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Show i THE SUBMARINE' SAILOR " I r offtj 3Y "WIILLIAM ALLEN JOHNSTON. ' It is war time,, let up suppose, and one of our liar important commercially r.nd strategically, ha tair-'-i in selected for comprehensive attack by the en '.:fy's combined and victorious battleship lleet, Back of the harbor two great trunk railways in sect. It is the object ot the attacking forces tc jtlvze these lines, secure access to large quantities .' J raluablc supplies and establish a base in the verv it of our most vital seaboard. The move is tho most imnortaut one of the entire ;J Practicallv everything depends upon its out-To. out-To. It has b'cen planned weclts in advance, with $3 ot'ion.to minutest details, and is based upon harbor ?i bse maps obtained only after much plotting, work bombardment has been planned, and the great T? fc,' having steamed out of the night horizon at full id, is now advancing uniformly and slowly in order I asitro accurate shooting, and is following regular i :es at fixed distances from tho shore batteries. '( rhese batteries, bristling with guns which gleam in 'inoruing light, can, it is confidently believed by the HI iisivo force, bo speedily silenced by the great long ifi guns of tho fleet. So, too, tho floating batteries. litional strong arms are lent to the formidable HI i bv the torpodn boat destroyers, which are man- oring on the wings. The battle has already been E won by strategy and preparation. The landing 'F future campaign arc already planned, but there is H "arm" of tho defense which lias not been counted in which did not appear in tho harbor dofenso map vspies' reports. It s a very wonderful, mysterious "7 rm. ' ' because it is silent and unscon. It Is a hor- e, fearsome "arm." The very mention of its name 'I blanch the faces and still the hearts of the bc6t " ncd crew, because it is just ns deadly as silent, as f ific as unseen. As a weapon of war it is only one-m one-m J eth as big and powerful as a single ship in the ml ianeing array, yet if it docs well its deadly work W ingle blow rrom it will render one of those mag-H mag-H 5ent, redoubtable battle leviathans as useless and ihlcss as a dismantled hulk lAs flic ndvancine fleet takes it battle formation in 32j3islancn line of dots moves out from, under tho Tlof the shore batteries. Dots they soom from tho Manco; near at hand they look liko'jwash tubs float-.'ipupside float-.'ipupside down and painted blue gray: to tho tele-rtriiue. tele-rtriiue. eyes of tho approaching fleet they aro merged ii.he like color of tho waves and utterly lost to ' fpho line of dots streaks through the water at a "Isfl of almost fifteen miles an hour and straight on jMfljWrd the mighty, menacing front of tho great flv-I flv-I Ofpfll,n(lron 'I'hc contrast seems ludicrous. What j to be, a battle of ships and washtubs? Suddenly tho tubs eeaso their speed, wabble for I 'Jjinstant, swirl in tho waters and disappear from F3rat beneath the waters. Nothing remains nbovo the liUaco to mark their disappearance save, in each in-Vjflicc. in-Vjflicc. a spindling shaft, not more than three inches ''"!ae and settling rdowly down till less than a foot of jjfomains above the water. Sharp Contrast. Smpain the line is intact, and again it speeds for '' fcv-this time a row of bean poles against armored ' Sfcthans of twenty thousand tons burden. Again Sim'1 contrast ! Jjwuddenly tho battle ship line manouvers to tho -jKsit, and then almost instantly and as if antomatie-gVIthe antomatie-gVIthe line, of tiny shafts turn in the same direction "irlfwo incongruous lines are now little more than tjifa mile apart. Jftcrliaps the latter were seen just then through the lenses of the fleet; perhaps their preseneo was 'Mt"Vi ina1 Known by advanced aids of modern wnr-CVEho wnr-CVEho ' p fu,)marine s,nn,s or wireless telegraphy or 1a .t any rate there were bells and swift commands the .bridge of the flagship, and a sharp commo-followed commo-followed along i.he whole battle lino. Orders were ilv given as as quickly obeyed: everything was jbape, but nion 's faces were . iiislantlV changnd. rc formerly confidence and eagorness "worn writ there were now anxiety and fear. Eyes wero least and shifting, as though the sea beneath k suddenly filled with underwater horrors, immediately after the first order waved from the hip signal stall' nno of the tinv shafts that now in fence breasted the great, battle ship formal ion J sharply back, quivered for an instant and then mod its poise. That was nil, but two seconds , a small cloud of spray appeared just off the side io flagship, followed by a tremendous thud mid , of black and yellow smoke from ouf (ho boil 3 Enters. The great steel monsler Irembled from K i rn and Kpnll.v keeled over till the decks U down on the wounded side at an anglo of twelve PCmi ani1, its Pwerful guns were rendered use-'1t use-'1t P , c nf'vf,,,,,p battle ship line was now charging Wght ahead at full speed, .leaving the. disabled flag-kiW flag-kiW ii ml (,,lll'R'ng ahead at nothing more fungible, JHW'i'd seem, than a line of bobbing posts, so small t'l " "s to 1)0 !l'mosl invisible, lfl'fiirki !Pt-t(r Uuo wns ,,ro,(n now. Some of fhe boats jJ.Wi u"M,S wnv ;,n'1 lhnt- nncl now Hion thev Hv- c nml