CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IIIEXPERIENCES OF PIONEER INVENTORS OF THE SUBMARINEThe experiences of the pioneer inventors of the submarine, if known in detail, would undoubtedly afford many amusing incidents as well as some tragic ones. Some of these have been treated in the previous chapter on the comedy and tragedy of submarine development. Cornelius Debrell must have been either something of a joker or else he was much further advanced in the art of revitalizing the air than are any of our modern scientists. His experiments attracted much attention during the reign of King James the First, and, according to the accounts published at that time, he must have been quite a court favorite, for it is reported that King James made a trip with him from Westminster Bridge to Greenwich. The accounts assert that he could remain under water for long periods of time by simply pouring out a few drops of some secret liquid from a bottle which he carried with him. The celebrated Ben Jonson, in one of his works, refers to Debrell and his celebrated boat in a humorous passage from one of his plays, "The Staple of News," acted by "His Majesty's Servants" in 1625.P. Jun.—Have you no news against him, on the contrary?Nath.—Yes, sir. They write here, one Cornelius-son hath made the Hollanders an invisible eel, to swim the haven at Dunkirk and sink all the shipping there....P. Jun.—But how is't done?Cym.—I'll show you, sir. It is an automa, runs under water, with a snug nose, and has a nimble tail, made like an auger, with which tail she wriggles betwixt the costs (ribs) of a ship, and sinks it straight....P. Jun.—A most brave device, to murder their flat bottoms.(ActII,S.1.)Of course, there are no authentic plans of Debrell's boat in existence, but from the descriptions which were published in regard to it I am under the impression that probably he did succeed in submerging below the surface of the water and propelling her with the tide for some distances. The description tells of some very ingenious arrangements for submerging the boat, in which he used goatskins sewed together in the form of bags. The mouth of each bag was nailed over an orifice opening from the interior of the boat into the sea. These goatskins were placed between planks, with a sort of a Chinese windlass arrangement for squeezing the planks together. When he wished to submerge the boat he allowed the planks to open out, and the water, rushing into the goatskins, increased the vessel's displacement so that it sank. When he wished to come to the surface he simply drew the planks together and squeezed the water out of the goatskins, thus restoring the vessel's buoyancy. According to description, the boat was propelled by oars extending through ports opening into the sides of the boat. Goatskins sewed in the form of cones prevented the water from entering the vessel, the base of the cone being nailed to the sides of the boat, the apex of which was cut off and bound around the staff of the oar. This gave sufficient flexibility to feather the oars and row under water.Nearly one hundred years after Cornelius Debrell's experiments an Englishman by the name of Day built a small wooden submarine and descended in it under the water. This experiment gave him sufficient confidence to undertake the construction of a large vessel, and he proposed to make a profit from its use by making wagers that he could descend to a depth of one hundred yards and remain there for a period of twenty-four hours. He built the vessel, placed his wagers, and descended. He won his wagers but never returned to the surface to claim them.BUSHNELL'S SUBMARINE, THE "AMERICAN TURTLE"During the Revolutionary War Dr. David Bushnell, a resident of Saybrook, Connecticut, devised a submarine vessel called theAmerican Turtle. He aimed to destroy the British fleet anchored off New York during its occupation by General Washington and the Continental Army. Thatcher'sMilitary Journalgives an account of an attempt to sink a British frigate, theEagle, of sixty-four guns, by attaching a torpedo to the bottom of the ship by means of a screw manipulated from the interior of this submarine boat.A sergeant who operated theTurtlesucceeded in getting under the British vessel, but the screw which was to hold the torpedo in place came in contact with an iron strap, refused to enter, and the implement of destruction floated down stream, where its clockwork mechanism finally caused it to explode, throwing a column of water high in the air and creating consternation among the shipping in the harbor. Skippers were so badly frightened that they slipped their cables and went down to Sandy Hook. General Washington complimented Doctor Bushnell on having so nearly accomplished the destruction of the frigate.If the performance of Bushnell'sTurtlewas as successful as this, it seems strange that our new government did not immediately take up his ideas and make an appropriation for further experiments in the same line. When the attack was made on theEagle, Doctor Bushnell's brother, who was to have manned the craft, was sick, and a sergeant who undertook the task was not sufficiently acquainted with the operation to succeed in attaching the torpedo to the bottom of the frigate. Had he succeeded, theEaglewould undoubtedly have been destroyed, and the event would have added the name of another hero to history and might have changed even the entire method of naval warfare. Bushnell's plans did not receive any encouragement, however, and were bitterly opposed by the naval authorities. His treatment was such as to compel him to leave the country, but, after some years of wandering, under an assumed name he settled in Georgia, where he spent his remaining days practising his profession.Doctor Bushnell was also the inventor of the submarine mine, with which he blew up a schooner anchored off NewLondon, Connecticut, and attempted to sink some British men-of-war in the Delaware River off Philadelphia by setting them adrift with the tide, expecting them to float down, strike against the sides of the ship, and then explode. Fortunately for the ships, none of them happened to strike, but the fact becoming known that torpedoes were being set adrift in the river caused great consternation among the British shipping people. When some wag set a lot of kegs adrift, which floated down the river, it caused tremendous excitement, the English crews firing at the kegs as they came floating down the river. This has been recorded in that humorous poem called "The Battle of the Kegs," by Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.Fulton's Attempt.—Robert Fulton, the man whose genius made steam navigation a success, was the next to turn his attention to submarine boats, and submarine warfare by submerged mines. A large part of his life was devoted to the solution of this problem. He went to France with his project and interested Napoleon Bonaparte, who became his patron and who was the means of securing sufficient funds for him to build a boat which was called theNautilus. With this vessel Fulton made numerous descents, and it is reported that he covered fifty yards in a submerged run of seven minutes.In the spring of 1801 he took theNautilusto Brest, and experimented with her for some time. He and three companions descended in the harbor to a depth of twenty-five feet and remained one hour, but he found the hull would not stand the pressure of a greater depth. They were in total darkness during the whole time, but afterward he fitted his craft with a glass window, one and a half inches in diameter,through which he could see to count the minutes on his watch. He also discovered during his trials that the mariner's compass pointed equally as true under water as above it. His experiments led him to believe that he could build a submarine vessel with which he could swim under the surface and destroy any man-of-war afloat. When he came before the French Admiralty, however, he was met with blunt refusal, one bluff old French admiral saying, "Thank God, France still fights her battles on the surface, not beneath it!"—a sentiment which apparently has changed since those days, as France now has a large fleet of submarines.ROBERT FULTON'S SUBMARINEAfter several years of unsuccessful efforts in France to get his plans adopted, Fulton finally went over to Englandand interested William Pitt, then Chancellor, in his schemes. He built a boat there and succeeded in attaching a torpedo beneath a condemned brig provided for the purpose, blowing her up in the presence of an immense throng. Pitt induced Fulton to sell his boat to the English Government and not bring it to the attention of any other nation, thus recognizing the fact that if this type of vessel should be made entirely successful, England would lose her supremacy as the "Mistress of the Seas," a prediction which seems now somewhat verified, judging from the work of the enemy submarines in the past few months.Fulton consented to do so regarding other European countries, but would not pledge himself regarding his own country, stating that if his country should become engaged in war no pledge could be given that would prevent him from offering his services in any way which would be for its benefit.The English Government paid him $75,000 for this concession. Fulton then returned to New York and built theClermontand other steamboats, but did not entirely give up his ideas on submarine navigation, for at the time of his death he was at work on plans for a much larger boat.Tuck, the inventor of thePeacemaker, had an unhappy lot. He spent a considerable portion of his wealth upon his experiments, and it is reported that his relatives, thinking he would spend all of his money in this way, and consequently leave nothing to them, had him adjudged insane and incarcerated. Some years ago I met a diver who had been employed by Tuck in his submarine boat experiments. This diver related to me an incident that nearly caused them to lose their lives. It appears that the boat had been first submergedin shallow water to find out if it was tight, which it was under a moderate pressure. They then took it out in the Hudson River, but on reaching a greater depth, water started to come in around the gasket of the hatch, the hatch not being constructed in a manner to increase its tightness as the pressure on the same increased. The water came in so fast that they could not rise. He said they tried to caulk the leak by stuffing their handkerchiefs in between the hatch covering and the combing, but they could not stop it. Finally one of the men became so hysterical that it was necessary for the diver to take up a hammer and tap him on the head with it and threaten to brain him unless he became quiet and did as he was told. The diver told me that he became satisfied that the only chance for their lives was to allow the boat to fill, then hold their breath as it was filling, until the external pressure on the hatch was equalized, and then open the hatch and swim to the surface. They followed this plan and escaped safely.TUCK'S "PEACEMAKER"Holland's Achievements.—While Mr. John P. Holland and I worked in adjoining rooms at the Columbian Iron Works, in Baltimore, in the years 1896 and 1897, at thetime he was building thePlungerand I theArgonaut, and saw each other almost every day, we never became sufficiently intimate to exchange personal experiences. I am therefore indebted to his son, Mr. John P. Holland, Jr., for the loan of notes left by his father and compiled by himself regarding his father's early and later experiences. I quote from the notes:On the southwest coast of Ireland, a few miles from the famous cliffs of Mohar, and overlooking the river Shannon, stands the village of Liscannor. Here was born on February 24, 1841, John P. Holland, later to become famous as the inventor of the Holland submarine. He was the second son of John and Mary Holland, who had long been residents of the place. His father was a coast guard, and from him little John heard the stories of the sea that inspired in him the love he had for it in later years. His elder brother, Alfred, was a strong, healthy boy of great intellect. When John was six years old he was sent to the Irish Christian Brothers school at Ennistymon, in the same county. He always credited the Irish Christian Brothers with giving him the early education that made him capable, later, of achieving results that scientists of to-day can hardly credit as being true.In 1853 the family moved to Limerick, causing John to be transferred to the schools taught by the Christian Brothers at Sexton Street, that city. He was a very studious boy and made great progress in his studies. He loved to tell how he was in the habit of rising early in the morning and going into the fields, where he would climb a tree and there study his lessons for the day. The family had not resided long in Limerick when the father was taken from them verysuddenly. He had been suffering from some slight ailment, and mentioned the fact to a friend. The friend advised that he take a home remedy, composed mostly of potash. He took the prescribed dose and died within a few hours.On the death of his father John was compelled to give up school and seek employment in a tobacco shop. In 1858 he left the position and became a teacher in the Christian Brothers schools. In 1860 he showed signs of failing health; accordingly the Brothers transferred him to one of their schools in Waterford, in the hope that the climate there would prove more beneficial to his impaired health. However, after residing in that town for a time it was seen that the looked-for improvement did not materialize, and he grew worse instead of better. During the following twelve months he was assured by the best medical advice available that his health would not permit him to continue his studies, and that in order that it be restored he would do well to live in some place having a mild and dry climate, such as is found in the Madeira Islands. For several reasons this was impracticable, so he went to Cork to wait until he could find a suitable climate in which to live. While staying in Cork he lived at Ashburton, at the western end of Clanmire Hill, for about one year. While here he improved greatly in health and strength.The War of the Rebellion in the United States had started a few months before he came to live in Cork. Toward the end of November, 1862, he read in the CorkExamineran announcement of the first combat between armored ships that had occurred about two weeks previously; that is, the battle between theMonitorandMerrimacat Hampton Roads, Va., in which the littleMonitordefeated theMerrimac, of twice her bulk and power, after a short contest. Just before the remarkable duel theMerrimac, ignoring the guns of her opponent, the wooden shipCongress, sank her by striking her with her massive iron stem. TheCumberland, another ship like theCongress, lying in the water near her, did not wait to be similarly rammed, but made haste to run aground on the nearest shallow place. But this did not save her, as theMerrimacattacked her and set her on fire with her heavy guns, while ignoring her fire, which did very little harm. This epoch-making contest in Virginian waters astonished naval authorities the world over, especially in England, whose main reliance for the maintenance of their power was placed in the "wooden walls," and in the bravery and skill of their seamen. The English nervousness was due to the demonstration at Hampton Roads that wooden ships could be no more of a hindrance to an armorclad than theCumberlandandCongresswere to theMerrimac, and that if the Yankees built a few more monitors and sent them across the Atlantic quickly, they could come to London by water absolutely unhindered and destroy London and all the English navy within reach. All the English naval depots could, with practically no hindrance, be treated similarly within a few months, and an end made of English oppression from which it could never recover.That this is no wild dreaming will be evident to everybody, when the action of the English Parliament regarding a proposal made there by a Lord of the Admiralty was considered and acted upon favorably in rapid order. A certain Lord Paget, who commanded an English ship at the bombardment of Sebastopol, proving that he was not without experience in justifying the assertion, told them that if allthe five hundred and eighty English warships then in existence were sent into the Cork harbor; and if the little AmericanMonitorwere to get in there, too, at the same time; and also if a suitable chain boom were fixed so as to enclose the whole lot, that the same littleMonitorcould send them all to the bottom within a few hours without being compelled to fire a single shot. Lord Paget made these assertions in support of a motion he made before the House of Commons, proposing that the unspent part of an appropriation of about $75,000,000 designed to build forts to defend harbors in the South of England for the protection of their fleets against the French and Yankees should be immediately applied to the construction of armorclad ships. Without any delay a bill was passed making the required change in the appropriation bill. Very shortly after the Admiralty proposed the construction of four ironclads, which proposal was immediately adopted.Four large battleships were taken and razed and covered with armor-plate. They were followed later by many much more powerful vessels designed especially to carry armor,until at the present day the English Navy is competent to engage all the European navies together. Mr. Holland, reflecting upon the result of the duel at Hampton Roads, foresaw this result clearly, because he knew that England possessed the necessary materials, money, and mechanical skill required to provide ships enough to maintain her claim to her assumed title, "Mistress of the Seas," and to enable her to terrorize the greatest nations of Europe that had persistently shown lack of wisdom by their neglect to properly provide themselves with the only weapon that could resist her; that is, a sufficiently powerful navy.They trusted, to their undoing, to great armies, forgetting that England had already proved her ability to cause combinations of her former enemies against any one of them.But, having carefully noted the development of armored ships in the American, English, and French navies since the first duels of armorclads at Hampton Roads, Mr. Holland conceived the notion that it would be possible to build a vessel that would utilize water cover as a protection against an enemy's projectiles and thus be capable of ramming her enemy without exposing herself to attack. The study of the possibility of designing a practicable submarine boat to encounter English ironclads in this manner became the most interesting problem that he had to solve for a considerable time afterward. He further relates the physical difficulties that had to be overcome; bad health and hard work hindered consideration of the problem for a long time, until one day he happened to see in a newspaper an account of the experiments made with a submarine in New York harbor.[1]The description of its performances appeared to be incredible when he remembered the physical difficulties that had to be overcome, as his former study of the subject revealed them. Reflecting later that it was foolish and unfair to ridicule and laugh at a project which was described only by a short notice in the newspaper, and that described only its success in overcoming the physical difficulties in its operation, he started on a thorough study of the question in connection with a design roughly sketched on a sheet of paper; giving due attention to the essential points concerned in using a submarine boat so that it would be practical to live and work while completely submerged even in rough water; so asto propel it, first, at an even or any required depth; second, to be able to steer it with certainty in any required direction; third, to have an ample supply of compressed air on board, as well as the necessary apparatus to renew it when exhausted.Fortunately he had sufficient engineering knowledge to determine the thickness and weight of a spindle-shaped steel shell competent to endure the external water pressure due to a submergence of two hundred and fifty feet depth, which was probably the greatest pressure it would ever be compelled to endure when in action. He was also competent to provide for a change of trim and for regulating the degree of submergence, as well as to provide for a slow or a rapid rise to the surface as circumstances might require. After completing his design, however, he found there was no one with confidence enough in the idea to give him backing. He was regarded as a second Jules Verne; in a word, a dreamer. He accordingly locked his plans in his trunk and for the time being forgot all about them.A few years later his mother came to the United States and he decided to follow her. He landed in Boston in the winter of 1872, and in the middle of typical New England weather as found at that time of the year. Everything was covered with ice and snow, quite different from the mild winters he had known in the little "Green Isle." One morning after his arrival he was walking through one of the streets of the "Hub," and, not being possessed of the agility of a mountain goat—so necessary for a man to navigate one of our American streets during an icy spell—he had not gone far before he fell and broke his leg. Passersby helped him home, and he was assured by the physician whoset the fracture that he would not be able to move about for at least two months. Finding himself with so much idle time on his hands, he decided to get out his forgotten plans and study them again. The result was that by the time his convalescence was over he had drawn a new and much superior design.But it was not until 1876, when he was teaching school in Paterson, New Jersey, that he succeeded in securing financial backing for his first boat. A friend at that time raised the necessary capital, about $6000, and the building was done at the Albany Street Iron Works, corner of Albany and Washington Streets, New York, in 1876, in the shop owned by Messrs. Andrew and Ripley. To their courteous superintendent, Mr. Dickey, he was indebted for many suggestions toward rendering the boat practical and useful. Early in 1878 she was removed to Todd and Rafferty's shop in Paterson, New Jersey; he, being a resident of that city at that time, could complete her outfit more easily there. Toward the end of July, 1878, she was taken to a point where she could be more easily launched, about one hundred yards above the Falls Bridge, on the right bank of the river. She was taken there late one fine afternoon and launched from the wagon on which she was moved. Mr. William Dunkerly, the engineer in charge of the operation, fastened a strong line on her bow to bring her to when she was afloat; but she did not float long, for the wagon wheels sank in the made ground where they launched her, the greater part of the wagon being submerged, as well as nearly one-half of the volume of the boat, leaving the boat with the stern considerably elevated. After hard work on the part of Messrs. Dunkerly and John Lister, the owners of a boathouse abovethe bridge she was pulled off the wagon and floated for a few minutes, amid the cheers of mill operatives who lined the banks and covered every available spot on the bridge. But the cheering suddenly ceased when the boat backed a little out in the river, for she settled deeper in the water and finally sank, to the great disappointment of the crowd, who expressed their feelings in loud yells until Messrs. Dunkerly and Lister moved the wagon out of the way, took hold of the boat's painter, and pulled her out of the water high and dry on the spot previously occupied by the wagon. It is no exaggeration to say that the natives were much astounded to see a little iron boat weighing four tons pulled by two men from the bottom of the Passaic and left standing high and dry on the bank.The next day the accidental submergence was explained by the absence of two five-eighths inch screw plugs from the bottom of the central compartment in which the operator would be seated while the boat was in operation. By opening a stop valve while the boat was in operation under water a sufficient quantity of water would enter, surround the operator in his diving suit, and render the boat and its contents heavier than water, so that it would sink as it did after having been launched with the plug holes open. The reason that it did not sink, and that it was so easy a matter to pull it ashore, was because the total weight on board on that occasion was much more than it was designed to carry. The central space then carried water equal to the weight of the diver and his suit of armor, as well as the additional quantity that would fill the space around him, as well as that which would be due to the distention of the suit by air pressure while it was in action during diving. The actual practicabilityof being able to handle the boat under these conditions was the first important point proved by experiment on the day following the launch."We proved conclusively, a few weeks after, that our estimate of the quantity of fresh compressed air required to support life comfortably in the operator was probably a little excessive. The quantity of compressed air, as well as the pressure required to force all water out of the boat and to cause her to float light on the surface, was ample. A few days after the launch, the engine having been given a slight test, the boat was towed up the river to a point opposite the old Pennington house. In the launch that towed her were Mr. Dunkerly, Captain John Lister, and three men prominent in the 'Fenian' movement."What happened when the boat reached the point for the test is best told by Mr. Dunkerly: "We fastened ropes to the bow and stern," Mr. Dunkerly said; "Mr. Holland climbed into the submarine, closed the hatch, and started the engine. The bow went down first, and before we realized the fact the boat was under twelve feet of water. The ropes were a safeguard in case the compressed air should not prove sufficient to expel the water from the ballast tanks. Holland was also given a hammer with which to rap upon the shell of the boat should he find himself in difficulties. After being submerged one hour, Holland brought the boat to the surface, to the great relief of all who were witnessing the test. As soon as the boat came up the turret opened and Holland bobbed up smiling. He repeated his dive several times, and then he invited us to try it, but we preferred to 'stick to the ropes.' About the third trip we made up the river a stranger was seen hiding behind the rocks on theriver road. He had a powerful field glass, and it was said that he was an agent of the British Government. His presence caused a commotion for a time." From here we will continue in Mr. Holland, Senior's, own words:"Continuous submergence trials for various periods were next undertaken. We had one serious setback that caused no greater trouble than shortening our experiments by compelling us to omit all running trials and to confine ourselves to testing matters of essential importance. This was due to the failure of the misnamed Braton engine that was installed in the boat. The builders assured me that it was a Braton engine, but they had improved on Braton's designs by employing two double-acting cylinders, having both ends of each supplied with charges from one central combustion chamber. On trial in the boat this engine failed to develop any noticeable power, so we were compelled to employ Mr. Dunkerly's launch, supplying her engines with steam, which was conducted from the boiler of his launch by way of a hose to the engine of the submarine, which was now employed as a steam engine. This entailed a considerable loss of steam, due to condensation, but it produced enough power to propel the submarine, having Mr. Dunkerly's launch alongside so as to allow free vertical movement, as when diving, so that we could test the efficiency of the boat's horizontal and vertical rudders. The vertical rudders, those that controlled horizontal motion, proved to be very effective, but the horizontal rudders, placed on the level of the centre of buoyancy, proved to be useless. We proved that the boat should move three or four times more rapidly before they could produce a useful effect. This experiment showed the folly of attempting to control the degree of submergence ofthe boat by the employment of central horizontal rudders, a method on which so much importance was placed by some of my predecessors and successors, in attempts at submarining, and, strange to say, some of them still believe in it, very evidently because they have never tested them. A good many submarine and other inventors are satisfied with designs on paper and do not bother to make experiments. We determined some other very evident matters that it was necessary to prove by actual experiment; that is, that it is not practical to cause a boat to lie still at any given depth without the employment of complicated machinery that should have no place in a submarine boat. Several other important points regarding the design, construction, and management of submarines, which still cause difference of opinion and design, were determined fairly well. For instance, the modern craze for 'good, big boats,' as well as for large, high conning towers, was proved to be absurd. Even though our views on these and other matters were exhibited to the Navy Department Ordnance Bureau, practically no notice was taken of them. I disliked the idea common among politicians that my failures to get a government contract was owing to political influence or 'pull,' but, judging by my short experience in Washington, I concluded that there was another, and much more serious, hindrance to the adoption of my ideas."The history of the efforts I made to induce the government to consider the claims of the first submarine boat proposed to them by me in 1875, as well as the results, reflects no credit on the officials that had anything to do with it, as can be clearly seen from what follows."The first proposition was made in 1875, through afriend of the late Secretary of the Navy Robeson, for his consideration. It was referred by him for a report to the late Admiral Sampson, at that time commander of the torpedo station at Newport, Rhode Island. The Admiral reported in good time that the project was practically impossible, owing mainly to the difficulty of finding in what direction to steer the boat under water, and the attempt to do so would be an aggravated case of trying to find one's way in a fog. Very evidently he had no notion of the possibility of steering by compass under water. The same incredulity was expressed by a distinguished Swedish officer whom I afterward met in New York."After having determined the correctness of my ideas regarding submarines, and adding a few points revealed by the experiments made on the Passaic River, my financial supporters, the trustees of the Fenian Skirmishing Fund, determined to build a larger boat that could be employed for breaking blockades.[2]Toward the end of May I started to design a new boat of about nineteen tons displacement; in other words, one small and light enough to be carried on ship's deck and launched overboard whenever her services would be required. Only three men were required for her crew.THE "FENIAN RAM"The first Holland power-propelled submarine boat (built 1881). Sketch made by the author after measuring the boat at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1915."She was built at the shops of the Delamater Iron Works, at the foot of West Thirteenth Street, New York, and launched in May, 1881. During her construction my curiosity was excited by the apparent incredulity of some of the engineers in the shop regarding the practicability of such a boat. Many objections were urged against her, especiallyby men who should have known better, but the trouble with them was almost the same as I encountered later among the staff officers of the navy, viz., because they were, almost without exception, of English, Welsh, or Scotch descent, experienced in all kinds of shipbuilding. They appeared to know by intuition that the project was absurd. They proposed many difficulties that were not solved for them. I also noticed that many of the men appeared to take a deep interest in the progress of the work, even though they never made any inquiries to my knowledge, yet they observed everything, because there was no way of preventing them. I also noticed what appeared to be consequences of this curiosity of foreigners regarding an American machine."During the following twelve months many visitors came to look over the submarine, mostly Swedes, Russians, Italians, and Germans. I was much pleased to meet two of them who apparently had no idea of the jealousy with which some people guard their military secrets, viz., Ali Ritza and Hassan Effendi. But, very clearly to me, they had no idea of the importance of what was expected from the machine, or, much more likely, they had been persuaded by their acquaintances of English connections that the project would never amount to anything because it did not originate in England. The fact that English opinion in naval matters governed the opinion of every American was made quite clear to me later on."This nineteen-ton boat was launched in 1881. She was thirty-one feet long, six feet beam, seven feet four inches in depth, and was propelled by a Brayton petroleum engine. Her crew consisted of three men—the pilot, engineer, and gunner. She laid at the Morris & CummingsDredging Company's dock in Jersey City until July 3, 1883, during which time many interesting experiments were made with her."The first run on the surface and while submerged was made in the basin, or passage, east of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The first tests made were the surface runs to test the engine, clutch, gearing, etc. These proved very successful, and the next in order was to submerge the boat at the dock and determine whether the seams were all right, and also to test the efficiency of the compressed-air tanks for supplying oxygen for breathing and giving impulses for expelling water from the ballast tanks."Accordingly Richards, the engineer, and myself entered the boat and closed the hatch. This shut us off from the air, and our breathing now depended entirely on the compressed-air reserve. After waiting a few moments and finding no ill effects from the compressed air, I decided to submerge. I drew back the little iron levers on either side of my head (these operated the Kingston valves in the bottom, through which water was admitted to the ballast tanks). Almost immediately the boat began to settle, giving us the suggestion of slowly descending in an elevator. I now looked through the ports in the superstructure and observed that the bow had entirely disappeared and the water was within a few inches of the glass. A second or two later everything grew dark and we were entirely submerged, and nothing could be seen through the ports excepting a dark-green blur."Our next suggestion was a slight jar when the vessel struck the bottom. It might also be mentioned here that we had no light except the glow that came through the conningtower. This just about sufficed to read the gauges, but was too poor to be of much interest to the engineer. The engine was not needed at that time, however, but we decided to carry a small lantern, to be used when any adjustment was necessary, but not otherwise, as it consumed too much of our precious oxygen."Richards having made an examination and found everything tight, I decided to blow out the ballast and come up. Accordingly I opened the valve admitting air to the ballast tank, and at once heard a hiss that told me that the air was driving out the water. The green blur on the ports in the conning tower grew lighter as I gazed through them until suddenly the light of full day burst through, almost dazzling me. After blinking my eyes a few times I looked out again and saw the familiar surroundings of the 'Gap.' I now opened the hatch and stood on the seat, thus causing my head and shoulders to protrude from the tower. As soon as I was observed doing this a cheer burst from the crowd of observers on the dock, among whom opinion was equally divided as to whether we would ever emerge alive from our dive or not. We had now demonstrated the fact that our boat was tight, that our air was sufficient for breathing, and that our ballasting system was perfect."Our next test was to prove that we could dive with our engine running. Many were the gloomy prophecies advanced as to what would happen when we attempted to force our exhaust outboard against the water pressure found at eight or ten feet depth. For this occasion Richards and I entered the boat, I taking my place in the conning tower, while he went forward to start the engine. After a little kicking and sputtering he succeeded in getting it started. We then letin the clutch and the boat started forward. When we reached the far side of the basin I turned her around and threw out the clutch, causing the boat to slow down and stop. Closing the hatch, we then made sure that everything was tight, and opened the Kingston valves. When the water reached the observer's ports in the conning tower, I closed them again. We then proceeded along awash; that is, with only the little tower showing above the surface. I found that from this position I could observe objects quite a distance ahead, and my vision was obscured only occasionally when a wave washed against the glass. I next threw forward the lever on the right side of my seat (this was connected with the diving, or vertical, rudder by a lever action). Immediately the nose of the boat went down, and before I realized it our gauge showed a depth of about ten feet. I now drew the lever back to centre, and the boat straightened out on an even keel. There was very little or no tendency to buck or be cranky; in a word, I had no difficulty in preventing her nose from rising or dipping down."After running about one hundred yards submerged I steered the boat up, and in a few seconds the superstructure of the boat was again above water. I then opened the air valve and expelled my ballast, causing the boat to rise and assume her normal position. This dive was practised for some time in order that we might gain facility in handling the diving and steering gear."Captain John Ericsson was at that time preparing to build hisDestroyerin the same part of the shop in which my boat had been built. Somebody in Delamater's described my boat to Captain Ericsson and explained the purpose of a nine-inch tube placed in the axis and having a breech andbow cap. The object of this fitting was to permit the insertion of a six-foot torpedo that could be shot out at a target while the boat was under water by air at a heavy pressure contained in steel flasks connected with the breech of the gun by a balanced valve. After the torpedo was ejected the breech and muzzle were closed, and the water contents of the tube were permitted to flow into two tanks to correct the position of the centre of gravity."Not having any torpedo models ready for experiment when the boat reached Jersey City, Captain Ericsson very kindly sent me word that I might build a few like those he proposed to use in hisDestroyer. I therefore deferred building any on my own ideas, and decided to use his, should they prove suitable. The Delamaters built me two on his models and sent them to Jersey City for trial. For the trials of Ericsson's torpedo models the boat was set awash in the water, with the axis of the torpedo placed horizontally and about three and one-half feet below the water surface. Because there was a new floating dock lying in the water about one hundred and fifty yards from the submarine, and in a direct line with it, the firing pressure was reduced to about three hundred pounds on the square inch. When the firing valve was opened the projectile passed out and travelled about six or eight feet beyond the muzzle of the gun, then it turned upward and arose in the air to perhaps sixty or seventy feet; then it fell point foremost in the water and buried itself so deeply in the mud that we could never find it again. For the second shot the boat was depressed a few degrees and was swung to port so as to avoid butting the floating dry dock. It travelled about twice as far as its predecessor, then rose fifteen feet in the air and passed overthe wall limiting the basin, striking a pile that projected above it, and frightening a fisherman who was dozing thereon. He was in no danger, however, as the pile and string-piece of heavy pine afforded him ample protection."While the boat lay at Gorky's repair shop at the point called the 'Gap,' a test was made of the efficiency of the apparatus provided for using the boat as a diving-bell, viz., a watertight hatch placed over a hatchway on the bottom, with valves leading from air-chambers, through which air under pressure was permitted to flow and fill the space occupied by the operators."When employing the boat as a diving-bell everything was closed tight and air was admitted to the central space until the external water pressure was exactly balanced, and when the lower hatch might be opened without any risk of water entering. The first man to make a test was Mr. George M. Richards, of Erie, Pennsylvania, my engineer. He sank the boat at high water while she lay at the dock. When she rested on the bottom he opened the test valves to make certain that the external water pressure was balanced by the internal air pressure, admitting an excess of water equal to his weight to hold her on the bottom. This operation did not consume more than a minute. He did not actually go out of the boat, but only dropped his feet on the bottom, passed his hands under the boat, one on either side, and lifted the boat slowly and with little exertion about one foot from the bottom. Had I provided the boat with a diver's outfit he could have gone out and come back again without trouble or risk. On July 3, 1883, we left the 'Gap' in Jersey City in order to do some diving in the deep water of the Narrows."The boat went out under its own power, unaccompaniedby anybody save a small colored boy who had managed to drop on the turret when we were leaving the dock. The first intimation I had that we were carrying a passenger was shortly after we had passed Robbins's Reef Lighthouse. Then I found my view of Staten Island and Bay Ridge became obscured by what seemed to be a pair of brown rags hanging on either side of the turret and blocking the vision through the side lights. When we passed Robbins's Reef the water became a little rougher, so that the water passed up on the hull and washed over the turret. After the windows had been wet a few times I heard noises that plainly indicated that we were carrying an uninvited and unwelcome passenger. Fearing that the waves would wash him off, I headed the boat upstream, opened the hatch, and invited him to come inside, as I feared running through rough water with him on top. He politely refused my invitation, assuring me that he was 'puffectly safe' where he was, and that he would 'hold on like grim death.' This unfortunate circumstance spoiled my chances of diving in deep water that day, so we were compelled to abandon it. This interruption by the young colored gentleman wasted so much time that it was after sunset when we headed for the Bay Ridge shore, with which I was unfamiliar, to look for a landing place. Seeing through the twilight unmistakable signs that the shore was rocky, I ran the boat out about one hundred yards and then headed her up toward the Bay Ridge Ferry landing, with the intention of leaving her there until daylight the next morning. Before starting north we noticed two boys in a rowboat approaching us from the shore. We stopped until they came alongside and inquired: 'What is this thing?' They came on board and inspected her at our invitation,and expressed great astonishment at the strange boat they had picked up. But what was much more to the purpose was that when they found we had no particular landing place in view they very kindly offered us the hospitality of Mr. Vanderbilt Bergen's dock at Bay Ridge for as long as we wished to stay there for experiments. Then they took our 'painter' and towed us into his dock on the site of the present Crescent Yacht Club station. The two young gentlemen, Tunis Bergen and his cousin Harry Midgley, also contracted to take care of our material and help us out during our stay at their dock. What was of great importance to us was that we learned from Mr. Vanderbilt Bergen, Tunis's brother, that the place we had happened upon was by far the most suitable of any within miles for diving and experiments. We left the boat there over two months, making experiments to determine the value of our devices and to improve them wherever possible."Every time we went out we took two or more dives of various lengths, most of these quite across the Narrows, a little below Stapleton. During these dives I always made certain that there was no ship of twenty-five or thirty feet draught passing. Ordinarily we ran at a depth of not less than twenty feet, so that we could afford to ignore excursion steamers, fishing boats, and small yachts. The paddles of excursion steamers we could hear a long distance away, so that we never had any difficulty in avoiding them by changing our course or running at a greater depth until they had passed. We had a rather exciting experience on one occasion when we started to run submerged from Stapleton to Bay Ridge. At starting there was no large vessel in sight, but when about two hundred and fifty yards from shore Idistinctly heard the paddle of a steamer. I instantly changed the vessel's course from directly across the Narrows, heading her upstream and running to twenty feet depth so as to eliminate any danger of a collision. Running along I listened for the sound of paddles, but could hear nothing, so I concluded that the steamer must have passed beyond the range of hearing or else had changed her course. Therefore I thought it would be safe to come within fifteen feet of the surface and listen again. I did so, and, hearing no sound, brought the turret above the surface to look around, but I could see no steamer. I then resumed my course back to Bay Ridge. On approaching Mr. Bergen's dock I saw three or four men jumping around and acting as if demented, so on landing I asked Bergen the cause of their hilarity. 