OCR Text |
Show HOLLAND SU3MARINE BOAT FIFTEEN HOURS UNDER WATER TEST WAS MADE TO SATISFY GOVERNMENT OF THE MERITS OF THE BOAT. Air Tanks Were Not Tapped and a Much Longer Stay Could Have Item Made if Necessary No Had Effects Suffered by the Crew. The Holland submarine boat Fulton was submerged in New York harbor Saturday night, remaining under water more than fifteen hours. On - board the boat were Rear Admiral Lowe and Lieutenant Arthur MacAr-thur, MacAr-thur, who were there in the interest of the government to see that the test was a fair one, and that no air was supplied through tubes. After having been under water continuously for more than fifteen hours, the little craft arose to the surface at 10:30 Sunday forenoon, with all on board well, and surprised to find a fierce storm ragiDg. 1 The test of the Fulton's staying qualities was highly satisfactory, not only to the officers that built her, and the naval officials present, but to those who went to the bottom in the. boat. They report there was not the slightest discomfort to them during their submersion. sub-mersion. ' t ' Captain Cable of the Holland company, com-pany, who was in command, said that the boat could have remained down for three months if there was food enough on board. Members of the crew say they expert enced .no difficulty in breathing, and that the air was all that could be de. sired, and much purer and more healthy than in an ordinary closed room in which are several persons. Every piece of machinery worked to perfection perfec-tion during the night. The men ate two meals while under the water and enjoyed them. Most of them obtained three or four hours' sleep. Rear Admiral Lowe said: "When we went down I assisted Captain Cable in making an inspection of the ship. Then I retired, while the crew played cards and read. Every few hours I was awakened and made inspections of the condition Early in the morning Cap- tain Cable called my attention to the pressure gauge which indicates the depth. It showed that we were lower in the water than at high tide at night, when we submerged. There was noth-inj't-ashov,- us vvfcy it was, but a little, while later I noticed that the water, as we saw it through the head-lights, was very dirty and I imagined that a storm was blowing. There was no rock or roll of the vessel to indicate what was going on." Continuing, Rear Admiral Lowe said that the air in the bow was as clean and as pure as in a house or in the cabin of a yacht. "Not once," added the admiral, "did I notice any sign of bad air, gas or other impurity. Considering Con-sidering that we did not draw on the tanks at all I consider this is wonderful. wonder-ful. It upsets all the theories of the physicians and scientists, who tell us that what we did was impossible. I was critical all night and nothing escaped es-caped me." The longest time that any submarine boat bad been under water heretofore in the United States was three hours. Lieutenant Harry Colwell kept the Holland submerged that long in the Potomac last year. The Fulton had never been under longer than about twenty-five minutes, when she made a two-mile run submerged a few weeks ago. |