f,lon ,,n,p'l forward, and with each ;jluiiK. qiiiyering movement there followed a mo-am- later thai same heaving spurt of sprav, and LAjJrtnml then a disastrous dull (hud ns another and -ritner ship keeled over. J&lfJ'-0 UvP lilu,s nu'' ,l,p rpnt and the tiny in 3D,lKi"p hnn it fakes to tell if. Rather, thov seemed meet only, for almosl at tho point of contact the 3"e ""nPPParoil utterly and tho mighty attacking Wll- pt 0,1 a,ul ovor t,,0,n- 'hey reappeared. "V on by one i tlio breach" bef ween fhe J l" oi I he licet and the roar cuard ipp wniili harl held back and were now swiii'Miie to steam out of the harbor. Here ihe posts 'eared, a number turning and streaking after Ihe ice hue. now enf rapped within the harbor, and f lurching after Ihe rear guard, now in full f. two ships of the lalter division were caught Reeled, over bel ore (ho bobbin- pnsfs ceased lnnsuit, and in tho meantime the. entrapped d nin up ihe.r flaCs of surrender. The 'l a('-Imost a('-Imost a s.lent one was over. The greal strategic SL n 'rrlh- f l'fnnnrlv had been do- -m2i nrnM01 fieant . -osts was all that 1finS.1 .0l lh? ,M.VRter,"" victorious forces. i f i n'1 ,loiv.n t0 fi0,,,p verv strange mid sub-)1mt-ln&KcrftWi J,,hnl iiA PPOndicular 41-re-illv , nflM1 f,PPt lonfr ('nllf'l periscope. 'Strt m V,ot,lh,:r,niU -VP for n black cic r , lfjyietft Vnoath the water, fn the top 0rtho torn" . IT IS A VERY WONDERFUL, MYSTERIOUS "ARM." u tube, which is generally above the water, there is a powerful lens which sees everything. Within the lube and at intervals all the way down there, is a series of bright mirrors, which carry along the re-flcctiou re-flcctiou ami at length throws il plainly upon a pris- matic lens at the bottom in full view of a man who watches over il and navigates accordingly tho long olark engine of destruction. The navigator sits within tho invci led washtub, winch is really a conning towT, made of four-inch armor steel and ficled with scuttles of heavy gliiss. To his right is a steering wheel, to his left a second wheel with which he cau make his boat dive down or rise at will. Unlike Any Other Boat. A boat it is called, but it. is unlike anv boat that ever was built. Within tho hull a yellow fight gleams murkily from incandescent globes - laced hero and shows the interior, which resembles Ihe bolted sectional sec-tional steel lining of an under river tube. The lifhi is unearthly, (he sounds still more so. As ho boat dives there is henrd thfs -?ltcr of drops as of a heavy rain. The noise grows almost deafon-. deafon-. nig. 'Tho dropping of a small nail upon (he outsido of the steel hull sounds within like the clang of a bell. Tho note of a distant, submarine signal resounds with tho heavy mournful booni of cathedral chimes. And over all is I he exaggerated whirr of electric fans and motors and the ''pop-pop" of gasoline and air driven machinery exhausts. Fore and aft of the maiiouvoriit'- comnnrl incut there aro large steel tanks, which can bo filled with waler from intake cocks or emptied by compressed air from within. These are the ballast tanks. When full they sink the hull so that onlv the periscope is visible; when empty tho boat is ''light" that is to say, its conning tower, surrounding superstructure and a portion of the hull rido above the water. But oven when tho ballast tanks are full the boat has a reserve buoyancy, very slight, oul-" about two hundred pounds to two hundred tons displacement, but enough to bring the boat "awash" to the sur- H face under normal conditions. VH The diving, therefore, is accomplished not by .ad- mmm ding weight, but under propelling power, added to an IS inclined position, Mmm The center of the boat is normall" unstable in a WmW fore and aft. direction, like a slugcriBh seesaw. Hy-droplanes. Hy-droplanes. like broad, short oars, are fitted nt tho middle ot tho boat and at tho stern there are pow-crful pow-crful tilting rudders. When the latter are raised and tho nose tipped down the impulse of tho propeller mWrl sends the strange craft down upon its diviner course. mm i It is built to withstand the pressure of three hundred mwLt feet of depth. General maneuvering, however, is con- mmm fined to less than fifty feet of water. mmm In the nose of tho boat thore are tucked away mmt from five to cirht Whitehead torpedoes and a stoel mmm tube for discharging them. The imrmlso for dis- -1 chargo is t sccurod from compressed air flasks within Wl the middle compartment. Each torpedo, let us say, has n range of one thousand yards, a speed 'of thirty- 1 five knots, and the destructive part, weighing about six hundred pounds, consists of an 8-inch 'gun firing Hl a 250-pound projectile with a velocity of 1000 feci mmt a second. In appearance the torpedo is not unlike a 1 miniature model of the boat which carries it. HH Such, briefly nnd generally, is tho submnrine or, more properl-, the modern "submersible" boat and HJ its armamont, considered bv ninny tho most formid- Hl able engine of defense and" in many ways the most remarkable, inyontion of this very remarkable ago. Its navigation is not unduly dangerous, say its ad-herents. ad-herents. Man being a land animal is inclined to ex-aggerato ex-aggerato tho dangers which surround human life and activity under the