Show i 1 I COMPASS OF LITTLE USE Tit Instrument on Submarine Boat Censes to Point Nctth Under Water Talking with n young naval officer I learned something about submnrlnj boats that astonished mo says a Brooklyn Brook-lyn Eagle writer Ho had been down In ono of the Holland craft several tlmui and made light of tho dangers but ho ridiculed tho value of such vessels for warfare Then ho told mo the strange inexplicable fat that after the boat Is entirely mibmrrKi11 I the compasi capo to point to th > north It Mice nround I any old way and cannot bo relied re-lied upon for hicorlng Even when UK water Is cear auJ still tho man at the lookout cannot see Inure than 20 feel in front of tin bow Hough water on the surface has the effect of giving an opaqueness to tho sea underneath the opposite of theory the-ory Tho approach of a mihmarlno cat bo detected hy the masthead that stands out of the water Tho vessel rarely do sccuds moro than ten or twelve feet below the surface The general suppo ttltlon that tho boat flounders about In tho mud Is erroneous But tho Impossibility of steering by compass destroys tho practicability ol this weapon for actual warfare In an engagement tho Mihmarlno would bo iu likely to torpedo friend as enemy All manner of strange currents exist under tho surface of tho sea and as they have the boat wholly In their grasp elm might bo turned entirely around in a quarter miles run Many of the most t expert men in the navy are Crying tn dlvlso means to overcome tho effect ol submersion upon the compass |