure obey
to him?
! 1.-THE time came, ten years later,
when they meant life or death to him.
It happened during the war, when
he was one of the crew of British
submarine.
His boat was lying idly on the sur
face of the water. All the officers and
crew except himself were enjoying a
holiday ashore. He went below to
work in the engine room and left the
coming tower hatch open. Then
something happened-the young man
never knew just what-and the boat
lurched down by the bow.
"He thought of the coming tower
hatch, and rushed forward to close 1t.
But the water was already pouring in
with such force that he was unable
to accomplish his purpose. He re-
turned aft to the engine room and
locked himself in by means of wat
ertight door which separated the boat
into two compartments.
HE was safe temporarily, but the
other half of the boat was filling with
water and the submarine was sinking
lower and lower.
"The engine room was in complete
darkness, due to the short-circuiting
of the electric system. Everything
he touched shocked him.
"The salt water on the storage bat
teries generated suffocating chlorine
gas. He rushed blindly at the engine
room hatch and tried to force 1t open.
But his strength was no match for
the pressure of the water outside;
and, even if he had been able to open
it, he would have been no better off,
/ for the water would have rushed in
and drowned him before he could pos
sibly get out.
| Realizing that his last chance was
gone he grew quite calm and, as Is
the custom of dying folk, reviewed the
things he had done and those he
ought not to have done while here on
earth.
| AS he came to that day in school
when he unwillingly learned of pres
sure he stopped. Water, gas. pressure
what about them?
Then he remembered that, in the
case of a body submerged in water,
the combined force Of gas within and
the strength of the body material
must equal the force of the water
without, or the water would crush the
body in. Just so the combined force
of the air in the submarine and the
steel hatch equaled the force of the
water pressing down on it. If he could
make the force Of the air in the boat
EQUAL to the pressure of the water on
the boat, then the hatch would be re-
lieved of the strain Of holding off the
water and would be easily lifted.
How could he increase the force OF
tho air? Then he thought of Boyle's
law. which he had been forced to mem
orize on the long-ago schoolday-
the volume of a gas varies inversely
with it's pressure. If he decreased the
volume of the gas in the submarine
he might increase the pressure enough
20 make 1t equal that Of the water
This done the hatch would be in cqui-
,ibrium and consequently easily NOV
ed.
His next problem was how to de-
~rease the volume Of the air. There
was only one way to do this by let
ting the water in. If he did that he
would be taking a last desperate
chance, for he did not know how
much COMPRISING the air needed be-
fore it would exert force equal to
that of the water outside. If this fall
ed him, he would drown without
doubt.
| He decided to take the chance. So,
cropping in the dark, he opened the
bilge valve and let the water in. AS 1t
crept up about his waist he philo-
sophically decided that he would much
rather drown than suffocate anyway.
But when it reached his waist he grew
somewhat nervous and thought he'd
better try the hatch.
HE pushed against it, and it open
ed slightly; but it slammed shut again
crushing his fingers, for the pressure
of the air was not yet great enough
to resist the water without the aid Of
the hatch.
Nursing his injured fingers he
waited stoically until the water in the
engine room reached the hatch coam-
ing, Then with just his head above
water, his eardrums strained from the
compressed air, he made a final at
tempt to raise the unwilling hatch.
His patience, bravery and cool
headedness were rewarded. At last
the air was compressed enough to
equal the force of the water and the
hatch moved easily.
After helping him thus far, physics
decided to see him through. The COM
pressed air in the submarine repelled
the water which was trying hard to
pour in and drown him. The air shot
upward with great force, taking the
sailor along with it to the surface of
the water and leaving him there
breathless.
AFTER he had righted himself and
shaken the water from his eyes he
looked about and saw, a little distance
away. friendly destroyer, which soon
picked him up.
such an experience must surely
force on any man q great respect for
school teachers-and Fate"