THE KNELL OF THE IRONCLADS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 23 November 1880, Page 2

THE KNELL OF THE IRONCLADS.

A writer in the United Service Magazine discussing Mr. Fleusa' device for breathing under water, says :—The apparatus having been fastened over the nose and moutli of the diver, when he wishes to breathe the air out of his lungs he docs so in the ordiuary way, and it goes doi\» the tube into the bottom of the front, filter. It then filters through the causticcharge sponge in front, and passing along an outlet at the top, is comba-nul over ihe diver's shouldey into tlx; nUmr case, through which it filters in tho s.miii way, and then ascending im<> iho helmet, mixes with the oxygen ihat has t» be let in from its store chamWor, and is ready to bo breathed :\g;i;'u, into the diver's lungs. Mr. Fionas states that if ho could only eat under water lie could remain there for a whole day ; as if. is he walked for a quarter of a mile under the sea at Ryde, and when at Brighton he went down during stormy weather iuto five fathoms of water, antl so, if so much can be accomplished, we think that before long Mr. Day's luug-losi invention will b'e re-discovered_, and thou the days of the ironclads will be numbered,, as boats which could move about under water would easily be made serviceable it* torpedo warfare, a, warfare, even now, which threatens the existence of the huge, unwieldy metal monsters that cost ! so much money, and have done so little |to keep up their character, either for strength or utility. It appears ta itsk that if caustic soda in solutiun \vcro plentifully supplied, as well as fresh oxygen, into an air-tight chamber, pcaplo might breathe as freely there as in the open air ; and should this prove to be tho case, a submarine ship could be spoedily constructed, having engines to propel it in any direction, the motive power of which might be compressed air. A vessel of that description could either be a torpedo boat or a ram, or be both ; and as the armor does not go below tho water-line, a vulnerable part in tho strongest ship could ahvays be reached. They might cerbutily have submarine ships to act ns sentinels over the ironclads, when, of course, there, would be battles under water ; or strong electric lights might be sunk fathoms deep* so that a vessel that moved under water could not approach without being seen j still, taking all these things into consideration, we cannot help fanoying that Mr. Fleuss' invention has sounded the knoll of the ironclads.