sea, and to have also an nn- usually keen thrill of horror when accidents do oc- mWM There, is a good deal of truth in this. It applies to life in the air as well as under tho sea, ann" for the same reason, because there is ,a dramatic quality about both which prosaic land life does not possess. The death of a balloonist is chronicled far and wide. whereas the victim of a horriblo saw mill accident is mentioned briefly in the local papers. The shocking feature of submarine boat disasters, mW howover. lies in tho fact that in each of tho sev- . eral instances not a human sonl escaped. Therein lies fhe added horror to tho outside world. One feels that escape is impossible, that the victim must die like a Vat in a hole., without that hopeful chance to fight for life that exists in most dangerous oc- cupations. H The most memorable, though not the most fatnl, IBI submarine disaster is that of the Trench boat Lupin, HI in the harbor of Bizerta. Early in tho morning of October 16, 1906, the HI Lupin went out for practice dives with the cruiser HI Greul as an escort. She made two successful dives. HI but when she came up after the third dive her stern HI appeared only a trifle above tho water and quickly HI sank again. Tt was apparent to those on board the HI Greul that something was wrong, and they waited in HH fearful suspense. When tho Lupin failed to reappeai HH the Greul steamed back at full speed to Bizerta, aftci H marking the spot with a buoy. mmm Wedged in the Sand. A raising raft was hastily towed out and divert were sent down to reconnoiter. They found the sunken boat in 120 feet of water nnd wedged fast in th sand. It was impossible to enter her. nnd it wni 1 some days before she could be grappled and raised. 11 The first hurried investigation revealed the eaus of the tragedy and gave amnio evidence of the dra matic struggle which had taken place within. In tho intake cock of the water ballast tanks, the slide of which drops liko a guillotine, they found s stone wedged fast. Tt left an aperture large enough to admit too fast, a greater quantity of water than tho tank plates could withstand. They succumbed to heavy pressure and sprung, admitting water to the interior compartment. Here a scene of dramatic intensity had taken place. Tho wator short circuited at once the elec- trie, wires and batteries, and the lurid glow had been IH suddenly thrown into a turmoil of brilliant, snap- IH ping sparks and blinding flashes. The corroding oi tho tubes by fhe acids of the batteries produced an atmosphere' I hat would asphyxiato a human being in H a very short, time. It is hopefully believed that-the agony of the men could not have lasted long. But H imagine (his frantic if brief strugglo for life within a steel fubo filled with fireworks and nostril burn- ing acid fumes nt the black bottom of the sea. H As the workmen smashed the bolts of tho com- H partment flooring nnd ripped it open a horrible s:?ht met them. They saw the commander, Lieutenant Ve H paux, holding Ihe quartermaster in his arms, and with H one hand upraised as if to striko, him. That hand, however, was rigidly clutched about the lever that H raises fhe hood of the conning tower in a last des- H pcratc endeavor to escape that way. lust why it was impossible to open the hood was H speedily discovered. The bodies of three sailors wore H found wedged hard and fast in the cupola, where IH ordinarily there is room for only one man. Hl None of the crew was at his nost savo the com- Kl maiider and Ensign Millot. The rest were found with Hl bodies twined together and faces toward the cupola. as though praying for it to open and let them out ot their steol death trap. One clock had stopped at 30:32. about the time the Greul loft for help, and ll the other's hands pointed at 11:10. Fourteen lives ll were lost, in all. H A year previously the sister boat of the Lupin, ll the Farfadet. sank in about tho same part of the il harbor and with an equal loss of life. Other se- rious submarine casualties include tho "English' boats iH Al and AS and fho Russian boat Delphin." JH The latter boat, went down with its hatch open. iH The water ballast tanks had been, flooded and nn un- IH usual number of men on board made up the ex- fH eessive and fatal weight. Tho British boat A8 dived iH unexpectedly while under full speed and sank with ll hatch open; tho A1 while diving collided with tho 1 bottom of u steamer and had its conning tower ripped 1 open. After the collision the boat, traveled the wholo IH length under tho ship and might have emerged and lH been saved had the ballast tanks been hastily emptied, IH Evidently tho entire crow of flfteon were too stunned IH by the blow to act quickly enough. HH Each accident, say the naval exports gravely, ia lH especially regrettable' siuce the crews were made up of volunteers, and therefore consisted of picked men; H which brings us back with a start to tho conscious- IH n ess hat wo aro now considering not a perilous oc- ll cupation by which a man gains n living, but rather ll a branch of war and its preparation, in which field Ul men aro rn ted not as individuals, but' unit bodies, il held as desirable and safeguarded only because of ll their efficiency toward a certain end the triumph of ll a nl |