A SUBMARINE MONSTER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2325, 19 June 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

A SUBMARINE MONSTER.

NordenfeHt, the great inventnr. focturinsf on this subject before thw tlnited Sotvicu Institution. explained how, by slow degrees and in spite of some disheartening (experience, he at last succeeded in solving a profoundly difficult ■>• problem,, and patting to practical application. the il'Biimof many inventive mind*. Not content with; producing a merely experimental vessel. ho set bi>rdly to work and: built at Stockholm aboatof dimensions brge «n -msfft to be useful m war. Its length 64ft,. its displacement 60 toaa. and •pood oa the measured mile 9 knot, it could travel a distance' of ISO Rules without recoalinaf, and descend safeiv to a depth of 50ft below the surface of the aeih with it* crew ot! threw men on board. This vessel was run with satisfactory results, as an «:xperiments in Sweden, and since then by aid of sundry improvements boats of much greater capacity and mora formidable power have been constructed, and the result of trialsmadeinthe presence of competent critics is that the latterclasa dux attain a speed on the surface? ot Croat 22 to 13 knots, and the mfernnce drawn from, scientific data is that they may go much faster when completely submerged. For long distances out of sight of any enemy the boat runs just above the sur- ! face with cupola and about 3ft of turtleback out of water, but by forced draught blowing out its smoke below the waves. When it arrives within such distance of the enemy thar, it tuighfi be discovered, it descends so far that the cupola only appears above the surface. This descent is managed by taking a sufficient quantity of water into tanks to reduce the buoyancy until it brings her, as it ia technically called, "awash," when, if the hostile ship be so near that even a small cupola might be seen, horizontal screws begin to set and draw the boat completely under water. Thence she can ad.anca within striking distance totally unseen, har course bein£ n-.arlceii only by a train of bubbles arising from steam forced out. Whenever the horizontal screws cease to move the boat rises, and in case of any failure of engines or propellers she woi;M come at onco to the surface by b»r own buoyancy. There isal*> an utsßcinus contrivance by which th>» under water at which it :a nu >«t desirable Co move can be regulated exactly. The propeliur* power when below the am face is derived from about eivjht tons of heated water subject to the full prwwrv of steam, and this has been sudicient t'or a run of fourteen knots, or more than would probably be require! for an attack in war. When (descending the boat is perfectly horizontal, andis invariably kept so while movinir under waJ'*r by means ot' bow-rud'Vm by a plumb-weight. On the surface the bout is dtiven by working boilers in the usual manner, and one the larger class, 100 ft in lengt' with a displacement of 160 tons, travelled 900 miles without rt'eonlinif. With coal in bunkers only, i.!: : h boat <-an keep the sea I for five days or «»•!"•. nod thus, as the ! lecturer thought, would be twuud , especially suitable for cruising off a coast ! rundy to defend any, part that might be threatened or for service as a dispatch i vessel capable of passing a hoatilo tieet i : unseen. Each boat carries two White- j head torpedoes, which are discharged i mechanically. Tliera is so much cubic •pace within that the crew of six men found no discomfort in betnsf submerged six hours, at the end of which time a candlo placed on the door, where air would necessarily be most impure, burnt without any appreciable diminution of its dame. After a run of fourteen miles under water, when the men were shut up for threw hours, the temperature wi.s found to be only Fahr., whereas in the stokeholes of many monitors is sometimes rises to t2od«- J f."

On one occnssion nc-ar Cave sprinsj General BueJl ordered thy men to he Icept away from a fin« spring, bat the .guard waa overrun by thirsty men, and Bwli rude with his stern .official dignity to •'ha •priog'to stand guard himself. Flt< wore •t the time a straw- hat nnd his uniform. A. farst", energetic. sixfooter cum ■■! up very thimfcy and i'npar.i-.'nt tn fill hi* '"intooii. Ho ntbbi d a.'ainun Baell at' hf I'iJKnuil and stepped with one foot into iht? wat«r t.. till hut tin oap. Bm£ said quiuKt* hut d«;i<tMUy. *' Take jfourt'oot out, sir." SciM the ■i*-footerlooked up and :iai. 1 : •* You to Greenland's icy mountains, t don't want any quartermaster's cleric ordering me about." For an instant the Commander of the Array of the Ohio was ■tunned by the unexpected reply. Then he said quietly and emphatically:— "General Baell: orders you to take your foot—out—of—that—water." The roan gave the general a glance of unmiatnfceahie admiration and said quickly, " I'll do it, air. If General Buell would order me 'to jump head first into a cannon I would do it. Out comes che foot. Why didn't you say so before." This reply bothered the General a good deal, but ha said nothing. In the volume of '• JDickensiana," recently published in London, there ia a reference to an amusing blunder of a German critic, who gravety stated that "the absurdities of English pronunciation was well exhibited ia the case of the word *Boz„' which ia pronounced * Dickens.' " la this volume are reprinted the scattered passages from. Notes and Queries which show that Sana WeHer's story of the muffins ia not Wellerian at all. the genuine one beinar contained in BoaweJl's " Johnston" ; that Sam's fleet" story of the prisoner who, on bet'nsc threatened to be locked outside, trembled violently and never ventured out of tf»p prison gates afterward, and published in The Mirror in 1824. and is, m point of fact, ** a well-known Joe Miller"; and that Fagin ia but the prototype of Wotton. To crown all, the ferrrtf.rng contributors to Notes and Queri-* hare discovered that Mr Pickwick's celebrated trouvaille —the stone inscribed with * Bill Stumps, hi* mark'"—was so fully and /•■• •uratoly described in the Annual RegiaW tor 1771 that no room for speculation on the score of '"coincidence" is felt Praia Totrso Aoaet.—" My mother was afflicted a long sime with neuralgia, and a dull, heavy, inactive condition of •ti» wboto system, haadaohe, nervoua pr««tra(tfom, and was almost helpless. No phyaiciaxis or medicines did her any good. Ttoee mouths ag» she began to use Dr Soule's Hop Bitters, with such good effect that she seems and feels young again, although over seventy years old."—A Lady or E. 1.. C. S. A. Look up.