OCR Text |
Show Marine Tragedies w w w m m m THE TORrEDO w .a a the Maine Recalls Other Disasters of the Deep, Equally Horrible and Equally Mysterious. A .a A A A A A A IN MODERN WARFARE. No navy is free from sad stories of explosions in its powder and ammunition magazines, and since the beginning of our civil war the number of vessels destroyed by torpedoes in some form, or by submarine mines, makes a grewsome list. Is it generally known, for example, that in the civil war seven monitors and eleven wooden vessels of war were totally destroyed by submarine mines?. Had the Confederates possessed the same knowledge at the beginning of the war the struggle would have been, at the least, much prolonged, and the disaster to life and tonnage been greatly increased. During our early struggles several vessels were blown up, notably the Randolph, of immortal memory, but the most memorable case, and surely one of the most pathetic, was the destruction of the Intrepid, commanded by the gallant Somers. She was fitted out ae a floating mine, and on the night of September 4, 1804, started from off shore under sail for the inner harbor of Tripoli. Anxious eyes watched her from the blockading fleet, and at ten oclock a thunderous report was heard, a column of flame was seen vibrating in the skies, and then the roar of hundreds of guns mounted ashore. No one came back to tell the story, but it is believed that Somers kept his word not to be taken alive by the enemy, and blew up the ship bo escape capture. It was learned that the Intrepid had grounded on the north ledge of the harbor, and that she had been attacked by three gunboats. j t9Jf on board. Among other crimes laid so unjustly to Irish sympathizers by the English press and people was the destiuc-tio- of the British gunboat Dutteiel in the Suaits of Magellan. She arrived off Punta Arenas about nine a. m. on April 20, 1S1. The captam went ashore soon after to pay his official call, and about ten a. m. two terrible explosions were heard, and an immense cloud of smoke was seen hovering over the ship in the perfect calm of tbe morning. Projectiles of all kinds, masses of human beings, of ship equipage and of general wreckage were discovered flying through the air, and the water for a quarter of a mile around the ship was littered with debris. Boats put off from the shore, and out of the whole ships company of over 150 souls only eight were saved. Fenian plots were held to be the cause of the disaster, and South America and Australia were the scenes of police Inquiry for months. It is now believed that the explosion was due to the spontaneous Ignition of a paint then used in the British navy. This, under deterioration or when exposed to heat, was found to give oft a highly inflammable gas, and as the first explosion occurred in the neighborhood of the paint locker, this plausible theory is now accepted. During the last twenty years two other cases have occurred one, when in 1880 a Spanish gunboat was blown up in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba, and the other in 1893, when a most damaging and distressing explosion occurred on board of the German ar- - firing mechanisms, and is pPot'-ff- from the shore by means of electric cables, which function the machinery. The automobile torpedo is a weapon that is shot from a tube, generally called a torpedo gun, and takes up its line of progress ly machinery contained in its body. There are many forms of these, like the Howell and the i time, and then made one of the most daring and romantic escapes in th an. nals of naval history. Many im proved systems were employed and much Ingenuity was displayed, the most inventive of all experimenters being a confederate officer, who previ- - tt i i charged from the tube by steam or powder, and just as It leaves the muzzle a lock automatically opened releases the compressed air carried in a flask and sets in motion the ma chinery. Three things must be done by It. It must go through the water at a high speed, preserving its lineal direction; it must float at a constant depth, and on striking it must explode The ingenuity and simplicity of the mechanism which effects these three things are really marvelous. The Howell torpedo is based upor n the principle of the gyro scope. Its speed and surety of direc tion are given by the functioning o an inner wheels which is relatively m i Tf I - M fV if A ft p i ,!. P. A mirntrL p v? v , , f J- 'Am ' ,0 . -1 MV W Vs7?sr ft very heavy on the periphery, and revolves with such velocity and in such a constant plane that high speed and great straightness of trajectory arc secured. There are many other forms but these two are employed in our service, and the Whitehead is used by nearly all the navies of the world . Submarine Mine. The term submarine mine Is applied to defensive mines or to those which would be used to obstruct th channels of a river or estuary, or the approaches to a fortified or unprotected seaport. Col. Samuel Colt, the inventor of the American revolver, firs demonstrated the practicability of blowing up vessels by submarine by electricity. In 1842 he blew up the old gunboat Boxer, and In 1843 he destroyed a brig in the Potomac river, while the vessel was under way sailing at the rate of five miles hour. mines-fire- HOW THE MAINE LOOKS FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN THE DAY AFTER THE DISASTER. It was surmised, but never known, that, to prevent the valuable supply of ammunition falling Into the hands of the enemy, Somers fired her, destroying his own people and the Tripolitans warming out of their boats ipto the In June, hapless American tender. 