'Oh,' he said, 'you frightened the d—— out of theSt. Johns, the Long Branch steamer. You remember having come near the surface shortly after you started across and then diving? We didn't see you again until you rose three hundred yards out at this side.' I said that I remembered it. 'Well, when you went down that time your propeller shot a great mass of water out backward, just as big as, or bigger than, any whale could blow. TheSt. Johnswas about two hundred yards astern of you, and she stopped instantly, not being able to tell what the trouble was ahead of her. After a while she started up and headed into the Staten Island shore, keeping on until I thought she would run ashore. She ported her helm and kept close along shore until she passed the Quarantine anchorage, then she headed straight for New York.'"Experimental runs were made almost every day during the months of July and August, and continued until September,when we returned to the 'Gap' in Jersey City. During our experiments we were never without a considerable crowd of witnesses, sometimes numbering hundreds, especially in our runs from the 'Gap' up the Hudson and return. One morning in July a very patronizing gentleman, who announced himself as a reporter from theNew York Sun, requested permission to go into the boat and examine it, but, much to his surprise, I was compelled to refuse him permission. The next morning there appeared in his paper a long report describing the performances of theFenian Ram, a new name to which I had no objection excepting its incorrectness. Because public curiosity was aroused, the same Mr. Blakely Hall seldom missed reporting every run or experiment we made while at Bay Ridge. He explained to me that I was foolish in not wishing to advertise my invention, because the Government would certainly wish to acquire boats of the same type, as he could see by the newspaper reports that they were already preparing to build them in France."Shortly after our return to the 'Gap,' an amusing incident took place which is well worth recording. A number of friends and myself decided to take a trip up the Hudson. There were eight or ten in the party, and, as the submarine could accommodate only four, a small sloop was hired to carry the overflow. When we got under way, the submarine towing the sloop, we found the going rather hard, owing to cakes of ice floating down the river. When we were off Hoboken I slowed down to allow a steamer to cross our bow. This, of course, slackened the towline, with the result that when I got under way again said line fouled the propeller, held for a second, and then broke, sending the sloop adrift among the cakes of ice. The crew of the derelict barkshouted to attract my attention, but I had the hatch closed and could not hear them. I proceeded about a mile upstream from the point of the accident before I discovered that my tow was missing. I turned back and found my unfortunate mariners had been picked up by a passing boat and towed back to Jersey City."In November, 1883, while returning from a run through the Narrows, we dove to a depth of sixty feet, remained on the bottom for an hour, and came to the surface with no more trouble or inconvenience than if we dove only eight or ten feet. Shortly after this theRam'scareer ended in a rather odd way. I have no intention of advancing any excuses for the incident, as no official explanation was ever made to me concerning it. As a result, I never bothered again with my backers nor they with me, but before recording the more solemn incident I would like to mention a rather amusing one that has just come to mind."One morning, on going down to board the boat, I was surprised to find no boat there. I was puzzled for a minute, but, on inquiry of the bystanders, I found that my engineer, Richards, had decided to take the boat out for a run by himself. He had proceeded down stream, but that was about all the witnesses could tell me. I therefore walked along the wharves until I came to a crowd of men standing on a pier and pointing out into the river. My attention was called to a point on the surface about two hundred yards off the pier head. There a great deal of air was coming to the surface in countless little bubbles. The man told me that theIrish Ramhad just gone down there, owing to the fact that the conning tower was open when it passed close to a barge and tug. The wash from the tug passed over the little boat, floodedthe hatch, and came near catching Richards below. He happened to be just below the hatch, however, and was blown out by the escaping air when the boat went down. He floundered around in the water for a few minutes and was finally picked up by the crew of the tug. A few minutes later Richards appeared, still a bit pale from his rather startling experience. It cost my backers about $3000 to raise the boat and put her in shape again."The final history of the boat is told in a few words. She was taken one night from her slip in the 'Gap' and towed to New Haven, Connecticut. During the trip she was in charge of Breslin, one of the trustees of the fund. I received no notice of the contemplated move then, nor was I notified after. I am told that when they arrived in New Haven they attempted to make dives, but handled the boat so awkwardly that the harbor master decided that she constituted a 'menace to navigation' and demanded a bond if any further trials were to be made. As a result she was hauled out of the water on the property of Reynolds, another member of the committee, and there she still is. There is also a rumor that they have tried to sell her to the Russian Government, but failed, as on investigation the prospective buyers found that title to her was not clear."After theRamwas taken from me, I had no means of experimenting further or building another boat. After a time I secured a position with the Pneumatic Gun Company as a draughtsman. While employed there I managed to interest some members of the company and some friends of theirs in a design that I had drawn immediately after the loss of theRam. I allowed these men to examine my plans,and they, approving of them, set about to organize a company, known as the Nautilus Submarine Boat Company."During the organizing of the company I became acquainted with Captain Zalinski, U. S. A., an expert on heavy artillery. Through Captain Zalinski I met many influential men, who not only helped me with the project in hand at the time, but were largely instrumental in having my boat adopted by the United States Navy."At the suggestion of Captain Zalinski the boat was built at Fort Hamilton, as he was stationed there at the time, and, being on the army active list, could not be away from his post of duty. During the time of her construction everything was under his supervision. The boat was fifty feet long, six feet beam, and the hull was constructed of wood. In 1886 the boat was launched. The launching ways ran down from the fort wall to the water's edge. This part of the program was in the hands of a young engineer who had either an insufficient knowledge of the subject or lacked the ability to put his knowledge to practical use. The result was, that when the heavy boat started down the launching ways they suddenly collapsed and she crashed into some piling near the water's edge, tearing out the greater part of her side and bottom."On investigation it was found that the cost of repairs would exceed the amount of money still on hand in the company's treasury. Accordingly the wrecked boat was broken up where she lay, the engine and fittings removed and sold, and the proceeds used to partly reimburse the stockholders for the money they had invested. This accident discouraged my company from any further attemptsat submarine construction. Had this boat been successful, submarines would have become an accepted success years before they did. This unfortunate incident held me back at least ten years, as it was that long before I was able to secure backing to construct another boat."About this time the United States Navy Department was mildly interested in the performances of submarines in France, where they had attained some slight degree of success. The designs for these boats, I am sure, were based on certain fundamental points of myFenian Ramdesign. As I have said previously, there were a number of foreign officers present at Delamater's Yard from 1879 to 1881, while the boat was in course of construction, and it is hardly to be expected that they failed to take notes. However, the knowledge they secured did them very little good, because, while they secured a lot of valuable data, their inexperience caused them to disregard the most vital points, with the result that their boats never attained any degree of success. However, I do not wish to convey the impression that the United States Navy Department was at this time considering building submarines as the results of the French experiments; far from it. Had it not been informed of the success of myFenian Ram, which was far more interesting and wonderful than anything the French had done, and still remained unconvinced? I was totally sick and disgusted with its actions, and was seriously tempted to abandon all further attempts to convince and awake it from its lethargy. About this time I wrote an article, "Can New York be Bombarded?" with the intention of bringing before the public the pitiable condition of our fleet and coast defences,and showing how a few submarines would place us in a position to ward off an enemy's attack from mostly any point on our coast as effectively as if we had an adequate shore defence and a fleet equal to Great Britain's."The article referred to treats of other types of ships. This is not of interest now, but we quote what he says concerning"THE SUBMARINE, OR DIVING BOAT"This boat has a speed of eight miles per hour; she can remain under water for two days, or longer, without having any connection with the surface. She can be steered by compass when under water, and her course may be laid and corrected without obliging her to remain more than a few moments on the surface. This can be done without ever appearing over water. She can move at any required depth, and is more thoroughly under control when completely submerged than when on the surface. Her horizontal and vertical motions are controlled automatically or by the pilot."The torpedo, carrying a one-hundred-pound charge, can be projected in a straight line to a distance of eighty or ninety feet, according to the power employed in expelling it. The method of attack will probably be as follows: The diving boat, with only her turret above water, moves toward the ship. When she gets so close that her presence may be discovered, say half a mile, she descends a few feet under the surface. Once or twice, after the bearing of the ship is observed by means of a telescope projected for a fewminutes over the water, corrections are made in the course for deviations owing to currents."When near the vessel she goes deeper, so as to bring her stem ten or fifteen feet beneath the surface. Netting can thus be avoided. She can now discharge her torpedo, to explode on contact. As soon as this strikes, the explosion occurs and a large hole is torn in the ship's side. The ship will now become unmanageable, and with assistance may be captured. Experience has shown that in a seaway she rolls or pitches very little, apparently following the wave slope in large waves. In short, sharp ones, she seems to rise and fall bodily with very little tendency to pitching."A notion seems to prevail that the proper duty of a diving boat would be to carry a diver, who could come out and fasten a torpedo to a ship at anchor, then retire into his boat and move away; also, that it would be useful in placing and removing stationary mines. It is very evident that if a diving boat can attain a speed of ten or twelve miles per hour, fire torpedoes at ships moving at full speed, and keep to sea for days together, her sphere of usefulness would be greatly extended. In fact, there is no insuperable objection to the employment of such vessels for coast defence and operations against ships. Submarine mines are not so effective against them as vessels on the surface, because they can pass them unobserved. They can enter a harbor that may be thoroughly defended, should it be necessary to destroy vessels inside the defences. If those on the fleet become aware of their presence it is more than probable, judging from the action of the French fleet in 1877-78, that the moral effect of the discovery will be that they willfeel convinced of the foolishness of awaiting an attack when the time so employed may be more wisely expended in moving to a safe distance, and in getting there at full speed. Thus, in 1886, did I try to show by comparison the superiority of the submarine over the torpedo boats and gunboats, the two arms of defence on which the Navy placed all its confidence at the time."From the above words concerning John P. Holland's various efforts to secure recognition of his inventions, and his years of strenuous endeavor to devise a weapon capable of providing a means of defence, there is no question but that it is due to his initiative, perseverance, and success that the diving type of boat was ever brought to be manageable and adopted by the United States and England.Mr. Holland's health broke down in his later years, said to have been caused by the treatment which he received from some of his associates.The testimony which Mr. Holland leaves among his notes, and the opinion given me by his son, would indicate that his name and services were used to enable others to make large financial gains, and that he himself received little, if any, benefit from his life's work. His son is authority for the statement to me that such competence as he was able to leave for his family was derived from his other business outside of that of his submarine work, and that his connection with submarine matters undoubtedly affected his mind and health in later years and probably shortened his life.An appeal found among his papers, addressed to the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the Houseof Representatives under date of February 8, 1906, would appear to bear out this statement. I quote:"APPEAL OF JOHN P. HOLLAND, INVENTOR OF SUBMARINEBOATS, TO THE COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS OF THEHOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, NOT TO LEGISLATE INTHE INTEREST OF THE ELECTRIC BOAT COMPANY'SMONOPOLY, BUT TO GIVE HIMA SQUARE DEAL"38 Newton Street,Newark, New Jersey,February 8, 1906,Hon. C. E. Foss,Chairman Committee on Naval Affairs,House of Representatives.Dear Sir:I am the inventor of the Holland submarine boat, now in use in the United States Navy and in Europe. My old patents, to the number of about twenty, are owned by the Electric Boat Company. On June 16, 1900, I entered into a contract with that company to serve as their engineer for five years, dating back to April 1, 1899, and expiring April 1, 1904. Since the expiration of my contract with the Electric Boat Company I have devoted myself to remedying the defects in my old inventions, and perfecting designs by which the low speed of the present Holland boats can be increased three or four times. Having perfected these inventions until I was sure I could obtain about 25 knots per hour submerged, and after making numerous other alterations, greatly improving the efficiency over my submarine boats now in use in the Navy, I procured the organization of a company, "John P. Holland's Submarine Boat Company," May 18, 1905, with sufficient capital to build a boat under my new plans and inventions, and was about to start to work, when the Electric Boat Company filed a suit against me in the Court of Chancery of New Jersey, applying for an injunction, and claiming substantially that I had agreed to assign to them all my inventions and patents during the term of my natural life. Two other suits have been started, one against my new company in theUnited States Circuit Court to enjoin the use of the name "Holland"; the other against me personally, alleging a verbal contract never to compete with the Electric Boat Company, was commenced in the New Jersey Court of Chancery. My contract with the Electric Boat Company to act as their engineer, and to give them my patents and inventions, was for the five years during which I acted as engineer, and no longer, and expired April 1, 1904, as stated above.These suits have had the effect of frightening off the capital that I had enlisted, and I have not as yet been able to get the capital to build my new boat, by reason of these suits. The only object of these suits was to prevent me from building a boat and going into competition before the Navy Department with the submarine boats now being built by the Electric Boat Company under my old patents.The Electric Boat Company makes the allegation in their last bill of complaint that by threatening to discharge me from their employ and break their contract with me and stop my salary, that I agreed to a contract which prevents me from using my brains and inventive talent in building submarine boats for the balance of my life. This allegation is absolutely false, even though under affidavit by Mr. Rice, and would be, if true, most inequitable on account of duress and on account of want of consideration. This alleged agreement was not reduced to writing; the only evidence the Court has is the sworn statement of Mr. Rice; and when the fact is considered that Mr. Rice, formerly a professor of law at Columbia University, and having the assistance of Mr. Frost, also a lawyer, failed to have such an important agreement reduced to writing and signed by me, the whole proposition appears ridiculous and silly. The further fact that this bill of complaint containing these allegations, has been printed and distributed at the Capitol would seem to indicate that the principal object of this suit is to frighten away the capital I had enlisted, and prevent the consideration of my new patents and claims by your honorable committee.My attention has been called to the bill (H.R. 10070), entitled "A Bill to Increase the Efficiency of the Navy." It must be apparent to every member of your committee that this bill is drawn solely in the interest of the Electric Boat Company monopoly. The clause in it that "The Secretary of the Navy shall purchase or contract for said submarine boats within four months of the completion of thecontract trials of the submarine boats now building for the Navy" is against all public interest, and is something extremely unusual. If the Electric Boat Company should not complete its contract for a year or two years or never, the whole business of the Navy Department in this line would be held up. The bill excludes me, the inventor of the Holland boats and who constructed and built the originalHolland, which is now in the service of the Navy, from submitting my plans and models to the Navy Department for consideration, for it would be useless to do so if the Secretary is deprived, by the proposed law suggested by the Electric Boat Company, from adopting them, though considering them superior in efficiency and economy to the plans upon which the present boats are being built.I have recently had my models tested in the government tanks at the Navy Yard in Washington by the United States officers in charge, and their official reports will show that I can get a guaranteed speed of 22 knots per hour submerged, and the same speed on the surface, and this speed can be obtained in vessels of the same or greater tonnage as those now being built by the Electric Boat Company.I hardly think, Mr. Chairman, that your committee, in making an appropriation for submarine boats, will exclude the Navy Department from any consideration of the plans made by me when I say to you that these plans have the approval of some of the most expert officers in the Navy on the question of submarine boats, and that the boats can be built at one-third less than is now being paid the Electric Boat Company for boats of two-thirds less submerged and more than fifty per cent. less surface speed.If I am prevented by the suits filed against me by the Electric Boat Company from obtaining capital with which to build my boats, which will have three times the submerged speed of the present boats, and a vast improvement in other directions, then I want the law so framed that I can present a proposition to the Secretary of the Navy to cause my plans and new inventions to be thoroughly examined by a board of experts, and if favorably reported on, that the government may build the same in its yards under my supervision, and pay me a reasonable royalty. That is all I ask your committee to do, and to not frame a law that will exclude me, the inventor of the present submarine boats, from having my improvements considered by the Secretary of the Navy, and pass one in theinterest of the Electric Boat Company under its monopoly now of the business of the department under my old and obsolete patents.The title of the bill (H.R. 10070) should be: "A Bill to Prevent the Increase of the Efficiency of the Navy, and Prevent Economy Being Considered."If your committee is desirous of increasing the efficiency of submarine boats for the Navy, and at the same time reduce the cost to the government at least one-third, if not one-half, of the prices now being paid for submarine boats, a clause in the Naval Appropriation Bill on the following lines would effect the object:"The sum of_________Dollars is hereby appropriated for submarine boats, and the Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized to contract for or purchase or build in a navy yard of the United States these submarine boats, whichever in his judgment will increase the efficiency of the Navy and will be in the interest of economy to the department."I consider my old patents assigned to the Electric Boat Company as obsolete; they are ten years behind the age.I can build in the Navy Yard at Brooklyn boats under my new patents, designs, and inventions, in six months, and guarantee a submerged speed of 22 knots per hour.Admiral Bowles testified before the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs at its hearing on submarine boats. He was at that time chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair of the Navy Department, and his statement at that time is entitled to the serious consideration of your committee, because it was that of a government expert, and is true in every respect. This hearing before the Senate committee is printed and the hearing took place on May 29, 1902. Admiral Bowles's testimony can be found in Senate Document 395, 1st Session, 57th Congress, page 82. He said that the Holland boats ought not to cost more than $89,489, and in this sum he said he had allowed an ample profit, and in addition had included $11,000 for experiments and tests. Admiral Bowles is now president of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, and is building the submarine boats that the Navy contracted for last year, and they are now being built under my old plans and patents, so alleged.If your committee will call upon the present Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repairs, he will undoubtedly inform you that he can build in the Brooklyn Navy Yard my submarine boats asquickly and as expeditiously as they can be built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company.I am a poor man, while the Electric Boat Company has among its principal stockholders three or four millionaires, including August Belmont, Isaac L. Rice, and others. The capital stock of that company is ten million dollars. They have deprived me, by their flimsy lawsuit, from getting capital to build a boat under my new inventions and patents, and are now asking Congress to pass a law which will prevent the Navy Department from adopting my new plans and inventions, even should the entire department consider that they are far superior in every way to the plans now being used by that department.I do not believe that your committee will commit itself to this monopoly which is against the interest of the government.I am advised by my attorneys that as soon as the suits of the Electric Boat Company can be reached and tried the Court will undoubtedly dismiss them, but in the meanwhile they act as an injunction against me, as they prevent my enlisting capital which is timid and dreads a lawsuit.Very respectfully,Mr. Holland and I worked on entirely different lines in the development of our respective types of boats, he being a consistent advocate of the diving principle. He contended for many years that a submarine boat should be built small in size and with little statical stability, so as to dive quickly, while I have stood for great statical stability and for methods of submerging the vessel bodily on a level keel instead of diving at excessive and dangerous angles. I have never refused to accede to him the credit of having been the man who first made the diving type of submarine practical, and to acknowledge his genius and attention to detail which overcame the difficulties which caused the failure of many of his predecessors who attempted to build boats of the diving type.He died on August 12, 1914, just at the beginning ofthe present European war, and consequently did not live to see the fulfilment of his prophecy that the submarine would prove the superior of the battleship if they ever became opponents in actual warfare.My own experimental work began when I was a mere schoolboy. I had become interested in the submarine by reading Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." Shortly afterward I took up the study of natural physics and became interested in the use of the diving bell. Being an excellent swimmer and fond of boats, I spent most of my vacation times on or about the water. I remember building a canvas canoe from a description published inGolden Days. This canoe was very "cranky," being only about eighteen inches wide and the sides eighteen inches high. The only way I could learn to sit in the canvas canoe was by ballasting her with pig iron and gradually reducing the ballast as I became more expert, until finally I learned how to keep an equilibrium and maintain the canoe upright. There was only one other boy I remember in the village of Toms River, where I lived at that time, who could ride this canoe, consequently some of the boat men, when they saw it one day drifting bottom side up down the river, came to the conclusion that I had been dumped out and drowned. When they came alongside and righted the canoe they were much surprised to find me in it. I had turned the canoe upside down and crawled up into it, the air pressure keeping the water from rising into it. I had crawled in there for the purpose of finding out how long I could live on the volume of air contained within the canoe; in the meantime it was drifting down the river.Strange to say, the design of the submarine boat whichI made at that time, when I was only about fourteen years of age, contained most of the elements which are being used successfully in the Lake type of boat to-day: the use of the hydroplanes for control of depth, bottom wheels for navigation over the bottom, and a diving compartment with an air-lock so that the crew could enter or leave the vessel when submerged. These plans were shown to my father at that time, who rather discouraged me in the matter on the ground that submarine navigation was something that great engineers had given a lot of attention to, and that I had better give more attention to my regular school studies than to fooling around with experiments of that nature—which was good advice.Consequently I did nothing further in the matter until 1892, when my attention was called to an advertisement of the United States Government for inventors to submit designs of submarines to the Navy Department. Then I prepared plans which, in my judgment, would meet the Department's requirements. I was still a youngster, and knew nothing about the difficulties met by outsiders in getting hearings before government officials in Washington. On the appointed day, in June, 1893, on which the bids were to be opened I appeared in Washington with my plans and specifications under my arm, and was directed to the room adjoining the Secretary's office, where a large number of people were assembled. At this time I knew nothing of anyone else's experiments in submarines, and thought that I was the first and only one. I was consequently much disturbed to see so many people present. I sat down on a lounge, and a young man a little older than myself sat down on the lounge alongside of me and said to me, "Well, I suppose you arehere on the same errand as the rest of us; I see you have some plans, and I suppose you have designs of a submarine boat which you are going to submit." I said, "Yes, and I guess there are going to be a good many plans submitted, judging by the number of people who are here." The gentleman then said, "No, I only know of two others who are going to submit plans: there is Mr. J. P. Holland, the gentleman standing over there, and my father, Mr. George F. Baker, of Chicago."He then explained that he was the son of Mr. Baker, the man who had built the Baker boat, and whose experimental work was responsible for the appropriation of $200,000 by the government for building a submarine. I then said to him, "Well, then, who are all these other gentlemen present? "He knew most of them and obligingly pointed them out to me, saying, "There is Senator So-and-so and Congressman So-and-so, and Mr. So-and-so the great lawyer," etc. I then said to myself, "Well, Lakey, it looks as though you were not going to have much of a show here." I submitted my plans and specifications, however, and returned to Baltimore and to my other business. I was much surprised, therefore, to receive, some time afterward, a telegram from the editor of theNew York Tribune, a Mr. Hall, stating that he had received information from Washington that my plans were looked upon most favorably by the majority of the Naval Board and that they were going to adopt my type of boat. He asked for an interview and a description of the boat. I did not go over to Washington, expecting to receive notice in good time that the award had been granted—which is proof positive that I was still young and ignorant. Nothing further was heard of the matteruntil I saw a notice in the paper that it had been decided not to build any submarines at that time, and that the matter had been postponed indefinitely. Some years afterward I met the late Admiral Mathews, and he informed me then that he had been a member of the board, and that four of the five members of that board were in favor of adopting my type of boat and of having the government start the development of a submarine on those lines, but that the constructor of the board opposed it on the grounds that when the boat was running on the bottom on wheels she might run off from a precipice and go down head first, and reach so great a depth as to be crushed, evidently not realizing that her great static stability and the use of her hydroplanes would prevent this from happening. Anyway, they did not arrive at a conclusion, and any action was postponed for the time being.In the meantime Mr. George F. Baker, who had moved to Washington in the full expectation of getting the contract, had died, and the Holland Torpedo Boat Company had offered to build, under guarantee of its performance, a boat to meet the department's desires. As I had no company back of me, and, being only a youngster, was without capital of my own, the department decided it was better for them to place a contract under a definite guarantee of performance than to undertake to develop a submarine themselves. I did not name any price for building the boat at the time I submitted my plans, but expressed the desire to coöperate with the government in any way that they wished. My youthful hopes at that time were that if they considered my general plans worthy of adoption I should be taken into the navy and given some sort of a commission to work outthe details of the boat. When I saw some mention in the paper that the matter was to come up for consideration again, I did, however, make a visit to the Navy Department, and assuming, from my observation of the Senators, Congressmen, and representative men who were present at the time of the first opening of the bids, that it was necessary to have some sort of a standing, I secured a letter of introduction from the governor of my native state, New Jersey, who at that time was Mr. Leon Abbott, introducing me to the gentleman who at that time was acting Secretary of the Navy, for the purpose of finding out, if possible, whether I had any chances, and the proper procedure to pursue in getting further consideration of my invention. Presenting myself in the Secretary's office, I sent in my letter of introduction, and the word came back that the Secretary would see me in a few minutes. I waited in the ante-room for a couple of hours, but no word came from the Secretary. Finally he appeared in the doorway and said, "Now, gentlemen, I am going to my lunch, and will be back at half-past two." I Went out to my lunch and was back in the waiting room a little before half-past two, shortly after which the Secretary came into the room, passed around, shook hands with every one, and talked a minute or two with some of his visitors. When he came to me he shook my hand, and I explained to him that I had sent in a letter from Governor Abbott and had been awaiting an opportunity to see him. His reply was, "I will see you in a few minutes." He returned to his office; at four o'clock he appeared at the door again and said, "Gentlemen, I will not be able to see any of you again to-day, as I must now sign my mail."I was on hand again the following morning, and notifiedthe colored man that I was still waiting for the interview which the Secretary had promised me. The word came back that he would see me in a few minutes. I waited all the morning; the noon hour came, and the Secretary then stated that he was going out to lunch and would be back at half-past two. Every one else who had appeared in the morning the day before had been granted his interview and a new crowd was waiting. I was the only chap who had "stood pat." By this time I was pretty much disgusted. As I went out into the hall the Secretary came out of his door and, putting his hand on my shoulder, said, "I am sorry to have kept you waiting, but as soon as I have finished my lunch I will take up your matter." You may be sure I was on hand, and after he returned he sent for me. He called a colored man and said, "I want you to take this young man down to Captain Sampson (afterward Admiral Sampson, who was at that time head of the Bureau of Ordnance), and tell Captain Sampson that Mr. Lake comes with a letter of introduction from the governor of my state, and I want him to listen to what he has to say about submarine boats, and report to me." This colored man, instead of taking me to Captain Sampson, turned me over to another colored man, and did not report the message which the Secretary had given him. This second colored man took me to Captain Sampson's clerk, and finally I was ushered into the Captain's presence and started to tell him about my boat and its possibilities. He immediately assumed a bored expression, turned his back to me, put his feet up on a chair, and said, "Well, go ahead, but make it brief." I admit that I was pretty much tongue-tied by this time, and I do not flatter myself that I impressed him in the leastdegree, as his manner had the effect of a cold douche upon my enthusiasm. I remember that as I walked out of the Navy Department I vowed never to return until I was sent for, and I never did.I now started making experiments on my own account, and built theArgonaut, Jr., and later theArgonaut; and I did not return to Washington until I was sent for by a telegram from the late Senator Hale, at that time chairman of the Senate Navy Committee, asking me to come to Washington and submit a proposition for building submarine boats for the United States Government. I was never able to account for my treatment in Washington until some time afterward, when I had an office in New York. The former Acting Secretary had at this time left the Navy Department and was practising his profession of law in New York, where I believe he is still engaged.Having some legal business at that time which I thought he might be able to handle because of his experience in the Navy Department, I called upon him in regard to it. He stated that, as he was then free, he could handle it for me, and when I recalled my visit to him when he was Secretary of the Navy he said he remembered it very well. He laughingly remarked that I may have thought him a little slow in receiving me at that time; and then explained that, previous to his accepting the portfolio as assistant secretary of the navy, he had been the attorney for a rival submarine boat company; that he knew all about their boats, and the fact that they had expended large sums of money in the development of submarines; and that, although he had resigned as attorney for the company before he became acting secretary, perhaps his former association with them had led him to giveless consideration to my proposition than he otherwise might have done.As I believed the submarine to have great possibilities commercially as well as for war, I gave up my other business and came to New York, opened an office in the old Cheeseborough Building, and tried to secure capital to build a commercial submarine. I advertised in the papers and visited a number of capitalists in the effort to interest them, but usually, after obtaining an interview, as soon as I asserted that it was possible to navigate over the bottom of the ocean as readily as it was over the land, and that when on the bottom I could open a door in the boat but that no water would come in; and, further, that divers could very readily pass in and out of this open door, I observed in most cases a look of dread in their eyes and their hands would slide over and push a button. An attendant immediately came to the door and reminded Mr. "Blank," whoever he might be, that he had a very important engagement or that some other visitor was waiting to see him. Unfortunately for me, this was about the time that a madman had attempted to bomb Russell Sage in his office.The result was, that after spending six months and all of my savings I had not raised a dollar. I then decided that it was necessary to get some engineer of national prominence to endorse my project, so I went to Charles H. Haswell, author of "Haswell's Handbook," and former chief engineer of the United States Navy, and explained to him that I wanted him to give me a professional opinion on the practicability of my boat. I offered to submit him my plans of the boat—of which I also had a model in the tank of water in the Cheeseborough Building which I wouldlike him to see, as I thus would be better able to explain to him its method of navigating on the surface and submerging beneath the surface and on the bottom itself. And I then asked him how much he would charge me. He stated that he should want $1500 for the investigation and opinion. By this time I had expended my savings and hardly had $15—let alone $1500. I explained the situation frankly to him, and he said, "Well, I will go down and look it over and give you a report anyhow, and you can repay me at some future time when you are able." He did so, and gave me a very excellent endorsement, but I found that even his endorsement was not sufficient to induce capitalists to invest their hard-earned money in any such crazy scheme as mine appeared to them. I finally decided to build a small experimental boat myself to demonstrate the two principal features over which almost every one seemed to be sceptical. These were the ability to navigate over the bottom of the ocean and the ability to enter and leave the boat while submerged without any water coming in and foundering her. I therefore gave up my office and moved down to Atlantic Highlands, where, with the financial assistance of my uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. S. T. Champion, I was able to build theArgonaut, Jr.She was built of yellow pine planking, double thick, lined with canvas laid between the double layers of planking, the outer seams caulked and payed. She was a flat-sided affair and would not stand great external pressure. She was propelled when on the bottom by a man turning a crank on the inside. Our compressed-air reservoir was a soda-water fountain tank. The compressed-air pump was a plumber's hand-pump, by which means we were ableto compress the air in the tanks to a pressure of about one hundred pounds per square inch.My diving suit I built myself by shaping iron in the form of an open helmet, which extended down as far as my breast; this I covered with painted canvas. I used the dead-light from a yacht's cabin as my eyeglass in front of the helmet. I tied sash weights to my legs to hold me down on the bottom when walking in the vicinity of the boat. A cousin, B. F. Champion, accompanied me on my first submerged run with theArgonaut, which was in Blackfish Hole in the Shrewsbury River. We submerged the boat alongside of a dock and started across stream in the river. The first time we went under water a stream of water came through a bolt-hole which had not been plugged and struck "Bart" on the back of the neck. He said, "Ugh!" and made a dive. TheArgonauthad a little port-hole in one end about six inches in diameter, and "Bart" said afterward, "I made a dive for that port-hole, but came to the conclusion that I could not get through, so I stopped." It was a simple matter, however, to drive a plug in and stop the water from coming in. On our first trip we ran across the river and back, and, although there was a strong current in the river, she "backed" right back to her starting place, having rested on the bottom firmly enough to prevent the current from carrying her down stream.

