Year: 1867

II ERA


After the ebombardmentof of Valparaiso,
and while the Spanish fleet was at Callao,
a German residing at Valparaiso con-
structeda submarine boat for the purpose
of applying torpedocs to the bottom of
the Spanish frigates. The boat was
forty feet long and was propelled by a
screw worked by hand. So confident
was her builder in her efficiency that at
the first experiment in the bay he took
with him into the boat his son and eight
friends. After sailing about on the
surface a few moments, the boat was
made to sink without the precaution to
have the cables attached for use in case
of accident, or even a buoyto mark the
: spot where she went down. Several
hours elapsed and the boat failing 10 re-
turn, the spectators crowded on the
mole began to fear that all was not right
and as the day passed away, the con-
viction became general that the adven-
| turous party had gone to the bottom.
Late in the afternoon the mail steamer
from Panama came in and fired gun
near the spot where the boat disappear
ed.


AS the small boats were passing to and
from the steamer with passengers, etc.
bubbles where discovered rising upon
the surface of the water where the
submarine boat was last seen; and as
they came up at regular intervals in
small numbersit was supposed that the
party was still alive, and hearing the
steamers gun, and knowing that a
great many boats would be going to and
fro, was signalling for help by ejecting
air. A diver belonging to one of the
English men-ot-war was at once sent
down, and after an hours anxious
waiting he returned with the intelli-
gence that the boat was on the bottom
in 80 fathoms of water.


! Chains and cables were Immediately
attached to the boat, and repeated eff
forts were made to raise her, but without
avail, her bottom seeming to have been
sucked into the oozy bed of the sea and
become firmly fastened. All night and
the next day, until afternoon, the bub-
bles kept coming up like signals, some
times not appearing for half an hour at
a time, and then suddenly rushing up
for Il few seconds with great force. The
feeling of the populace assembled to res
cue the party from their terrible fate
may be imagined; but what must have
been the reflections of the men during
those awful hours at the bottom of the
bay, knowing, as they did, what little
hope there was for them.


They could have heard the divers
working on the sides of their boat,
attaching the chains, and perhaps felt
the strain rs the cables drew taut; but us
time sped away without their being
raised, despair worse than death must
have taken possession of them. Doubt
less they tried to signal through the
sides of their boat to the diver hammer
ing outside, but he in his diving dress
could hear nothing. The aperture to
the interior was so small that but one
person could pass through it at time,
and that very slowly, so that if an
attempt were made to escape by that
means they would inevitably bedrown-
cd.


After many hours of laborious efforts
to raise the boat the hosting machine
ry broke, and the attempt was necessa-
rily abandoned. About the middle of
the afternoon Of the second day the bub,
blcs commenced growing fainter and
more rare, and before sundown entirely
ceased. The boat still lies where ii
went down, and passengers arriving by
the steamer are told by the boatmen, as
they row toward the shore, the plainful
story of these ten mems fate, and of
the females who still mourn in Valpa-
raiso for their fathers and brothers in
the iron coffin at the bottom of the sea.
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