1829, the wooden ship Fulton, then stationed as the receiving ship off Brooklyn, blew up from causes never mored ship Baden, then at anchor Kiel. Of off the war inventions employed to destroy ships by submarine or aerial projectiles or by mines the number is legion. We were among the earliest to employ these, and our contributions to the history of torpedo warfare have been very many and very notable. The famous Battle of the Seventy-fiv- e revealed. persons were Kegs has been sung In mock heroic killed and about thirty were woundverse, and the Philadelphians of 1777 ed. Tradition has wroven many a ro- had many a merry jest over the valormantic, many an Impossible story ous attack made by the BritisTi grenOne yarn told adiers upon these innocuous barrels. about this disaster. how a gunners mate had Capt. David Bushnell of Connecticreepingly been punished as he thought unjustly, cut was one of the earliest experiand In revenge destroyed the ship. In menters with torpedoes, though Robso doing he lost his own life, but ert Fulton was the first to call a magafailed in killing the object of his ha- zine of powder intended for use under ired, an officer, who had left the ship water by this name. This great inquietly a short time before the com- ventor made many experiments, and mission of the crime. The real story the partisans and opponents of the eeems to be that a fuddled gunners new system filled the journos of that mate by some error made his "way day with acrimonious discussions. Into the magazine with an exposed The failure of torpedoes in the war of lighted candle, stumbled into the pow- 1812 and the general feeling against der barrel of the period and thus blew this mode of warfare as inhuman and the ship skyward. barbarous caused, however, its practical abandonment for many years. The Amphlons Detraction. In the English service there have The Confederate Torpedoes. been a number of notable cases of exSubmarine boats had been generally One employed in all experiments up to the plosion, but mainly in action. well known in time of peace was the beginning of the civil war, and it was destruction of the frigate Amphion, really not until 1863 that movable or Capt. Israel Pellew commanding, off fixed isolated torpedoes were brought The confederate Plymouth, England. Here, too, a gun- into general use. ners mate appears as the god in the torpedoes were usually made of copmachine for, apocryphal or not, it is per and filled with powder, varying believed to this day that the seaman in weights, according to circumstances In question went with a lighted lamp of employment, from fifty to one into the magazine to steal powder, hundred and fifty pounds. These which then had a ready market. Sev- w'ere carried on spars attached to eral hundred people were destroyed, ships or boats, were arehored on the among them prominent officials and bottom, or were sent drifting singly citizens of the town who were dining or in pairs, connected by long lines, ous to the war had been a dancing master. well-know- n Handling Torpedoes. For a season towing torpedoes were In great favor. These were handled from the ship, and by certain dextrous shiftings of the connecting lines were carried off each quarter at a safe angle, and made to dive at the desired moment. They proved to be A Miminderntaniiing-- American Marquis, that 4 T I understand, you fell In love with a American lady on ac it L 1 Av t ' w.w, A-- . f - L A'k I)- ?- i A TIIE DISASTER, PHOTO . TAKEN ) P l jikc.S-- i V?- '''.I y1 "- -i ITALIAN METHOD OF TRAINING, clal vineyards of the world. The vine of many Italian vineyards have for centuries teen trained over trees in Imitation of the trellis furnished the vine by nature. The accompanying Illustration shows this primitive method of Five or six vines ar about each tree, and by mean planted of stakes and strings or wire the shoot are carried to the branches. Here they are very commonly allowed to roam at will, the only pruning that Is done being to cut back more or less of the shoots produced each year. The tree are planted so close together that th vines often extend from one tree to the next, thus forming a continuous tangle of grapevines and trees. Although this method can scarcely be termed pruning, still it Is an advance; and