The experiences of the pioneer inventors of the submarine, if known in detail, would undoubtedly afford many amusing incidents as well as some tragic ones. Some of these have been treated in the previous chapter on the comedy and tragedy of submarine development. Cornelius Debrell must have been either something of a joker or else he was much further advanced in the art of revitalizing the air than are any of our modern scientists. His experiments attracted much attention during the reign of King James the First, and, according to the accounts published at that time, he must have been quite a court favorite, for it is reported that King James made a trip with him from Westminster Bridge to Greenwich. The accounts assert that he could remain under water for long periods of time by simply pouring out a few drops of some secret liquid from a bottle which he carried with him. The celebrated Ben Jonson, in one of his works, refers to Debrell and his celebrated boat in a humorous passage from one of his plays, "The Staple of News," acted by "His Majesty's Servants" in 1625.

P. Jun.—Have you no news against him, on the contrary?Nath.—Yes, sir. They write here, one Cornelius-son hath made the Hollanders an invisible eel, to swim the haven at Dunkirk and sink all the shipping there....P. Jun.—But how is't done?Cym.—I'll show you, sir. It is an automa, runs under water, with a snug nose, and has a nimble tail, made like an auger, with which tail she wriggles betwixt the costs (ribs) of a ship, and sinks it straight....P. Jun.—A most brave device, to murder their flat bottoms.(ActII,S.1.)

P. Jun.—Have you no news against him, on the contrary?

Nath.—Yes, sir. They write here, one Cornelius-son hath made the Hollanders an invisible eel, to swim the haven at Dunkirk and sink all the shipping there....

P. Jun.—But how is't done?

Cym.—I'll show you, sir. It is an automa, runs under water, with a snug nose, and has a nimble tail, made like an auger, with which tail she wriggles betwixt the costs (ribs) of a ship, and sinks it straight....

P. Jun.—A most brave device, to murder their flat bottoms.

(ActII,S.1.)

Of course, there are no authentic plans of Debrell's boat in existence, but from the descriptions which were published in regard to it I am under the impression that probably he did succeed in submerging below the surface of the water and propelling her with the tide for some distances. The description tells of some very ingenious arrangements for submerging the boat, in which he used goatskins sewed together in the form of bags. The mouth of each bag was nailed over an orifice opening from the interior of the boat into the sea. These goatskins were placed between planks, with a sort of a Chinese windlass arrangement for squeezing the planks together. When he wished to submerge the boat he allowed the planks to open out, and the water, rushing into the goatskins, increased the vessel's displacement so that it sank. When he wished to come to the surface he simply drew the planks together and squeezed the water out of the goatskins, thus restoring the vessel's buoyancy. According to description, the boat was propelled by oars extending through ports opening into the sides of the boat. Goatskins sewed in the form of cones prevented the water from entering the vessel, the base of the cone being nailed to the sides of the boat, the apex of which was cut off and bound around the staff of the oar. This gave sufficient flexibility to feather the oars and row under water.

Nearly one hundred years after Cornelius Debrell's experiments an Englishman by the name of Day built a small wooden submarine and descended in it under the water. This experiment gave him sufficient confidence to undertake the construction of a large vessel, and he proposed to make a profit from its use by making wagers that he could descend to a depth of one hundred yards and remain there for a period of twenty-four hours. He built the vessel, placed his wagers, and descended. He won his wagers but never returned to the surface to claim them.

BUSHNELL'S SUBMARINE, THE "AMERICAN TURTLE"

BUSHNELL'S SUBMARINE, THE "AMERICAN TURTLE"

During the Revolutionary War Dr. David Bushnell, a resident of Saybrook, Connecticut, devised a submarine vessel called theAmerican Turtle. He aimed to destroy the British fleet anchored off New York during its occupation by General Washington and the Continental Army. Thatcher'sMilitary Journalgives an account of an attempt to sink a British frigate, theEagle, of sixty-four guns, by attaching a torpedo to the bottom of the ship by means of a screw manipulated from the interior of this submarine boat.A sergeant who operated theTurtlesucceeded in getting under the British vessel, but the screw which was to hold the torpedo in place came in contact with an iron strap, refused to enter, and the implement of destruction floated down stream, where its clockwork mechanism finally caused it to explode, throwing a column of water high in the air and creating consternation among the shipping in the harbor. Skippers were so badly frightened that they slipped their cables and went down to Sandy Hook. General Washington complimented Doctor Bushnell on having so nearly accomplished the destruction of the frigate.

If the performance of Bushnell'sTurtlewas as successful as this, it seems strange that our new government did not immediately take up his ideas and make an appropriation for further experiments in the same line. When the attack was made on theEagle, Doctor Bushnell's brother, who was to have manned the craft, was sick, and a sergeant who undertook the task was not sufficiently acquainted with the operation to succeed in attaching the torpedo to the bottom of the frigate. Had he succeeded, theEaglewould undoubtedly have been destroyed, and the event would have added the name of another hero to history and might have changed even the entire method of naval warfare. Bushnell's plans did not receive any encouragement, however, and were bitterly opposed by the naval authorities. His treatment was such as to compel him to leave the country, but, after some years of wandering, under an assumed name he settled in Georgia, where he spent his remaining days practising his profession.

Doctor Bushnell was also the inventor of the submarine mine, with which he blew up a schooner anchored off NewLondon, Connecticut, and attempted to sink some British men-of-war in the Delaware River off Philadelphia by setting them adrift with the tide, expecting them to float down, strike against the sides of the ship, and then explode. Fortunately for the ships, none of them happened to strike, but the fact becoming known that torpedoes were being set adrift in the river caused great consternation among the British shipping people. When some wag set a lot of kegs adrift, which floated down the river, it caused tremendous excitement, the English crews firing at the kegs as they came floating down the river. This has been recorded in that humorous poem called "The Battle of the Kegs," by Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Fulton's Attempt.—Robert Fulton, the man whose genius made steam navigation a success, was the next to turn his attention to submarine boats, and submarine warfare by submerged mines. A large part of his life was devoted to the solution of this problem. He went to France with his project and interested Napoleon Bonaparte, who became his patron and who was the means of securing sufficient funds for him to build a boat which was called theNautilus. With this vessel Fulton made numerous descents, and it is reported that he covered fifty yards in a submerged run of seven minutes.

In the spring of 1801 he took theNautilusto Brest, and experimented with her for some time. He and three companions descended in the harbor to a depth of twenty-five feet and remained one hour, but he found the hull would not stand the pressure of a greater depth. They were in total darkness during the whole time, but afterward he fitted his craft with a glass window, one and a half inches in diameter,through which he could see to count the minutes on his watch. He also discovered during his trials that the mariner's compass pointed equally as true under water as above it. His experiments led him to believe that he could build a submarine vessel with which he could swim under the surface and destroy any man-of-war afloat. When he came before the French Admiralty, however, he was met with blunt refusal, one bluff old French admiral saying, "Thank God, France still fights her battles on the surface, not beneath it!"—a sentiment which apparently has changed since those days, as France now has a large fleet of submarines.

ROBERT FULTON'S SUBMARINE

ROBERT FULTON'S SUBMARINE

After several years of unsuccessful efforts in France to get his plans adopted, Fulton finally went over to Englandand interested William Pitt, then Chancellor, in his schemes. He built a boat there and succeeded in attaching a torpedo beneath a condemned brig provided for the purpose, blowing her up in the presence of an immense throng. Pitt induced Fulton to sell his boat to the English Government and not bring it to the attention of any other nation, thus recognizing the fact that if this type of vessel should be made entirely successful, England would lose her supremacy as the "Mistress of the Seas," a prediction which seems now somewhat verified, judging from the work of the enemy submarines in the past few months.

Fulton consented to do so regarding other European countries, but would not pledge himself regarding his own country, stating that if his country should become engaged in war no pledge could be given that would prevent him from offering his services in any way which would be for its benefit.

The English Government paid him $75,000 for this concession. Fulton then returned to New York and built theClermontand other steamboats, but did not entirely give up his ideas on submarine navigation, for at the time of his death he was at work on plans for a much larger boat.

Tuck, the inventor of thePeacemaker, had an unhappy lot. He spent a considerable portion of his wealth upon his experiments, and it is reported that his relatives, thinking he would spend all of his money in this way, and consequently leave nothing to them, had him adjudged insane and incarcerated. Some years ago I met a diver who had been employed by Tuck in his submarine boat experiments. This diver related to me an incident that nearly caused them to lose their lives. It appears that the boat had been first submergedin shallow water to find out if it was tight, which it was under a moderate pressure. They then took it out in the Hudson River, but on reaching a greater depth, water started to come in around the gasket of the hatch, the hatch not being constructed in a manner to increase its tightness as the pressure on the same increased. The water came in so fast that they could not rise. He said they tried to caulk the leak by stuffing their handkerchiefs in between the hatch covering and the combing, but they could not stop it. Finally one of the men became so hysterical that it was necessary for the diver to take up a hammer and tap him on the head with it and threaten to brain him unless he became quiet and did as he was told. The diver told me that he became satisfied that the only chance for their lives was to allow the boat to fill, then hold their breath as it was filling, until the external pressure on the hatch was equalized, and then open the hatch and swim to the surface. They followed this plan and escaped safely.

TUCK'S "PEACEMAKER"

TUCK'S "PEACEMAKER"

Holland's Achievements.—While Mr. John P. Holland and I worked in adjoining rooms at the Columbian Iron Works, in Baltimore, in the years 1896 and 1897, at thetime he was building thePlungerand I theArgonaut, and saw each other almost every day, we never became sufficiently intimate to exchange personal experiences. I am therefore indebted to his son, Mr. John P. Holland, Jr., for the loan of notes left by his father and compiled by himself regarding his father's early and later experiences. I quote from the notes:

On the southwest coast of Ireland, a few miles from the famous cliffs of Mohar, and overlooking the river Shannon, stands the village of Liscannor. Here was born on February 24, 1841, John P. Holland, later to become famous as the inventor of the Holland submarine. He was the second son of John and Mary Holland, who had long been residents of the place. His father was a coast guard, and from him little John heard the stories of the sea that inspired in him the love he had for it in later years. His elder brother, Alfred, was a strong, healthy boy of great intellect. When John was six years old he was sent to the Irish Christian Brothers school at Ennistymon, in the same county. He always credited the Irish Christian Brothers with giving him the early education that made him capable, later, of achieving results that scientists of to-day can hardly credit as being true.

In 1853 the family moved to Limerick, causing John to be transferred to the schools taught by the Christian Brothers at Sexton Street, that city. He was a very studious boy and made great progress in his studies. He loved to tell how he was in the habit of rising early in the morning and going into the fields, where he would climb a tree and there study his lessons for the day. The family had not resided long in Limerick when the father was taken from them verysuddenly. He had been suffering from some slight ailment, and mentioned the fact to a friend. The friend advised that he take a home remedy, composed mostly of potash. He took the prescribed dose and died within a few hours.

On the death of his father John was compelled to give up school and seek employment in a tobacco shop. In 1858 he left the position and became a teacher in the Christian Brothers schools. In 1860 he showed signs of failing health; accordingly the Brothers transferred him to one of their schools in Waterford, in the hope that the climate there would prove more beneficial to his impaired health. However, after residing in that town for a time it was seen that the looked-for improvement did not materialize, and he grew worse instead of better. During the following twelve months he was assured by the best medical advice available that his health would not permit him to continue his studies, and that in order that it be restored he would do well to live in some place having a mild and dry climate, such as is found in the Madeira Islands. For several reasons this was impracticable, so he went to Cork to wait until he could find a suitable climate in which to live. While staying in Cork he lived at Ashburton, at the western end of Clanmire Hill, for about one year. While here he improved greatly in health and strength.

The War of the Rebellion in the United States had started a few months before he came to live in Cork. Toward the end of November, 1862, he read in the CorkExamineran announcement of the first combat between armored ships that had occurred about two weeks previously; that is, the battle between theMonitorandMerrimacat Hampton Roads, Va., in which the littleMonitordefeated theMerrimac, of twice her bulk and power, after a short contest. Just before the remarkable duel theMerrimac, ignoring the guns of her opponent, the wooden shipCongress, sank her by striking her with her massive iron stem. TheCumberland, another ship like theCongress, lying in the water near her, did not wait to be similarly rammed, but made haste to run aground on the nearest shallow place. But this did not save her, as theMerrimacattacked her and set her on fire with her heavy guns, while ignoring her fire, which did very little harm. This epoch-making contest in Virginian waters astonished naval authorities the world over, especially in England, whose main reliance for the maintenance of their power was placed in the "wooden walls," and in the bravery and skill of their seamen. The English nervousness was due to the demonstration at Hampton Roads that wooden ships could be no more of a hindrance to an armorclad than theCumberlandandCongresswere to theMerrimac, and that if the Yankees built a few more monitors and sent them across the Atlantic quickly, they could come to London by water absolutely unhindered and destroy London and all the English navy within reach. All the English naval depots could, with practically no hindrance, be treated similarly within a few months, and an end made of English oppression from which it could never recover.

That this is no wild dreaming will be evident to everybody, when the action of the English Parliament regarding a proposal made there by a Lord of the Admiralty was considered and acted upon favorably in rapid order. A certain Lord Paget, who commanded an English ship at the bombardment of Sebastopol, proving that he was not without experience in justifying the assertion, told them that if allthe five hundred and eighty English warships then in existence were sent into the Cork harbor; and if the little AmericanMonitorwere to get in there, too, at the same time; and also if a suitable chain boom were fixed so as to enclose the whole lot, that the same littleMonitorcould send them all to the bottom within a few hours without being compelled to fire a single shot. Lord Paget made these assertions in support of a motion he made before the House of Commons, proposing that the unspent part of an appropriation of about $75,000,000 designed to build forts to defend harbors in the South of England for the protection of their fleets against the French and Yankees should be immediately applied to the construction of armorclad ships. Without any delay a bill was passed making the required change in the appropriation bill. Very shortly after the Admiralty proposed the construction of four ironclads, which proposal was immediately adopted.

Four large battleships were taken and razed and covered with armor-plate. They were followed later by many much more powerful vessels designed especially to carry armor,until at the present day the English Navy is competent to engage all the European navies together. Mr. Holland, reflecting upon the result of the duel at Hampton Roads, foresaw this result clearly, because he knew that England possessed the necessary materials, money, and mechanical skill required to provide ships enough to maintain her claim to her assumed title, "Mistress of the Seas," and to enable her to terrorize the greatest nations of Europe that had persistently shown lack of wisdom by their neglect to properly provide themselves with the only weapon that could resist her; that is, a sufficiently powerful navy.

They trusted, to their undoing, to great armies, forgetting that England had already proved her ability to cause combinations of her former enemies against any one of them.

But, having carefully noted the development of armored ships in the American, English, and French navies since the first duels of armorclads at Hampton Roads, Mr. Holland conceived the notion that it would be possible to build a vessel that would utilize water cover as a protection against an enemy's projectiles and thus be capable of ramming her enemy without exposing herself to attack. The study of the possibility of designing a practicable submarine boat to encounter English ironclads in this manner became the most interesting problem that he had to solve for a considerable time afterward. He further relates the physical difficulties that had to be overcome; bad health and hard work hindered consideration of the problem for a long time, until one day he happened to see in a newspaper an account of the experiments made with a submarine in New York harbor.[1]The description of its performances appeared to be incredible when he remembered the physical difficulties that had to be overcome, as his former study of the subject revealed them. Reflecting later that it was foolish and unfair to ridicule and laugh at a project which was described only by a short notice in the newspaper, and that described only its success in overcoming the physical difficulties in its operation, he started on a thorough study of the question in connection with a design roughly sketched on a sheet of paper; giving due attention to the essential points concerned in using a submarine boat so that it would be practical to live and work while completely submerged even in rough water; so asto propel it, first, at an even or any required depth; second, to be able to steer it with certainty in any required direction; third, to have an ample supply of compressed air on board, as well as the necessary apparatus to renew it when exhausted.

Fortunately he had sufficient engineering knowledge to determine the thickness and weight of a spindle-shaped steel shell competent to endure the external water pressure due to a submergence of two hundred and fifty feet depth, which was probably the greatest pressure it would ever be compelled to endure when in action. He was also competent to provide for a change of trim and for regulating the degree of submergence, as well as to provide for a slow or a rapid rise to the surface as circumstances might require. After completing his design, however, he found there was no one with confidence enough in the idea to give him backing. He was regarded as a second Jules Verne; in a word, a dreamer. He accordingly locked his plans in his trunk and for the time being forgot all about them.