the fruit borne is also to a limited extent benefited by such thinning. Where grapevines are allowed to run over arbors, they generally receive simila treatment, but In such cases dense foliage Is sought more than fine fruit. Such practices are, as a rule, wholly unsystematic, and therefore cannot b discussed in connection with our best methods. grape-trainin- g. Intensive Culture. In France, acdistinguished to authorities who criticise Cacount of her pretty foot? cording Marquis nadian from this standis agriculture It. Dat De pretty vay she foots de point, the art of fertilizing the soil i bills. New York Weekly. carried to such an extent that, in ease of tenant farming, the tenant usually reserves the right to carry the surface of the soil of his farm or garden away with him on the expiration of his lease. This Is the more practicable In that country because of excellent means of communication, the usual smallness of the lots cultivated, and the fact that the French peasantry seldom wander far from the neighborhood In which they were born. The returns from a single acre of land cultivated In the vicinity of Paris by the highest degree of Intensive tillage often amount to eight or even ten fold more than the returns from an acre of land on a Canadian farm. Rural Canadian. THE MIDSHIP SECTION OF THE MAINE FROM TIIE DAY AFTER . Tourist j- t well-know- x ij J,W ment Cushing destroyed the Albe- traordlnary results have been obtainmarle and his own boat at the same ed with both. The Whitehead is dis- r. I the Vineyard ever-wideni- t9 , AftMit frequently puzzled unless he has studied the various modifying circumstances and conditions which exert an influence upon his vines; and yet, when the entire subject of grape culture is considered with regard to its underlying and fundamental features the mass Df minute details lose their apparent Importance, and a few essential facts stand out clearly, forming a frameWhitehead, for example, and some ex- - work upon which the living and variable methods may be arranged, with due respect to their relative importance. The haze which has hung over what should be the simple operations of pruning and training the grape ha3 discouraged many from examining into the comparatively easy problem of determining the most simple and economical line of treatment to be followed. As the grapevine is seen growing in wild nature it is found to be a vigorous, plant, steadily overcoming one obstacle after another and frequently climbing to great height by means of its long, slender branches, which are provided with tendrils that enable it to retain possession of its domain. When such an and successful energetic plant is compared with its dwarfed and geometrical neighbor of the vineyard there is abundant reason for wonder as to how th wild and rampant child of the woods could be so radically transformed into a small, compact growth, which evidently feels its commercial importance and quietly settles down to steady work. Yet the change can be made THE JUNIOR OFFIC ERS OF THE MAINE. with comparative ease, and the various (1) Engineer Proctor, (2) Engineer French, (3) Gherardi, (4) Wodhams, (5) steps of the operation are at present Dr. Richards, (6) Ward, (7) Engineer Mansfield, (S) Ramsey, (10) Butler, Illustrated in the numerous coramer- (11) Watson. a submarine boat, but the Albemarle was blown up by Cushing with a torpedo carried on the end of a spar. This torpedo was made of a stout cylindrical copper case, filled with powder and fitted with a hollow tube, which carried at its bottom a fulminate cap. A small sized grape shot, secured with a pin, was held at the top, and by releasing this at the eventful mo- - i IT. The fuses were dangerou3, however, and all effort was generally of the percussion type, and thereafter directed to the dirigible, or E. G. Lodeman, in Department of fulminate of mercury entered largely the automobile, torpedo. Generally de- Agriculture Report; To most people Into their composition. scribed the dirigible torpedo is one the art of the vineyardist is a mystery; The Housatonie was destroyed by that contains Its own propelling and In fact, the vineyardist himself is very Their Secrets! and FAMOUS VESSELS BLOUX k'ate down tide streams. a w For the Farm Boy. You want goad advice? Rise early. Be abstemious. Be frugal. Attend to your own business and never trust It to another. Be not afraid of work, and diligently, too, with your own hands. Treat every one with civility and respect. Good manners Insure success. Accomplish what you undertake. Never be mean rather give than take the odd shilling. Honesty is not only the best policy, but the only policy. Time is money. Make your word as good as your bond. Reckon the hours of the day as so many dollars, the minutes as so many canta. Live within your income. Ninety-nin- a may say no, the hundredth, yes. Take off your coat; dont be afraid of manual labor. America is large enough for zlj.r Farmers Tribune. |