A few years later his mother came to the United States and he decided to follow her. He landed in Boston in the winter of 1872, and in the middle of typical New England weather as found at that time of the year. Everything was covered with ice and snow, quite different from the mild winters he had known in the little "Green Isle." One morning after his arrival he was walking through one of the streets of the "Hub," and, not being possessed of the agility of a mountain goat—so necessary for a man to navigate one of our American streets during an icy spell—he had not gone far before he fell and broke his leg. Passersby helped him home, and he was assured by the physician whoset the fracture that he would not be able to move about for at least two months. Finding himself with so much idle time on his hands, he decided to get out his forgotten plans and study them again. The result was that by the time his convalescence was over he had drawn a new and much superior design.

But it was not until 1876, when he was teaching school in Paterson, New Jersey, that he succeeded in securing financial backing for his first boat. A friend at that time raised the necessary capital, about $6000, and the building was done at the Albany Street Iron Works, corner of Albany and Washington Streets, New York, in 1876, in the shop owned by Messrs. Andrew and Ripley. To their courteous superintendent, Mr. Dickey, he was indebted for many suggestions toward rendering the boat practical and useful. Early in 1878 she was removed to Todd and Rafferty's shop in Paterson, New Jersey; he, being a resident of that city at that time, could complete her outfit more easily there. Toward the end of July, 1878, she was taken to a point where she could be more easily launched, about one hundred yards above the Falls Bridge, on the right bank of the river. She was taken there late one fine afternoon and launched from the wagon on which she was moved. Mr. William Dunkerly, the engineer in charge of the operation, fastened a strong line on her bow to bring her to when she was afloat; but she did not float long, for the wagon wheels sank in the made ground where they launched her, the greater part of the wagon being submerged, as well as nearly one-half of the volume of the boat, leaving the boat with the stern considerably elevated. After hard work on the part of Messrs. Dunkerly and John Lister, the owners of a boathouse abovethe bridge she was pulled off the wagon and floated for a few minutes, amid the cheers of mill operatives who lined the banks and covered every available spot on the bridge. But the cheering suddenly ceased when the boat backed a little out in the river, for she settled deeper in the water and finally sank, to the great disappointment of the crowd, who expressed their feelings in loud yells until Messrs. Dunkerly and Lister moved the wagon out of the way, took hold of the boat's painter, and pulled her out of the water high and dry on the spot previously occupied by the wagon. It is no exaggeration to say that the natives were much astounded to see a little iron boat weighing four tons pulled by two men from the bottom of the Passaic and left standing high and dry on the bank.

The next day the accidental submergence was explained by the absence of two five-eighths inch screw plugs from the bottom of the central compartment in which the operator would be seated while the boat was in operation. By opening a stop valve while the boat was in operation under water a sufficient quantity of water would enter, surround the operator in his diving suit, and render the boat and its contents heavier than water, so that it would sink as it did after having been launched with the plug holes open. The reason that it did not sink, and that it was so easy a matter to pull it ashore, was because the total weight on board on that occasion was much more than it was designed to carry. The central space then carried water equal to the weight of the diver and his suit of armor, as well as the additional quantity that would fill the space around him, as well as that which would be due to the distention of the suit by air pressure while it was in action during diving. The actual practicabilityof being able to handle the boat under these conditions was the first important point proved by experiment on the day following the launch.

"We proved conclusively, a few weeks after, that our estimate of the quantity of fresh compressed air required to support life comfortably in the operator was probably a little excessive. The quantity of compressed air, as well as the pressure required to force all water out of the boat and to cause her to float light on the surface, was ample. A few days after the launch, the engine having been given a slight test, the boat was towed up the river to a point opposite the old Pennington house. In the launch that towed her were Mr. Dunkerly, Captain John Lister, and three men prominent in the 'Fenian' movement."

What happened when the boat reached the point for the test is best told by Mr. Dunkerly: "We fastened ropes to the bow and stern," Mr. Dunkerly said; "Mr. Holland climbed into the submarine, closed the hatch, and started the engine. The bow went down first, and before we realized the fact the boat was under twelve feet of water. The ropes were a safeguard in case the compressed air should not prove sufficient to expel the water from the ballast tanks. Holland was also given a hammer with which to rap upon the shell of the boat should he find himself in difficulties. After being submerged one hour, Holland brought the boat to the surface, to the great relief of all who were witnessing the test. As soon as the boat came up the turret opened and Holland bobbed up smiling. He repeated his dive several times, and then he invited us to try it, but we preferred to 'stick to the ropes.' About the third trip we made up the river a stranger was seen hiding behind the rocks on theriver road. He had a powerful field glass, and it was said that he was an agent of the British Government. His presence caused a commotion for a time." From here we will continue in Mr. Holland, Senior's, own words:

"Continuous submergence trials for various periods were next undertaken. We had one serious setback that caused no greater trouble than shortening our experiments by compelling us to omit all running trials and to confine ourselves to testing matters of essential importance. This was due to the failure of the misnamed Braton engine that was installed in the boat. The builders assured me that it was a Braton engine, but they had improved on Braton's designs by employing two double-acting cylinders, having both ends of each supplied with charges from one central combustion chamber. On trial in the boat this engine failed to develop any noticeable power, so we were compelled to employ Mr. Dunkerly's launch, supplying her engines with steam, which was conducted from the boiler of his launch by way of a hose to the engine of the submarine, which was now employed as a steam engine. This entailed a considerable loss of steam, due to condensation, but it produced enough power to propel the submarine, having Mr. Dunkerly's launch alongside so as to allow free vertical movement, as when diving, so that we could test the efficiency of the boat's horizontal and vertical rudders. The vertical rudders, those that controlled horizontal motion, proved to be very effective, but the horizontal rudders, placed on the level of the centre of buoyancy, proved to be useless. We proved that the boat should move three or four times more rapidly before they could produce a useful effect. This experiment showed the folly of attempting to control the degree of submergence ofthe boat by the employment of central horizontal rudders, a method on which so much importance was placed by some of my predecessors and successors, in attempts at submarining, and, strange to say, some of them still believe in it, very evidently because they have never tested them. A good many submarine and other inventors are satisfied with designs on paper and do not bother to make experiments. We determined some other very evident matters that it was necessary to prove by actual experiment; that is, that it is not practical to cause a boat to lie still at any given depth without the employment of complicated machinery that should have no place in a submarine boat. Several other important points regarding the design, construction, and management of submarines, which still cause difference of opinion and design, were determined fairly well. For instance, the modern craze for 'good, big boats,' as well as for large, high conning towers, was proved to be absurd. Even though our views on these and other matters were exhibited to the Navy Department Ordnance Bureau, practically no notice was taken of them. I disliked the idea common among politicians that my failures to get a government contract was owing to political influence or 'pull,' but, judging by my short experience in Washington, I concluded that there was another, and much more serious, hindrance to the adoption of my ideas."The history of the efforts I made to induce the government to consider the claims of the first submarine boat proposed to them by me in 1875, as well as the results, reflects no credit on the officials that had anything to do with it, as can be clearly seen from what follows."The first proposition was made in 1875, through afriend of the late Secretary of the Navy Robeson, for his consideration. It was referred by him for a report to the late Admiral Sampson, at that time commander of the torpedo station at Newport, Rhode Island. The Admiral reported in good time that the project was practically impossible, owing mainly to the difficulty of finding in what direction to steer the boat under water, and the attempt to do so would be an aggravated case of trying to find one's way in a fog. Very evidently he had no notion of the possibility of steering by compass under water. The same incredulity was expressed by a distinguished Swedish officer whom I afterward met in New York."After having determined the correctness of my ideas regarding submarines, and adding a few points revealed by the experiments made on the Passaic River, my financial supporters, the trustees of the Fenian Skirmishing Fund, determined to build a larger boat that could be employed for breaking blockades.[2]Toward the end of May I started to design a new boat of about nineteen tons displacement; in other words, one small and light enough to be carried on ship's deck and launched overboard whenever her services would be required. Only three men were required for her crew.

"Continuous submergence trials for various periods were next undertaken. We had one serious setback that caused no greater trouble than shortening our experiments by compelling us to omit all running trials and to confine ourselves to testing matters of essential importance. This was due to the failure of the misnamed Braton engine that was installed in the boat. The builders assured me that it was a Braton engine, but they had improved on Braton's designs by employing two double-acting cylinders, having both ends of each supplied with charges from one central combustion chamber. On trial in the boat this engine failed to develop any noticeable power, so we were compelled to employ Mr. Dunkerly's launch, supplying her engines with steam, which was conducted from the boiler of his launch by way of a hose to the engine of the submarine, which was now employed as a steam engine. This entailed a considerable loss of steam, due to condensation, but it produced enough power to propel the submarine, having Mr. Dunkerly's launch alongside so as to allow free vertical movement, as when diving, so that we could test the efficiency of the boat's horizontal and vertical rudders. The vertical rudders, those that controlled horizontal motion, proved to be very effective, but the horizontal rudders, placed on the level of the centre of buoyancy, proved to be useless. We proved that the boat should move three or four times more rapidly before they could produce a useful effect. This experiment showed the folly of attempting to control the degree of submergence ofthe boat by the employment of central horizontal rudders, a method on which so much importance was placed by some of my predecessors and successors, in attempts at submarining, and, strange to say, some of them still believe in it, very evidently because they have never tested them. A good many submarine and other inventors are satisfied with designs on paper and do not bother to make experiments. We determined some other very evident matters that it was necessary to prove by actual experiment; that is, that it is not practical to cause a boat to lie still at any given depth without the employment of complicated machinery that should have no place in a submarine boat. Several other important points regarding the design, construction, and management of submarines, which still cause difference of opinion and design, were determined fairly well. For instance, the modern craze for 'good, big boats,' as well as for large, high conning towers, was proved to be absurd. Even though our views on these and other matters were exhibited to the Navy Department Ordnance Bureau, practically no notice was taken of them. I disliked the idea common among politicians that my failures to get a government contract was owing to political influence or 'pull,' but, judging by my short experience in Washington, I concluded that there was another, and much more serious, hindrance to the adoption of my ideas.

"The history of the efforts I made to induce the government to consider the claims of the first submarine boat proposed to them by me in 1875, as well as the results, reflects no credit on the officials that had anything to do with it, as can be clearly seen from what follows.

"The first proposition was made in 1875, through afriend of the late Secretary of the Navy Robeson, for his consideration. It was referred by him for a report to the late Admiral Sampson, at that time commander of the torpedo station at Newport, Rhode Island. The Admiral reported in good time that the project was practically impossible, owing mainly to the difficulty of finding in what direction to steer the boat under water, and the attempt to do so would be an aggravated case of trying to find one's way in a fog. Very evidently he had no notion of the possibility of steering by compass under water. The same incredulity was expressed by a distinguished Swedish officer whom I afterward met in New York.

"After having determined the correctness of my ideas regarding submarines, and adding a few points revealed by the experiments made on the Passaic River, my financial supporters, the trustees of the Fenian Skirmishing Fund, determined to build a larger boat that could be employed for breaking blockades.[2]Toward the end of May I started to design a new boat of about nineteen tons displacement; in other words, one small and light enough to be carried on ship's deck and launched overboard whenever her services would be required. Only three men were required for her crew.

THE "FENIAN RAM"The first Holland power-propelled submarine boat (built 1881). Sketch made by the author after measuring the boat at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1915.

THE "FENIAN RAM"The first Holland power-propelled submarine boat (built 1881). Sketch made by the author after measuring the boat at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1915.

The first Holland power-propelled submarine boat (built 1881). Sketch made by the author after measuring the boat at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1915.

"She was built at the shops of the Delamater Iron Works, at the foot of West Thirteenth Street, New York, and launched in May, 1881. During her construction my curiosity was excited by the apparent incredulity of some of the engineers in the shop regarding the practicability of such a boat. Many objections were urged against her, especiallyby men who should have known better, but the trouble with them was almost the same as I encountered later among the staff officers of the navy, viz., because they were, almost without exception, of English, Welsh, or Scotch descent, experienced in all kinds of shipbuilding. They appeared to know by intuition that the project was absurd. They proposed many difficulties that were not solved for them. I also noticed that many of the men appeared to take a deep interest in the progress of the work, even though they never made any inquiries to my knowledge, yet they observed everything, because there was no way of preventing them. I also noticed what appeared to be consequences of this curiosity of foreigners regarding an American machine."During the following twelve months many visitors came to look over the submarine, mostly Swedes, Russians, Italians, and Germans. I was much pleased to meet two of them who apparently had no idea of the jealousy with which some people guard their military secrets, viz., Ali Ritza and Hassan Effendi. But, very clearly to me, they had no idea of the importance of what was expected from the machine, or, much more likely, they had been persuaded by their acquaintances of English connections that the project would never amount to anything because it did not originate in England. The fact that English opinion in naval matters governed the opinion of every American was made quite clear to me later on."This nineteen-ton boat was launched in 1881. She was thirty-one feet long, six feet beam, seven feet four inches in depth, and was propelled by a Brayton petroleum engine. Her crew consisted of three men—the pilot, engineer, and gunner. She laid at the Morris & CummingsDredging Company's dock in Jersey City until July 3, 1883, during which time many interesting experiments were made with her."The first run on the surface and while submerged was made in the basin, or passage, east of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The first tests made were the surface runs to test the engine, clutch, gearing, etc. These proved very successful, and the next in order was to submerge the boat at the dock and determine whether the seams were all right, and also to test the efficiency of the compressed-air tanks for supplying oxygen for breathing and giving impulses for expelling water from the ballast tanks."Accordingly Richards, the engineer, and myself entered the boat and closed the hatch. This shut us off from the air, and our breathing now depended entirely on the compressed-air reserve. After waiting a few moments and finding no ill effects from the compressed air, I decided to submerge. I drew back the little iron levers on either side of my head (these operated the Kingston valves in the bottom, through which water was admitted to the ballast tanks). Almost immediately the boat began to settle, giving us the suggestion of slowly descending in an elevator. I now looked through the ports in the superstructure and observed that the bow had entirely disappeared and the water was within a few inches of the glass. A second or two later everything grew dark and we were entirely submerged, and nothing could be seen through the ports excepting a dark-green blur."Our next suggestion was a slight jar when the vessel struck the bottom. It might also be mentioned here that we had no light except the glow that came through the conningtower. This just about sufficed to read the gauges, but was too poor to be of much interest to the engineer. The engine was not needed at that time, however, but we decided to carry a small lantern, to be used when any adjustment was necessary, but not otherwise, as it consumed too much of our precious oxygen."Richards having made an examination and found everything tight, I decided to blow out the ballast and come up. Accordingly I opened the valve admitting air to the ballast tank, and at once heard a hiss that told me that the air was driving out the water. The green blur on the ports in the conning tower grew lighter as I gazed through them until suddenly the light of full day burst through, almost dazzling me. After blinking my eyes a few times I looked out again and saw the familiar surroundings of the 'Gap.' I now opened the hatch and stood on the seat, thus causing my head and shoulders to protrude from the tower. As soon as I was observed doing this a cheer burst from the crowd of observers on the dock, among whom opinion was equally divided as to whether we would ever emerge alive from our dive or not. We had now demonstrated the fact that our boat was tight, that our air was sufficient for breathing, and that our ballasting system was perfect."Our next test was to prove that we could dive with our engine running. Many were the gloomy prophecies advanced as to what would happen when we attempted to force our exhaust outboard against the water pressure found at eight or ten feet depth. For this occasion Richards and I entered the boat, I taking my place in the conning tower, while he went forward to start the engine. After a little kicking and sputtering he succeeded in getting it started. We then letin the clutch and the boat started forward. When we reached the far side of the basin I turned her around and threw out the clutch, causing the boat to slow down and stop. Closing the hatch, we then made sure that everything was tight, and opened the Kingston valves. When the water reached the observer's ports in the conning tower, I closed them again. We then proceeded along awash; that is, with only the little tower showing above the surface. I found that from this position I could observe objects quite a distance ahead, and my vision was obscured only occasionally when a wave washed against the glass. I next threw forward the lever on the right side of my seat (this was connected with the diving, or vertical, rudder by a lever action). Immediately the nose of the boat went down, and before I realized it our gauge showed a depth of about ten feet. I now drew the lever back to centre, and the boat straightened out on an even keel. There was very little or no tendency to buck or be cranky; in a word, I had no difficulty in preventing her nose from rising or dipping down."After running about one hundred yards submerged I steered the boat up, and in a few seconds the superstructure of the boat was again above water. I then opened the air valve and expelled my ballast, causing the boat to rise and assume her normal position. This dive was practised for some time in order that we might gain facility in handling the diving and steering gear."Captain John Ericsson was at that time preparing to build hisDestroyerin the same part of the shop in which my boat had been built. Somebody in Delamater's described my boat to Captain Ericsson and explained the purpose of a nine-inch tube placed in the axis and having a breech andbow cap. The object of this fitting was to permit the insertion of a six-foot torpedo that could be shot out at a target while the boat was under water by air at a heavy pressure contained in steel flasks connected with the breech of the gun by a balanced valve. After the torpedo was ejected the breech and muzzle were closed, and the water contents of the tube were permitted to flow into two tanks to correct the position of the centre of gravity."Not having any torpedo models ready for experiment when the boat reached Jersey City, Captain Ericsson very kindly sent me word that I might build a few like those he proposed to use in hisDestroyer. I therefore deferred building any on my own ideas, and decided to use his, should they prove suitable. The Delamaters built me two on his models and sent them to Jersey City for trial. For the trials of Ericsson's torpedo models the boat was set awash in the water, with the axis of the torpedo placed horizontally and about three and one-half feet below the water surface. Because there was a new floating dock lying in the water about one hundred and fifty yards from the submarine, and in a direct line with it, the firing pressure was reduced to about three hundred pounds on the square inch. When the firing valve was opened the projectile passed out and travelled about six or eight feet beyond the muzzle of the gun, then it turned upward and arose in the air to perhaps sixty or seventy feet; then it fell point foremost in the water and buried itself so deeply in the mud that we could never find it again. For the second shot the boat was depressed a few degrees and was swung to port so as to avoid butting the floating dry dock. It travelled about twice as far as its predecessor, then rose fifteen feet in the air and passed overthe wall limiting the basin, striking a pile that projected above it, and frightening a fisherman who was dozing thereon. He was in no danger, however, as the pile and string-piece of heavy pine afforded him ample protection."While the boat lay at Gorky's repair shop at the point called the 'Gap,' a test was made of the efficiency of the apparatus provided for using the boat as a diving-bell, viz., a watertight hatch placed over a hatchway on the bottom, with valves leading from air-chambers, through which air under pressure was permitted to flow and fill the space occupied by the operators."When employing the boat as a diving-bell everything was closed tight and air was admitted to the central space until the external water pressure was exactly balanced, and when the lower hatch might be opened without any risk of water entering. The first man to make a test was Mr. George M. Richards, of Erie, Pennsylvania, my engineer. He sank the boat at high water while she lay at the dock. When she rested on the bottom he opened the test valves to make certain that the external water pressure was balanced by the internal air pressure, admitting an excess of water equal to his weight to hold her on the bottom. This operation did not consume more than a minute. He did not actually go out of the boat, but only dropped his feet on the bottom, passed his hands under the boat, one on either side, and lifted the boat slowly and with little exertion about one foot from the bottom. Had I provided the boat with a diver's outfit he could have gone out and come back again without trouble or risk. On July 3, 1883, we left the 'Gap' in Jersey City in order to do some diving in the deep water of the Narrows."The boat went out under its own power, unaccompaniedby anybody save a small colored boy who had managed to drop on the turret when we were leaving the dock. The first intimation I had that we were carrying a passenger was shortly after we had passed Robbins's Reef Lighthouse. Then I found my view of Staten Island and Bay Ridge became obscured by what seemed to be a pair of brown rags hanging on either side of the turret and blocking the vision through the side lights. When we passed Robbins's Reef the water became a little rougher, so that the water passed up on the hull and washed over the turret. After the windows had been wet a few times I heard noises that plainly indicated that we were carrying an uninvited and unwelcome passenger. Fearing that the waves would wash him off, I headed the boat upstream, opened the hatch, and invited him to come inside, as I feared running through rough water with him on top. He politely refused my invitation, assuring me that he was 'puffectly safe' where he was, and that he would 'hold on like grim death.' This unfortunate circumstance spoiled my chances of diving in deep water that day, so we were compelled to abandon it. This interruption by the young colored gentleman wasted so much time that it was after sunset when we headed for the Bay Ridge shore, with which I was unfamiliar, to look for a landing place. Seeing through the twilight unmistakable signs that the shore was rocky, I ran the boat out about one hundred yards and then headed her up toward the Bay Ridge Ferry landing, with the intention of leaving her there until daylight the next morning. Before starting north we noticed two boys in a rowboat approaching us from the shore. We stopped until they came alongside and inquired: 'What is this thing?' They came on board and inspected her at our invitation,and expressed great astonishment at the strange boat they had picked up. But what was much more to the purpose was that when they found we had no particular landing place in view they very kindly offered us the hospitality of Mr. Vanderbilt Bergen's dock at Bay Ridge for as long as we wished to stay there for experiments. Then they took our 'painter' and towed us into his dock on the site of the present Crescent Yacht Club station. The two young gentlemen, Tunis Bergen and his cousin Harry Midgley, also contracted to take care of our material and help us out during our stay at their dock. What was of great importance to us was that we learned from Mr. Vanderbilt Bergen, Tunis's brother, that the place we had happened upon was by far the most suitable of any within miles for diving and experiments. We left the boat there over two months, making experiments to determine the value of our devices and to improve them wherever possible."Every time we went out we took two or more dives of various lengths, most of these quite across the Narrows, a little below Stapleton. During these dives I always made certain that there was no ship of twenty-five or thirty feet draught passing. Ordinarily we ran at a depth of not less than twenty feet, so that we could afford to ignore excursion steamers, fishing boats, and small yachts. The paddles of excursion steamers we could hear a long distance away, so that we never had any difficulty in avoiding them by changing our course or running at a greater depth until they had passed. We had a rather exciting experience on one occasion when we started to run submerged from Stapleton to Bay Ridge. At starting there was no large vessel in sight, but when about two hundred and fifty yards from shore Idistinctly heard the paddle of a steamer. I instantly changed the vessel's course from directly across the Narrows, heading her upstream and running to twenty feet depth so as to eliminate any danger of a collision. Running along I listened for the sound of paddles, but could hear nothing, so I concluded that the steamer must have passed beyond the range of hearing or else had changed her course. Therefore I thought it would be safe to come within fifteen feet of the surface and listen again. I did so, and, hearing no sound, brought the turret above the surface to look around, but I could see no steamer. I then resumed my course back to Bay Ridge. On approaching Mr. Bergen's dock I saw three or four men jumping around and acting as if demented, so on landing I asked Bergen the cause of their hilarity. 'Oh,' he said, 'you frightened the d—— out of theSt. Johns, the Long Branch steamer. You remember having come near the surface shortly after you started across and then diving? We didn't see you again until you rose three hundred yards out at this side.' I said that I remembered it. 'Well, when you went down that time your propeller shot a great mass of water out backward, just as big as, or bigger than, any whale could blow. TheSt. Johnswas about two hundred yards astern of you, and she stopped instantly, not being able to tell what the trouble was ahead of her. After a while she started up and headed into the Staten Island shore, keeping on until I thought she would run ashore. She ported her helm and kept close along shore until she passed the Quarantine anchorage, then she headed straight for New York.'"Experimental runs were made almost every day during the months of July and August, and continued until September,when we returned to the 'Gap' in Jersey City. During our experiments we were never without a considerable crowd of witnesses, sometimes numbering hundreds, especially in our runs from the 'Gap' up the Hudson and return. One morning in July a very patronizing gentleman, who announced himself as a reporter from theNew York Sun, requested permission to go into the boat and examine it, but, much to his surprise, I was compelled to refuse him permission. The next morning there appeared in his paper a long report describing the performances of theFenian Ram, a new name to which I had no objection excepting its incorrectness. Because public curiosity was aroused, the same Mr. Blakely Hall seldom missed reporting every run or experiment we made while at Bay Ridge. He explained to me that I was foolish in not wishing to advertise my invention, because the Government would certainly wish to acquire boats of the same type, as he could see by the newspaper reports that they were already preparing to build them in France."Shortly after our return to the 'Gap,' an amusing incident took place which is well worth recording. A number of friends and myself decided to take a trip up the Hudson. There were eight or ten in the party, and, as the submarine could accommodate only four, a small sloop was hired to carry the overflow. When we got under way, the submarine towing the sloop, we found the going rather hard, owing to cakes of ice floating down the river. When we were off Hoboken I slowed down to allow a steamer to cross our bow. This, of course, slackened the towline, with the result that when I got under way again said line fouled the propeller, held for a second, and then broke, sending the sloop adrift among the cakes of ice. The crew of the derelict barkshouted to attract my attention, but I had the hatch closed and could not hear them. I proceeded about a mile upstream from the point of the accident before I discovered that my tow was missing. I turned back and found my unfortunate mariners had been picked up by a passing boat and towed back to Jersey City."In November, 1883, while returning from a run through the Narrows, we dove to a depth of sixty feet, remained on the bottom for an hour, and came to the surface with no more trouble or inconvenience than if we dove only eight or ten feet. Shortly after this theRam'scareer ended in a rather odd way. I have no intention of advancing any excuses for the incident, as no official explanation was ever made to me concerning it. As a result, I never bothered again with my backers nor they with me, but before recording the more solemn incident I would like to mention a rather amusing one that has just come to mind."One morning, on going down to board the boat, I was surprised to find no boat there. I was puzzled for a minute, but, on inquiry of the bystanders, I found that my engineer, Richards, had decided to take the boat out for a run by himself. He had proceeded down stream, but that was about all the witnesses could tell me. I therefore walked along the wharves until I came to a crowd of men standing on a pier and pointing out into the river. My attention was called to a point on the surface about two hundred yards off the pier head. There a great deal of air was coming to the surface in countless little bubbles. The man told me that theIrish Ramhad just gone down there, owing to the fact that the conning tower was open when it passed close to a barge and tug. The wash from the tug passed over the little boat, floodedthe hatch, and came near catching Richards below. He happened to be just below the hatch, however, and was blown out by the escaping air when the boat went down. He floundered around in the water for a few minutes and was finally picked up by the crew of the tug. A few minutes later Richards appeared, still a bit pale from his rather startling experience. It cost my backers about $3000 to raise the boat and put her in shape again."The final history of the boat is told in a few words. She was taken one night from her slip in the 'Gap' and towed to New Haven, Connecticut. During the trip she was in charge of Breslin, one of the trustees of the fund. I received no notice of the contemplated move then, nor was I notified after. I am told that when they arrived in New Haven they attempted to make dives, but handled the boat so awkwardly that the harbor master decided that she constituted a 'menace to navigation' and demanded a bond if any further trials were to be made. As a result she was hauled out of the water on the property of Reynolds, another member of the committee, and there she still is. There is also a rumor that they have tried to sell her to the Russian Government, but failed, as on investigation the prospective buyers found that title to her was not clear."After theRamwas taken from me, I had no means of experimenting further or building another boat. After a time I secured a position with the Pneumatic Gun Company as a draughtsman. While employed there I managed to interest some members of the company and some friends of theirs in a design that I had drawn immediately after the loss of theRam. I allowed these men to examine my plans,and they, approving of them, set about to organize a company, known as the Nautilus Submarine Boat Company."During the organizing of the company I became acquainted with Captain Zalinski, U. S. A., an expert on heavy artillery. Through Captain Zalinski I met many influential men, who not only helped me with the project in hand at the time, but were largely instrumental in having my boat adopted by the United States Navy."At the suggestion of Captain Zalinski the boat was built at Fort Hamilton, as he was stationed there at the time, and, being on the army active list, could not be away from his post of duty. During the time of her construction everything was under his supervision. The boat was fifty feet long, six feet beam, and the hull was constructed of wood. In 1886 the boat was launched. The launching ways ran down from the fort wall to the water's edge. This part of the program was in the hands of a young engineer who had either an insufficient knowledge of the subject or lacked the ability to put his knowledge to practical use. The result was, that when the heavy boat started down the launching ways they suddenly collapsed and she crashed into some piling near the water's edge, tearing out the greater part of her side and bottom."On investigation it was found that the cost of repairs would exceed the amount of money still on hand in the company's treasury. Accordingly the wrecked boat was broken up where she lay, the engine and fittings removed and sold, and the proceeds used to partly reimburse the stockholders for the money they had invested. This accident discouraged my company from any further attemptsat submarine construction. Had this boat been successful, submarines would have become an accepted success years before they did. This unfortunate incident held me back at least ten years, as it was that long before I was able to secure backing to construct another boat."About this time the United States Navy Department was mildly interested in the performances of submarines in France, where they had attained some slight degree of success. The designs for these boats, I am sure, were based on certain fundamental points of myFenian Ramdesign. As I have said previously, there were a number of foreign officers present at Delamater's Yard from 1879 to 1881, while the boat was in course of construction, and it is hardly to be expected that they failed to take notes. However, the knowledge they secured did them very little good, because, while they secured a lot of valuable data, their inexperience caused them to disregard the most vital points, with the result that their boats never attained any degree of success. However, I do not wish to convey the impression that the United States Navy Department was at this time considering building submarines as the results of the French experiments; far from it. Had it not been informed of the success of myFenian Ram, which was far more interesting and wonderful than anything the French had done, and still remained unconvinced? I was totally sick and disgusted with its actions, and was seriously tempted to abandon all further attempts to convince and awake it from its lethargy. About this time I wrote an article, "Can New York be Bombarded?" with the intention of bringing before the public the pitiable condition of our fleet and coast defences,and showing how a few submarines would place us in a position to ward off an enemy's attack from mostly any point on our coast as effectively as if we had an adequate shore defence and a fleet equal to Great Britain's."

"She was built at the shops of the Delamater Iron Works, at the foot of West Thirteenth Street, New York, and launched in May, 1881. During her construction my curiosity was excited by the apparent incredulity of some of the engineers in the shop regarding the practicability of such a boat. Many objections were urged against her, especiallyby men who should have known better, but the trouble with them was almost the same as I encountered later among the staff officers of the navy, viz., because they were, almost without exception, of English, Welsh, or Scotch descent, experienced in all kinds of shipbuilding. They appeared to know by intuition that the project was absurd. They proposed many difficulties that were not solved for them. I also noticed that many of the men appeared to take a deep interest in the progress of the work, even though they never made any inquiries to my knowledge, yet they observed everything, because there was no way of preventing them. I also noticed what appeared to be consequences of this curiosity of foreigners regarding an American machine.

"During the following twelve months many visitors came to look over the submarine, mostly Swedes, Russians, Italians, and Germans. I was much pleased to meet two of them who apparently had no idea of the jealousy with which some people guard their military secrets, viz., Ali Ritza and Hassan Effendi. But, very clearly to me, they had no idea of the importance of what was expected from the machine, or, much more likely, they had been persuaded by their acquaintances of English connections that the project would never amount to anything because it did not originate in England. The fact that English opinion in naval matters governed the opinion of every American was made quite clear to me later on.

"This nineteen-ton boat was launched in 1881. She was thirty-one feet long, six feet beam, seven feet four inches in depth, and was propelled by a Brayton petroleum engine. Her crew consisted of three men—the pilot, engineer, and gunner. She laid at the Morris & CummingsDredging Company's dock in Jersey City until July 3, 1883, during which time many interesting experiments were made with her.

"The first run on the surface and while submerged was made in the basin, or passage, east of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The first tests made were the surface runs to test the engine, clutch, gearing, etc. These proved very successful, and the next in order was to submerge the boat at the dock and determine whether the seams were all right, and also to test the efficiency of the compressed-air tanks for supplying oxygen for breathing and giving impulses for expelling water from the ballast tanks.

"Accordingly Richards, the engineer, and myself entered the boat and closed the hatch. This shut us off from the air, and our breathing now depended entirely on the compressed-air reserve. After waiting a few moments and finding no ill effects from the compressed air, I decided to submerge. I drew back the little iron levers on either side of my head (these operated the Kingston valves in the bottom, through which water was admitted to the ballast tanks). Almost immediately the boat began to settle, giving us the suggestion of slowly descending in an elevator. I now looked through the ports in the superstructure and observed that the bow had entirely disappeared and the water was within a few inches of the glass. A second or two later everything grew dark and we were entirely submerged, and nothing could be seen through the ports excepting a dark-green blur.

"Our next suggestion was a slight jar when the vessel struck the bottom. It might also be mentioned here that we had no light except the glow that came through the conningtower. This just about sufficed to read the gauges, but was too poor to be of much interest to the engineer. The engine was not needed at that time, however, but we decided to carry a small lantern, to be used when any adjustment was necessary, but not otherwise, as it consumed too much of our precious oxygen.

"Richards having made an examination and found everything tight, I decided to blow out the ballast and come up. Accordingly I opened the valve admitting air to the ballast tank, and at once heard a hiss that told me that the air was driving out the water. The green blur on the ports in the conning tower grew lighter as I gazed through them until suddenly the light of full day burst through, almost dazzling me. After blinking my eyes a few times I looked out again and saw the familiar surroundings of the 'Gap.' I now opened the hatch and stood on the seat, thus causing my head and shoulders to protrude from the tower. As soon as I was observed doing this a cheer burst from the crowd of observers on the dock, among whom opinion was equally divided as to whether we would ever emerge alive from our dive or not. We had now demonstrated the fact that our boat was tight, that our air was sufficient for breathing, and that our ballasting system was perfect.

"Our next test was to prove that we could dive with our engine running. Many were the gloomy prophecies advanced as to what would happen when we attempted to force our exhaust outboard against the water pressure found at eight or ten feet depth. For this occasion Richards and I entered the boat, I taking my place in the conning tower, while he went forward to start the engine. After a little kicking and sputtering he succeeded in getting it started. We then letin the clutch and the boat started forward. When we reached the far side of the basin I turned her around and threw out the clutch, causing the boat to slow down and stop. Closing the hatch, we then made sure that everything was tight, and opened the Kingston valves. When the water reached the observer's ports in the conning tower, I closed them again. We then proceeded along awash; that is, with only the little tower showing above the surface. I found that from this position I could observe objects quite a distance ahead, and my vision was obscured only occasionally when a wave washed against the glass. I next threw forward the lever on the right side of my seat (this was connected with the diving, or vertical, rudder by a lever action). Immediately the nose of the boat went down, and before I realized it our gauge showed a depth of about ten feet. I now drew the lever back to centre, and the boat straightened out on an even keel. There was very little or no tendency to buck or be cranky; in a word, I had no difficulty in preventing her nose from rising or dipping down.

"After running about one hundred yards submerged I steered the boat up, and in a few seconds the superstructure of the boat was again above water. I then opened the air valve and expelled my ballast, causing the boat to rise and assume her normal position. This dive was practised for some time in order that we might gain facility in handling the diving and steering gear.

"Captain John Ericsson was at that time preparing to build hisDestroyerin the same part of the shop in which my boat had been built. Somebody in Delamater's described my boat to Captain Ericsson and explained the purpose of a nine-inch tube placed in the axis and having a breech andbow cap. The object of this fitting was to permit the insertion of a six-foot torpedo that could be shot out at a target while the boat was under water by air at a heavy pressure contained in steel flasks connected with the breech of the gun by a balanced valve. After the torpedo was ejected the breech and muzzle were closed, and the water contents of the tube were permitted to flow into two tanks to correct the position of the centre of gravity.

"Not having any torpedo models ready for experiment when the boat reached Jersey City, Captain Ericsson very kindly sent me word that I might build a few like those he proposed to use in hisDestroyer. I therefore deferred building any on my own ideas, and decided to use his, should they prove suitable. The Delamaters built me two on his models and sent them to Jersey City for trial. For the trials of Ericsson's torpedo models the boat was set awash in the water, with the axis of the torpedo placed horizontally and about three and one-half feet below the water surface. Because there was a new floating dock lying in the water about one hundred and fifty yards from the submarine, and in a direct line with it, the firing pressure was reduced to about three hundred pounds on the square inch. When the firing valve was opened the projectile passed out and travelled about six or eight feet beyond the muzzle of the gun, then it turned upward and arose in the air to perhaps sixty or seventy feet; then it fell point foremost in the water and buried itself so deeply in the mud that we could never find it again. For the second shot the boat was depressed a few degrees and was swung to port so as to avoid butting the floating dry dock. It travelled about twice as far as its predecessor, then rose fifteen feet in the air and passed overthe wall limiting the basin, striking a pile that projected above it, and frightening a fisherman who was dozing thereon. He was in no danger, however, as the pile and string-piece of heavy pine afforded him ample protection.

"While the boat lay at Gorky's repair shop at the point called the 'Gap,' a test was made of the efficiency of the apparatus provided for using the boat as a diving-bell, viz., a watertight hatch placed over a hatchway on the bottom, with valves leading from air-chambers, through which air under pressure was permitted to flow and fill the space occupied by the operators.

"When employing the boat as a diving-bell everything was closed tight and air was admitted to the central space until the external water pressure was exactly balanced, and when the lower hatch might be opened without any risk of water entering. The first man to make a test was Mr. George M. Richards, of Erie, Pennsylvania, my engineer. He sank the boat at high water while she lay at the dock. When she rested on the bottom he opened the test valves to make certain that the external water pressure was balanced by the internal air pressure, admitting an excess of water equal to his weight to hold her on the bottom. This operation did not consume more than a minute. He did not actually go out of the boat, but only dropped his feet on the bottom, passed his hands under the boat, one on either side, and lifted the boat slowly and with little exertion about one foot from the bottom. Had I provided the boat with a diver's outfit he could have gone out and come back again without trouble or risk. On July 3, 1883, we left the 'Gap' in Jersey City in order to do some diving in the deep water of the Narrows.

"The boat went out under its own power, unaccompaniedby anybody save a small colored boy who had managed to drop on the turret when we were leaving the dock. The first intimation I had that we were carrying a passenger was shortly after we had passed Robbins's Reef Lighthouse. Then I found my view of Staten Island and Bay Ridge became obscured by what seemed to be a pair of brown rags hanging on either side of the turret and blocking the vision through the side lights. When we passed Robbins's Reef the water became a little rougher, so that the water passed up on the hull and washed over the turret. After the windows had been wet a few times I heard noises that plainly indicated that we were carrying an uninvited and unwelcome passenger. Fearing that the waves would wash him off, I headed the boat upstream, opened the hatch, and invited him to come inside, as I feared running through rough water with him on top. He politely refused my invitation, assuring me that he was 'puffectly safe' where he was, and that he would 'hold on like grim death.' This unfortunate circumstance spoiled my chances of diving in deep water that day, so we were compelled to abandon it. This interruption by the young colored gentleman wasted so much time that it was after sunset when we headed for the Bay Ridge shore, with which I was unfamiliar, to look for a landing place. Seeing through the twilight unmistakable signs that the shore was rocky, I ran the boat out about one hundred yards and then headed her up toward the Bay Ridge Ferry landing, with the intention of leaving her there until daylight the next morning. Before starting north we noticed two boys in a rowboat approaching us from the shore. We stopped until they came alongside and inquired: 'What is this thing?' They came on board and inspected her at our invitation,and expressed great astonishment at the strange boat they had picked up. But what was much more to the purpose was that when they found we had no particular landing place in view they very kindly offered us the hospitality of Mr. Vanderbilt Bergen's dock at Bay Ridge for as long as we wished to stay there for experiments. Then they took our 'painter' and towed us into his dock on the site of the present Crescent Yacht Club station. The two young gentlemen, Tunis Bergen and his cousin Harry Midgley, also contracted to take care of our material and help us out during our stay at their dock. What was of great importance to us was that we learned from Mr. Vanderbilt Bergen, Tunis's brother, that the place we had happened upon was by far the most suitable of any within miles for diving and experiments. We left the boat there over two months, making experiments to determine the value of our devices and to improve them wherever possible.

"Every time we went out we took two or more dives of various lengths, most of these quite across the Narrows, a little below Stapleton. During these dives I always made certain that there was no ship of twenty-five or thirty feet draught passing. Ordinarily we ran at a depth of not less than twenty feet, so that we could afford to ignore excursion steamers, fishing boats, and small yachts. The paddles of excursion steamers we could hear a long distance away, so that we never had any difficulty in avoiding them by changing our course or running at a greater depth until they had passed. We had a rather exciting experience on one occasion when we started to run submerged from Stapleton to Bay Ridge. At starting there was no large vessel in sight, but when about two hundred and fifty yards from shore Idistinctly heard the paddle of a steamer. I instantly changed the vessel's course from directly across the Narrows, heading her upstream and running to twenty feet depth so as to eliminate any danger of a collision. Running along I listened for the sound of paddles, but could hear nothing, so I concluded that the steamer must have passed beyond the range of hearing or else had changed her course. Therefore I thought it would be safe to come within fifteen feet of the surface and listen again. I did so, and, hearing no sound, brought the turret above the surface to look around, but I could see no steamer. I then resumed my course back to Bay Ridge. On approaching Mr. Bergen's dock I saw three or four men jumping around and acting as if demented, so on landing I asked Bergen the cause of their hilarity. 'Oh,' he said, 'you frightened the d—— out of theSt. Johns, the Long Branch steamer. You remember having come near the surface shortly after you started across and then diving? We didn't see you again until you rose three hundred yards out at this side.' I said that I remembered it. 'Well, when you went down that time your propeller shot a great mass of water out backward, just as big as, or bigger than, any whale could blow. TheSt. Johnswas about two hundred yards astern of you, and she stopped instantly, not being able to tell what the trouble was ahead of her. After a while she started up and headed into the Staten Island shore, keeping on until I thought she would run ashore. She ported her helm and kept close along shore until she passed the Quarantine anchorage, then she headed straight for New York.'

"Experimental runs were made almost every day during the months of July and August, and continued until September,when we returned to the 'Gap' in Jersey City. During our experiments we were never without a considerable crowd of witnesses, sometimes numbering hundreds, especially in our runs from the 'Gap' up the Hudson and return. One morning in July a very patronizing gentleman, who announced himself as a reporter from theNew York Sun, requested permission to go into the boat and examine it, but, much to his surprise, I was compelled to refuse him permission. The next morning there appeared in his paper a long report describing the performances of theFenian Ram, a new name to which I had no objection excepting its incorrectness. Because public curiosity was aroused, the same Mr. Blakely Hall seldom missed reporting every run or experiment we made while at Bay Ridge. He explained to me that I was foolish in not wishing to advertise my invention, because the Government would certainly wish to acquire boats of the same type, as he could see by the newspaper reports that they were already preparing to build them in France.

"Shortly after our return to the 'Gap,' an amusing incident took place which is well worth recording. A number of friends and myself decided to take a trip up the Hudson. There were eight or ten in the party, and, as the submarine could accommodate only four, a small sloop was hired to carry the overflow. When we got under way, the submarine towing the sloop, we found the going rather hard, owing to cakes of ice floating down the river. When we were off Hoboken I slowed down to allow a steamer to cross our bow. This, of course, slackened the towline, with the result that when I got under way again said line fouled the propeller, held for a second, and then broke, sending the sloop adrift among the cakes of ice. The crew of the derelict barkshouted to attract my attention, but I had the hatch closed and could not hear them. I proceeded about a mile upstream from the point of the accident before I discovered that my tow was missing. I turned back and found my unfortunate mariners had been picked up by a passing boat and towed back to Jersey City.

"In November, 1883, while returning from a run through the Narrows, we dove to a depth of sixty feet, remained on the bottom for an hour, and came to the surface with no more trouble or inconvenience than if we dove only eight or ten feet. Shortly after this theRam'scareer ended in a rather odd way. I have no intention of advancing any excuses for the incident, as no official explanation was ever made to me concerning it. As a result, I never bothered again with my backers nor they with me, but before recording the more solemn incident I would like to mention a rather amusing one that has just come to mind.

"One morning, on going down to board the boat, I was surprised to find no boat there. I was puzzled for a minute, but, on inquiry of the bystanders, I found that my engineer, Richards, had decided to take the boat out for a run by himself. He had proceeded down stream, but that was about all the witnesses could tell me. I therefore walked along the wharves until I came to a crowd of men standing on a pier and pointing out into the river. My attention was called to a point on the surface about two hundred yards off the pier head. There a great deal of air was coming to the surface in countless little bubbles. The man told me that theIrish Ramhad just gone down there, owing to the fact that the conning tower was open when it passed close to a barge and tug. The wash from the tug passed over the little boat, floodedthe hatch, and came near catching Richards below. He happened to be just below the hatch, however, and was blown out by the escaping air when the boat went down. He floundered around in the water for a few minutes and was finally picked up by the crew of the tug. A few minutes later Richards appeared, still a bit pale from his rather startling experience. It cost my backers about $3000 to raise the boat and put her in shape again.

"The final history of the boat is told in a few words. She was taken one night from her slip in the 'Gap' and towed to New Haven, Connecticut. During the trip she was in charge of Breslin, one of the trustees of the fund. I received no notice of the contemplated move then, nor was I notified after. I am told that when they arrived in New Haven they attempted to make dives, but handled the boat so awkwardly that the harbor master decided that she constituted a 'menace to navigation' and demanded a bond if any further trials were to be made. As a result she was hauled out of the water on the property of Reynolds, another member of the committee, and there she still is. There is also a rumor that they have tried to sell her to the Russian Government, but failed, as on investigation the prospective buyers found that title to her was not clear.

"After theRamwas taken from me, I had no means of experimenting further or building another boat. After a time I secured a position with the Pneumatic Gun Company as a draughtsman. While employed there I managed to interest some members of the company and some friends of theirs in a design that I had drawn immediately after the loss of theRam. I allowed these men to examine my plans,and they, approving of them, set about to organize a company, known as the Nautilus Submarine Boat Company.

"During the organizing of the company I became acquainted with Captain Zalinski, U. S. A., an expert on heavy artillery. Through Captain Zalinski I met many influential men, who not only helped me with the project in hand at the time, but were largely instrumental in having my boat adopted by the United States Navy.

"At the suggestion of Captain Zalinski the boat was built at Fort Hamilton, as he was stationed there at the time, and, being on the army active list, could not be away from his post of duty. During the time of her construction everything was under his supervision. The boat was fifty feet long, six feet beam, and the hull was constructed of wood. In 1886 the boat was launched. The launching ways ran down from the fort wall to the water's edge. This part of the program was in the hands of a young engineer who had either an insufficient knowledge of the subject or lacked the ability to put his knowledge to practical use. The result was, that when the heavy boat started down the launching ways they suddenly collapsed and she crashed into some piling near the water's edge, tearing out the greater part of her side and bottom.

"On investigation it was found that the cost of repairs would exceed the amount of money still on hand in the company's treasury. Accordingly the wrecked boat was broken up where she lay, the engine and fittings removed and sold, and the proceeds used to partly reimburse the stockholders for the money they had invested. This accident discouraged my company from any further attemptsat submarine construction. Had this boat been successful, submarines would have become an accepted success years before they did. This unfortunate incident held me back at least ten years, as it was that long before I was able to secure backing to construct another boat.

"About this time the United States Navy Department was mildly interested in the performances of submarines in France, where they had attained some slight degree of success. The designs for these boats, I am sure, were based on certain fundamental points of myFenian Ramdesign. As I have said previously, there were a number of foreign officers present at Delamater's Yard from 1879 to 1881, while the boat was in course of construction, and it is hardly to be expected that they failed to take notes. However, the knowledge they secured did them very little good, because, while they secured a lot of valuable data, their inexperience caused them to disregard the most vital points, with the result that their boats never attained any degree of success. However, I do not wish to convey the impression that the United States Navy Department was at this time considering building submarines as the results of the French experiments; far from it. Had it not been informed of the success of myFenian Ram, which was far more interesting and wonderful than anything the French had done, and still remained unconvinced? I was totally sick and disgusted with its actions, and was seriously tempted to abandon all further attempts to convince and awake it from its lethargy. About this time I wrote an article, "Can New York be Bombarded?" with the intention of bringing before the public the pitiable condition of our fleet and coast defences,and showing how a few submarines would place us in a position to ward off an enemy's attack from mostly any point on our coast as effectively as if we had an adequate shore defence and a fleet equal to Great Britain's."

The article referred to treats of other types of ships. This is not of interest now, but we quote what he says concerning

"THE SUBMARINE, OR DIVING BOAT"This boat has a speed of eight miles per hour; she can remain under water for two days, or longer, without having any connection with the surface. She can be steered by compass when under water, and her course may be laid and corrected without obliging her to remain more than a few moments on the surface. This can be done without ever appearing over water. She can move at any required depth, and is more thoroughly under control when completely submerged than when on the surface. Her horizontal and vertical motions are controlled automatically or by the pilot."The torpedo, carrying a one-hundred-pound charge, can be projected in a straight line to a distance of eighty or ninety feet, according to the power employed in expelling it. The method of attack will probably be as follows: The diving boat, with only her turret above water, moves toward the ship. When she gets so close that her presence may be discovered, say half a mile, she descends a few feet under the surface. Once or twice, after the bearing of the ship is observed by means of a telescope projected for a fewminutes over the water, corrections are made in the course for deviations owing to currents."When near the vessel she goes deeper, so as to bring her stem ten or fifteen feet beneath the surface. Netting can thus be avoided. She can now discharge her torpedo, to explode on contact. As soon as this strikes, the explosion occurs and a large hole is torn in the ship's side. The ship will now become unmanageable, and with assistance may be captured. Experience has shown that in a seaway she rolls or pitches very little, apparently following the wave slope in large waves. In short, sharp ones, she seems to rise and fall bodily with very little tendency to pitching."A notion seems to prevail that the proper duty of a diving boat would be to carry a diver, who could come out and fasten a torpedo to a ship at anchor, then retire into his boat and move away; also, that it would be useful in placing and removing stationary mines. It is very evident that if a diving boat can attain a speed of ten or twelve miles per hour, fire torpedoes at ships moving at full speed, and keep to sea for days together, her sphere of usefulness would be greatly extended. In fact, there is no insuperable objection to the employment of such vessels for coast defence and operations against ships. Submarine mines are not so effective against them as vessels on the surface, because they can pass them unobserved. They can enter a harbor that may be thoroughly defended, should it be necessary to destroy vessels inside the defences. If those on the fleet become aware of their presence it is more than probable, judging from the action of the French fleet in 1877-78, that the moral effect of the discovery will be that they willfeel convinced of the foolishness of awaiting an attack when the time so employed may be more wisely expended in moving to a safe distance, and in getting there at full speed. Thus, in 1886, did I try to show by comparison the superiority of the submarine over the torpedo boats and gunboats, the two arms of defence on which the Navy placed all its confidence at the time."

"THE SUBMARINE, OR DIVING BOAT

"This boat has a speed of eight miles per hour; she can remain under water for two days, or longer, without having any connection with the surface. She can be steered by compass when under water, and her course may be laid and corrected without obliging her to remain more than a few moments on the surface. This can be done without ever appearing over water. She can move at any required depth, and is more thoroughly under control when completely submerged than when on the surface. Her horizontal and vertical motions are controlled automatically or by the pilot.

"The torpedo, carrying a one-hundred-pound charge, can be projected in a straight line to a distance of eighty or ninety feet, according to the power employed in expelling it. The method of attack will probably be as follows: The diving boat, with only her turret above water, moves toward the ship. When she gets so close that her presence may be discovered, say half a mile, she descends a few feet under the surface. Once or twice, after the bearing of the ship is observed by means of a telescope projected for a fewminutes over the water, corrections are made in the course for deviations owing to currents.

"When near the vessel she goes deeper, so as to bring her stem ten or fifteen feet beneath the surface. Netting can thus be avoided. She can now discharge her torpedo, to explode on contact. As soon as this strikes, the explosion occurs and a large hole is torn in the ship's side. The ship will now become unmanageable, and with assistance may be captured. Experience has shown that in a seaway she rolls or pitches very little, apparently following the wave slope in large waves. In short, sharp ones, she seems to rise and fall bodily with very little tendency to pitching.

"A notion seems to prevail that the proper duty of a diving boat would be to carry a diver, who could come out and fasten a torpedo to a ship at anchor, then retire into his boat and move away; also, that it would be useful in placing and removing stationary mines. It is very evident that if a diving boat can attain a speed of ten or twelve miles per hour, fire torpedoes at ships moving at full speed, and keep to sea for days together, her sphere of usefulness would be greatly extended. In fact, there is no insuperable objection to the employment of such vessels for coast defence and operations against ships. Submarine mines are not so effective against them as vessels on the surface, because they can pass them unobserved. They can enter a harbor that may be thoroughly defended, should it be necessary to destroy vessels inside the defences. If those on the fleet become aware of their presence it is more than probable, judging from the action of the French fleet in 1877-78, that the moral effect of the discovery will be that they willfeel convinced of the foolishness of awaiting an attack when the time so employed may be more wisely expended in moving to a safe distance, and in getting there at full speed. Thus, in 1886, did I try to show by comparison the superiority of the submarine over the torpedo boats and gunboats, the two arms of defence on which the Navy placed all its confidence at the time."

From the above words concerning John P. Holland's various efforts to secure recognition of his inventions, and his years of strenuous endeavor to devise a weapon capable of providing a means of defence, there is no question but that it is due to his initiative, perseverance, and success that the diving type of boat was ever brought to be manageable and adopted by the United States and England.

Mr. Holland's health broke down in his later years, said to have been caused by the treatment which he received from some of his associates.

The testimony which Mr. Holland leaves among his notes, and the opinion given me by his son, would indicate that his name and services were used to enable others to make large financial gains, and that he himself received little, if any, benefit from his life's work. His son is authority for the statement to me that such competence as he was able to leave for his family was derived from his other business outside of that of his submarine work, and that his connection with submarine matters undoubtedly affected his mind and health in later years and probably shortened his life.

An appeal found among his papers, addressed to the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the Houseof Representatives under date of February 8, 1906, would appear to bear out this statement. I quote:

"APPEAL OF JOHN P. HOLLAND, INVENTOR OF SUBMARINEBOATS, TO THE COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS OF THEHOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, NOT TO LEGISLATE INTHE INTEREST OF THE ELECTRIC BOAT COMPANY'SMONOPOLY, BUT TO GIVE HIMA SQUARE DEAL"38 Newton Street,Newark, New Jersey,February 8, 1906,Hon. C. E. Foss,Chairman Committee on Naval Affairs,House of Representatives.Dear Sir:I am the inventor of the Holland submarine boat, now in use in the United States Navy and in Europe. My old patents, to the number of about twenty, are owned by the Electric Boat Company. On June 16, 1900, I entered into a contract with that company to serve as their engineer for five years, dating back to April 1, 1899, and expiring April 1, 1904. Since the expiration of my contract with the Electric Boat Company I have devoted myself to remedying the defects in my old inventions, and perfecting designs by which the low speed of the present Holland boats can be increased three or four times. Having perfected these inventions until I was sure I could obtain about 25 knots per hour submerged, and after making numerous other alterations, greatly improving the efficiency over my submarine boats now in use in the Navy, I procured the organization of a company, "John P. Holland's Submarine Boat Company," May 18, 1905, with sufficient capital to build a boat under my new plans and inventions, and was about to start to work, when the Electric Boat Company filed a suit against me in the Court of Chancery of New Jersey, applying for an injunction, and claiming substantially that I had agreed to assign to them all my inventions and patents during the term of my natural life. Two other suits have been started, one against my new company in theUnited States Circuit Court to enjoin the use of the name "Holland"; the other against me personally, alleging a verbal contract never to compete with the Electric Boat Company, was commenced in the New Jersey Court of Chancery. My contract with the Electric Boat Company to act as their engineer, and to give them my patents and inventions, was for the five years during which I acted as engineer, and no longer, and expired April 1, 1904, as stated above.These suits have had the effect of frightening off the capital that I had enlisted, and I have not as yet been able to get the capital to build my new boat, by reason of these suits. The only object of these suits was to prevent me from building a boat and going into competition before the Navy Department with the submarine boats now being built by the Electric Boat Company under my old patents.The Electric Boat Company makes the allegation in their last bill of complaint that by threatening to discharge me from their employ and break their contract with me and stop my salary, that I agreed to a contract which prevents me from using my brains and inventive talent in building submarine boats for the balance of my life. This allegation is absolutely false, even though under affidavit by Mr. Rice, and would be, if true, most inequitable on account of duress and on account of want of consideration. This alleged agreement was not reduced to writing; the only evidence the Court has is the sworn statement of Mr. Rice; and when the fact is considered that Mr. Rice, formerly a professor of law at Columbia University, and having the assistance of Mr. Frost, also a lawyer, failed to have such an important agreement reduced to writing and signed by me, the whole proposition appears ridiculous and silly. The further fact that this bill of complaint containing these allegations, has been printed and distributed at the Capitol would seem to indicate that the principal object of this suit is to frighten away the capital I had enlisted, and prevent the consideration of my new patents and claims by your honorable committee.My attention has been called to the bill (H.R. 10070), entitled "A Bill to Increase the Efficiency of the Navy." It must be apparent to every member of your committee that this bill is drawn solely in the interest of the Electric Boat Company monopoly. The clause in it that "The Secretary of the Navy shall purchase or contract for said submarine boats within four months of the completion of thecontract trials of the submarine boats now building for the Navy" is against all public interest, and is something extremely unusual. If the Electric Boat Company should not complete its contract for a year or two years or never, the whole business of the Navy Department in this line would be held up. The bill excludes me, the inventor of the Holland boats and who constructed and built the originalHolland, which is now in the service of the Navy, from submitting my plans and models to the Navy Department for consideration, for it would be useless to do so if the Secretary is deprived, by the proposed law suggested by the Electric Boat Company, from adopting them, though considering them superior in efficiency and economy to the plans upon which the present boats are being built.I have recently had my models tested in the government tanks at the Navy Yard in Washington by the United States officers in charge, and their official reports will show that I can get a guaranteed speed of 22 knots per hour submerged, and the same speed on the surface, and this speed can be obtained in vessels of the same or greater tonnage as those now being built by the Electric Boat Company.I hardly think, Mr. Chairman, that your committee, in making an appropriation for submarine boats, will exclude the Navy Department from any consideration of the plans made by me when I say to you that these plans have the approval of some of the most expert officers in the Navy on the question of submarine boats, and that the boats can be built at one-third less than is now being paid the Electric Boat Company for boats of two-thirds less submerged and more than fifty per cent. less surface speed.If I am prevented by the suits filed against me by the Electric Boat Company from obtaining capital with which to build my boats, which will have three times the submerged speed of the present boats, and a vast improvement in other directions, then I want the law so framed that I can present a proposition to the Secretary of the Navy to cause my plans and new inventions to be thoroughly examined by a board of experts, and if favorably reported on, that the government may build the same in its yards under my supervision, and pay me a reasonable royalty. That is all I ask your committee to do, and to not frame a law that will exclude me, the inventor of the present submarine boats, from having my improvements considered by the Secretary of the Navy, and pass one in theinterest of the Electric Boat Company under its monopoly now of the business of the department under my old and obsolete patents.The title of the bill (H.R. 10070) should be: "A Bill to Prevent the Increase of the Efficiency of the Navy, and Prevent Economy Being Considered."If your committee is desirous of increasing the efficiency of submarine boats for the Navy, and at the same time reduce the cost to the government at least one-third, if not one-half, of the prices now being paid for submarine boats, a clause in the Naval Appropriation Bill on the following lines would effect the object:"The sum of_________Dollars is hereby appropriated for submarine boats, and the Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized to contract for or purchase or build in a navy yard of the United States these submarine boats, whichever in his judgment will increase the efficiency of the Navy and will be in the interest of economy to the department."I consider my old patents assigned to the Electric Boat Company as obsolete; they are ten years behind the age.I can build in the Navy Yard at Brooklyn boats under my new patents, designs, and inventions, in six months, and guarantee a submerged speed of 22 knots per hour.Admiral Bowles testified before the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs at its hearing on submarine boats. He was at that time chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair of the Navy Department, and his statement at that time is entitled to the serious consideration of your committee, because it was that of a government expert, and is true in every respect. This hearing before the Senate committee is printed and the hearing took place on May 29, 1902. Admiral Bowles's testimony can be found in Senate Document 395, 1st Session, 57th Congress, page 82. He said that the Holland boats ought not to cost more than $89,489, and in this sum he said he had allowed an ample profit, and in addition had included $11,000 for experiments and tests. Admiral Bowles is now president of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, and is building the submarine boats that the Navy contracted for last year, and they are now being built under my old plans and patents, so alleged.If your committee will call upon the present Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repairs, he will undoubtedly inform you that he can build in the Brooklyn Navy Yard my submarine boats asquickly and as expeditiously as they can be built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company.I am a poor man, while the Electric Boat Company has among its principal stockholders three or four millionaires, including August Belmont, Isaac L. Rice, and others. The capital stock of that company is ten million dollars. They have deprived me, by their flimsy lawsuit, from getting capital to build a boat under my new inventions and patents, and are now asking Congress to pass a law which will prevent the Navy Department from adopting my new plans and inventions, even should the entire department consider that they are far superior in every way to the plans now being used by that department.I do not believe that your committee will commit itself to this monopoly which is against the interest of the government.I am advised by my attorneys that as soon as the suits of the Electric Boat Company can be reached and tried the Court will undoubtedly dismiss them, but in the meanwhile they act as an injunction against me, as they prevent my enlisting capital which is timid and dreads a lawsuit.Very respectfully,

"APPEAL OF JOHN P. HOLLAND, INVENTOR OF SUBMARINE

BOATS, TO THE COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS OF THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, NOT TO LEGISLATE IN

THE INTEREST OF THE ELECTRIC BOAT COMPANY'S

MONOPOLY, BUT TO GIVE HIM

A SQUARE DEAL"

38 Newton Street,Newark, New Jersey,February 8, 1906,

Hon. C. E. Foss,Chairman Committee on Naval Affairs,House of Representatives.

Dear Sir:

I am the inventor of the Holland submarine boat, now in use in the United States Navy and in Europe. My old patents, to the number of about twenty, are owned by the Electric Boat Company. On June 16, 1900, I entered into a contract with that company to serve as their engineer for five years, dating back to April 1, 1899, and expiring April 1, 1904. Since the expiration of my contract with the Electric Boat Company I have devoted myself to remedying the defects in my old inventions, and perfecting designs by which the low speed of the present Holland boats can be increased three or four times. Having perfected these inventions until I was sure I could obtain about 25 knots per hour submerged, and after making numerous other alterations, greatly improving the efficiency over my submarine boats now in use in the Navy, I procured the organization of a company, "John P. Holland's Submarine Boat Company," May 18, 1905, with sufficient capital to build a boat under my new plans and inventions, and was about to start to work, when the Electric Boat Company filed a suit against me in the Court of Chancery of New Jersey, applying for an injunction, and claiming substantially that I had agreed to assign to them all my inventions and patents during the term of my natural life. Two other suits have been started, one against my new company in theUnited States Circuit Court to enjoin the use of the name "Holland"; the other against me personally, alleging a verbal contract never to compete with the Electric Boat Company, was commenced in the New Jersey Court of Chancery. My contract with the Electric Boat Company to act as their engineer, and to give them my patents and inventions, was for the five years during which I acted as engineer, and no longer, and expired April 1, 1904, as stated above.

These suits have had the effect of frightening off the capital that I had enlisted, and I have not as yet been able to get the capital to build my new boat, by reason of these suits. The only object of these suits was to prevent me from building a boat and going into competition before the Navy Department with the submarine boats now being built by the Electric Boat Company under my old patents.

The Electric Boat Company makes the allegation in their last bill of complaint that by threatening to discharge me from their employ and break their contract with me and stop my salary, that I agreed to a contract which prevents me from using my brains and inventive talent in building submarine boats for the balance of my life. This allegation is absolutely false, even though under affidavit by Mr. Rice, and would be, if true, most inequitable on account of duress and on account of want of consideration. This alleged agreement was not reduced to writing; the only evidence the Court has is the sworn statement of Mr. Rice; and when the fact is considered that Mr. Rice, formerly a professor of law at Columbia University, and having the assistance of Mr. Frost, also a lawyer, failed to have such an important agreement reduced to writing and signed by me, the whole proposition appears ridiculous and silly. The further fact that this bill of complaint containing these allegations, has been printed and distributed at the Capitol would seem to indicate that the principal object of this suit is to frighten away the capital I had enlisted, and prevent the consideration of my new patents and claims by your honorable committee.

My attention has been called to the bill (H.R. 10070), entitled "A Bill to Increase the Efficiency of the Navy." It must be apparent to every member of your committee that this bill is drawn solely in the interest of the Electric Boat Company monopoly. The clause in it that "The Secretary of the Navy shall purchase or contract for said submarine boats within four months of the completion of thecontract trials of the submarine boats now building for the Navy" is against all public interest, and is something extremely unusual. If the Electric Boat Company should not complete its contract for a year or two years or never, the whole business of the Navy Department in this line would be held up. The bill excludes me, the inventor of the Holland boats and who constructed and built the originalHolland, which is now in the service of the Navy, from submitting my plans and models to the Navy Department for consideration, for it would be useless to do so if the Secretary is deprived, by the proposed law suggested by the Electric Boat Company, from adopting them, though considering them superior in efficiency and economy to the plans upon which the present boats are being built.

I have recently had my models tested in the government tanks at the Navy Yard in Washington by the United States officers in charge, and their official reports will show that I can get a guaranteed speed of 22 knots per hour submerged, and the same speed on the surface, and this speed can be obtained in vessels of the same or greater tonnage as those now being built by the Electric Boat Company.

I hardly think, Mr. Chairman, that your committee, in making an appropriation for submarine boats, will exclude the Navy Department from any consideration of the plans made by me when I say to you that these plans have the approval of some of the most expert officers in the Navy on the question of submarine boats, and that the boats can be built at one-third less than is now being paid the Electric Boat Company for boats of two-thirds less submerged and more than fifty per cent. less surface speed.

If I am prevented by the suits filed against me by the Electric Boat Company from obtaining capital with which to build my boats, which will have three times the submerged speed of the present boats, and a vast improvement in other directions, then I want the law so framed that I can present a proposition to the Secretary of the Navy to cause my plans and new inventions to be thoroughly examined by a board of experts, and if favorably reported on, that the government may build the same in its yards under my supervision, and pay me a reasonable royalty. That is all I ask your committee to do, and to not frame a law that will exclude me, the inventor of the present submarine boats, from having my improvements considered by the Secretary of the Navy, and pass one in theinterest of the Electric Boat Company under its monopoly now of the business of the department under my old and obsolete patents.

The title of the bill (H.R. 10070) should be: "A Bill to Prevent the Increase of the Efficiency of the Navy, and Prevent Economy Being Considered."

If your committee is desirous of increasing the efficiency of submarine boats for the Navy, and at the same time reduce the cost to the government at least one-third, if not one-half, of the prices now being paid for submarine boats, a clause in the Naval Appropriation Bill on the following lines would effect the object:

"The sum of_________Dollars is hereby appropriated for submarine boats, and the Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized to contract for or purchase or build in a navy yard of the United States these submarine boats, whichever in his judgment will increase the efficiency of the Navy and will be in the interest of economy to the department."

I consider my old patents assigned to the Electric Boat Company as obsolete; they are ten years behind the age.

I can build in the Navy Yard at Brooklyn boats under my new patents, designs, and inventions, in six months, and guarantee a submerged speed of 22 knots per hour.

Admiral Bowles testified before the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs at its hearing on submarine boats. He was at that time chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair of the Navy Department, and his statement at that time is entitled to the serious consideration of your committee, because it was that of a government expert, and is true in every respect. This hearing before the Senate committee is printed and the hearing took place on May 29, 1902. Admiral Bowles's testimony can be found in Senate Document 395, 1st Session, 57th Congress, page 82. He said that the Holland boats ought not to cost more than $89,489, and in this sum he said he had allowed an ample profit, and in addition had included $11,000 for experiments and tests. Admiral Bowles is now president of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, and is building the submarine boats that the Navy contracted for last year, and they are now being built under my old plans and patents, so alleged.

If your committee will call upon the present Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repairs, he will undoubtedly inform you that he can build in the Brooklyn Navy Yard my submarine boats asquickly and as expeditiously as they can be built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company.

I am a poor man, while the Electric Boat Company has among its principal stockholders three or four millionaires, including August Belmont, Isaac L. Rice, and others. The capital stock of that company is ten million dollars. They have deprived me, by their flimsy lawsuit, from getting capital to build a boat under my new inventions and patents, and are now asking Congress to pass a law which will prevent the Navy Department from adopting my new plans and inventions, even should the entire department consider that they are far superior in every way to the plans now being used by that department.

I do not believe that your committee will commit itself to this monopoly which is against the interest of the government.

I am advised by my attorneys that as soon as the suits of the Electric Boat Company can be reached and tried the Court will undoubtedly dismiss them, but in the meanwhile they act as an injunction against me, as they prevent my enlisting capital which is timid and dreads a lawsuit.

Very respectfully,

Mr. Holland and I worked on entirely different lines in the development of our respective types of boats, he being a consistent advocate of the diving principle. He contended for many years that a submarine boat should be built small in size and with little statical stability, so as to dive quickly, while I have stood for great statical stability and for methods of submerging the vessel bodily on a level keel instead of diving at excessive and dangerous angles. I have never refused to accede to him the credit of having been the man who first made the diving type of submarine practical, and to acknowledge his genius and attention to detail which overcame the difficulties which caused the failure of many of his predecessors who attempted to build boats of the diving type.

He died on August 12, 1914, just at the beginning ofthe present European war, and consequently did not live to see the fulfilment of his prophecy that the submarine would prove the superior of the battleship if they ever became opponents in actual warfare.

My own experimental work began when I was a mere schoolboy. I had become interested in the submarine by reading Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." Shortly afterward I took up the study of natural physics and became interested in the use of the diving bell. Being an excellent swimmer and fond of boats, I spent most of my vacation times on or about the water. I remember building a canvas canoe from a description published inGolden Days. This canoe was very "cranky," being only about eighteen inches wide and the sides eighteen inches high. The only way I could learn to sit in the canvas canoe was by ballasting her with pig iron and gradually reducing the ballast as I became more expert, until finally I learned how to keep an equilibrium and maintain the canoe upright. There was only one other boy I remember in the village of Toms River, where I lived at that time, who could ride this canoe, consequently some of the boat men, when they saw it one day drifting bottom side up down the river, came to the conclusion that I had been dumped out and drowned. When they came alongside and righted the canoe they were much surprised to find me in it. I had turned the canoe upside down and crawled up into it, the air pressure keeping the water from rising into it. I had crawled in there for the purpose of finding out how long I could live on the volume of air contained within the canoe; in the meantime it was drifting down the river.

Strange to say, the design of the submarine boat whichI made at that time, when I was only about fourteen years of age, contained most of the elements which are being used successfully in the Lake type of boat to-day: the use of the hydroplanes for control of depth, bottom wheels for navigation over the bottom, and a diving compartment with an air-lock so that the crew could enter or leave the vessel when submerged. These plans were shown to my father at that time, who rather discouraged me in the matter on the ground that submarine navigation was something that great engineers had given a lot of attention to, and that I had better give more attention to my regular school studies than to fooling around with experiments of that nature—which was good advice.

Consequently I did nothing further in the matter until 1892, when my attention was called to an advertisement of the United States Government for inventors to submit designs of submarines to the Navy Department. Then I prepared plans which, in my judgment, would meet the Department's requirements. I was still a youngster, and knew nothing about the difficulties met by outsiders in getting hearings before government officials in Washington. On the appointed day, in June, 1893, on which the bids were to be opened I appeared in Washington with my plans and specifications under my arm, and was directed to the room adjoining the Secretary's office, where a large number of people were assembled. At this time I knew nothing of anyone else's experiments in submarines, and thought that I was the first and only one. I was consequently much disturbed to see so many people present. I sat down on a lounge, and a young man a little older than myself sat down on the lounge alongside of me and said to me, "Well, I suppose you arehere on the same errand as the rest of us; I see you have some plans, and I suppose you have designs of a submarine boat which you are going to submit." I said, "Yes, and I guess there are going to be a good many plans submitted, judging by the number of people who are here." The gentleman then said, "No, I only know of two others who are going to submit plans: there is Mr. J. P. Holland, the gentleman standing over there, and my father, Mr. George F. Baker, of Chicago."

He then explained that he was the son of Mr. Baker, the man who had built the Baker boat, and whose experimental work was responsible for the appropriation of $200,000 by the government for building a submarine. I then said to him, "Well, then, who are all these other gentlemen present? "He knew most of them and obligingly pointed them out to me, saying, "There is Senator So-and-so and Congressman So-and-so, and Mr. So-and-so the great lawyer," etc. I then said to myself, "Well, Lakey, it looks as though you were not going to have much of a show here." I submitted my plans and specifications, however, and returned to Baltimore and to my other business. I was much surprised, therefore, to receive, some time afterward, a telegram from the editor of theNew York Tribune, a Mr. Hall, stating that he had received information from Washington that my plans were looked upon most favorably by the majority of the Naval Board and that they were going to adopt my type of boat. He asked for an interview and a description of the boat. I did not go over to Washington, expecting to receive notice in good time that the award had been granted—which is proof positive that I was still young and ignorant. Nothing further was heard of the matteruntil I saw a notice in the paper that it had been decided not to build any submarines at that time, and that the matter had been postponed indefinitely. Some years afterward I met the late Admiral Mathews, and he informed me then that he had been a member of the board, and that four of the five members of that board were in favor of adopting my type of boat and of having the government start the development of a submarine on those lines, but that the constructor of the board opposed it on the grounds that when the boat was running on the bottom on wheels she might run off from a precipice and go down head first, and reach so great a depth as to be crushed, evidently not realizing that her great static stability and the use of her hydroplanes would prevent this from happening. Anyway, they did not arrive at a conclusion, and any action was postponed for the time being.

In the meantime Mr. George F. Baker, who had moved to Washington in the full expectation of getting the contract, had died, and the Holland Torpedo Boat Company had offered to build, under guarantee of its performance, a boat to meet the department's desires. As I had no company back of me, and, being only a youngster, was without capital of my own, the department decided it was better for them to place a contract under a definite guarantee of performance than to undertake to develop a submarine themselves. I did not name any price for building the boat at the time I submitted my plans, but expressed the desire to coöperate with the government in any way that they wished. My youthful hopes at that time were that if they considered my general plans worthy of adoption I should be taken into the navy and given some sort of a commission to work outthe details of the boat. When I saw some mention in the paper that the matter was to come up for consideration again, I did, however, make a visit to the Navy Department, and assuming, from my observation of the Senators, Congressmen, and representative men who were present at the time of the first opening of the bids, that it was necessary to have some sort of a standing, I secured a letter of introduction from the governor of my native state, New Jersey, who at that time was Mr. Leon Abbott, introducing me to the gentleman who at that time was acting Secretary of the Navy, for the purpose of finding out, if possible, whether I had any chances, and the proper procedure to pursue in getting further consideration of my invention. Presenting myself in the Secretary's office, I sent in my letter of introduction, and the word came back that the Secretary would see me in a few minutes. I waited in the ante-room for a couple of hours, but no word came from the Secretary. Finally he appeared in the doorway and said, "Now, gentlemen, I am going to my lunch, and will be back at half-past two." I Went out to my lunch and was back in the waiting room a little before half-past two, shortly after which the Secretary came into the room, passed around, shook hands with every one, and talked a minute or two with some of his visitors. When he came to me he shook my hand, and I explained to him that I had sent in a letter from Governor Abbott and had been awaiting an opportunity to see him. His reply was, "I will see you in a few minutes." He returned to his office; at four o'clock he appeared at the door again and said, "Gentlemen, I will not be able to see any of you again to-day, as I must now sign my mail."

I was on hand again the following morning, and notifiedthe colored man that I was still waiting for the interview which the Secretary had promised me. The word came back that he would see me in a few minutes. I waited all the morning; the noon hour came, and the Secretary then stated that he was going out to lunch and would be back at half-past two. Every one else who had appeared in the morning the day before had been granted his interview and a new crowd was waiting. I was the only chap who had "stood pat." By this time I was pretty much disgusted. As I went out into the hall the Secretary came out of his door and, putting his hand on my shoulder, said, "I am sorry to have kept you waiting, but as soon as I have finished my lunch I will take up your matter." You may be sure I was on hand, and after he returned he sent for me. He called a colored man and said, "I want you to take this young man down to Captain Sampson (afterward Admiral Sampson, who was at that time head of the Bureau of Ordnance), and tell Captain Sampson that Mr. Lake comes with a letter of introduction from the governor of my state, and I want him to listen to what he has to say about submarine boats, and report to me." This colored man, instead of taking me to Captain Sampson, turned me over to another colored man, and did not report the message which the Secretary had given him. This second colored man took me to Captain Sampson's clerk, and finally I was ushered into the Captain's presence and started to tell him about my boat and its possibilities. He immediately assumed a bored expression, turned his back to me, put his feet up on a chair, and said, "Well, go ahead, but make it brief." I admit that I was pretty much tongue-tied by this time, and I do not flatter myself that I impressed him in the leastdegree, as his manner had the effect of a cold douche upon my enthusiasm. I remember that as I walked out of the Navy Department I vowed never to return until I was sent for, and I never did.

I now started making experiments on my own account, and built theArgonaut, Jr., and later theArgonaut; and I did not return to Washington until I was sent for by a telegram from the late Senator Hale, at that time chairman of the Senate Navy Committee, asking me to come to Washington and submit a proposition for building submarine boats for the United States Government. I was never able to account for my treatment in Washington until some time afterward, when I had an office in New York. The former Acting Secretary had at this time left the Navy Department and was practising his profession of law in New York, where I believe he is still engaged.

Having some legal business at that time which I thought he might be able to handle because of his experience in the Navy Department, I called upon him in regard to it. He stated that, as he was then free, he could handle it for me, and when I recalled my visit to him when he was Secretary of the Navy he said he remembered it very well. He laughingly remarked that I may have thought him a little slow in receiving me at that time; and then explained that, previous to his accepting the portfolio as assistant secretary of the navy, he had been the attorney for a rival submarine boat company; that he knew all about their boats, and the fact that they had expended large sums of money in the development of submarines; and that, although he had resigned as attorney for the company before he became acting secretary, perhaps his former association with them had led him to giveless consideration to my proposition than he otherwise might have done.

As I believed the submarine to have great possibilities commercially as well as for war, I gave up my other business and came to New York, opened an office in the old Cheeseborough Building, and tried to secure capital to build a commercial submarine. I advertised in the papers and visited a number of capitalists in the effort to interest them, but usually, after obtaining an interview, as soon as I asserted that it was possible to navigate over the bottom of the ocean as readily as it was over the land, and that when on the bottom I could open a door in the boat but that no water would come in; and, further, that divers could very readily pass in and out of this open door, I observed in most cases a look of dread in their eyes and their hands would slide over and push a button. An attendant immediately came to the door and reminded Mr. "Blank," whoever he might be, that he had a very important engagement or that some other visitor was waiting to see him. Unfortunately for me, this was about the time that a madman had attempted to bomb Russell Sage in his office.

The result was, that after spending six months and all of my savings I had not raised a dollar. I then decided that it was necessary to get some engineer of national prominence to endorse my project, so I went to Charles H. Haswell, author of "Haswell's Handbook," and former chief engineer of the United States Navy, and explained to him that I wanted him to give me a professional opinion on the practicability of my boat. I offered to submit him my plans of the boat—of which I also had a model in the tank of water in the Cheeseborough Building which I wouldlike him to see, as I thus would be better able to explain to him its method of navigating on the surface and submerging beneath the surface and on the bottom itself. And I then asked him how much he would charge me. He stated that he should want $1500 for the investigation and opinion. By this time I had expended my savings and hardly had $15—let alone $1500. I explained the situation frankly to him, and he said, "Well, I will go down and look it over and give you a report anyhow, and you can repay me at some future time when you are able." He did so, and gave me a very excellent endorsement, but I found that even his endorsement was not sufficient to induce capitalists to invest their hard-earned money in any such crazy scheme as mine appeared to them. I finally decided to build a small experimental boat myself to demonstrate the two principal features over which almost every one seemed to be sceptical. These were the ability to navigate over the bottom of the ocean and the ability to enter and leave the boat while submerged without any water coming in and foundering her. I therefore gave up my office and moved down to Atlantic Highlands, where, with the financial assistance of my uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. S. T. Champion, I was able to build theArgonaut, Jr.She was built of yellow pine planking, double thick, lined with canvas laid between the double layers of planking, the outer seams caulked and payed. She was a flat-sided affair and would not stand great external pressure. She was propelled when on the bottom by a man turning a crank on the inside. Our compressed-air reservoir was a soda-water fountain tank. The compressed-air pump was a plumber's hand-pump, by which means we were ableto compress the air in the tanks to a pressure of about one hundred pounds per square inch.

My diving suit I built myself by shaping iron in the form of an open helmet, which extended down as far as my breast; this I covered with painted canvas. I used the dead-light from a yacht's cabin as my eyeglass in front of the helmet. I tied sash weights to my legs to hold me down on the bottom when walking in the vicinity of the boat. A cousin, B. F. Champion, accompanied me on my first submerged run with theArgonaut, which was in Blackfish Hole in the Shrewsbury River. We submerged the boat alongside of a dock and started across stream in the river. The first time we went under water a stream of water came through a bolt-hole which had not been plugged and struck "Bart" on the back of the neck. He said, "Ugh!" and made a dive. TheArgonauthad a little port-hole in one end about six inches in diameter, and "Bart" said afterward, "I made a dive for that port-hole, but came to the conclusion that I could not get through, so I stopped." It was a simple matter, however, to drive a plug in and stop the water from coming in. On our first trip we ran across the river and back, and, although there was a strong current in the river, she "backed" right back to her starting place, having rested on the bottom firmly enough to prevent the current from carrying her down stream.

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