OCR Text |
Show arine - and jfragedies fahous Their Secrets vessels blown up of the $iine Recalls Other Disasters of the Deep, e t Horrible and Equally Mysterious. Equajlr IN MODERN WARFARE. THE JORPLDO I lg free fom sad stories of mile around the ship was littered with in its pgsder and ammuni- - debris. Boats put off from the shore, agazlues, sfti since the begin- - .and out of the whole ships company our civil var the number of of over 150 souls only eight were destroyed' by torpedoes In saved. Fenian plots were held to be form, or by submarine mines, the cause of the disaster, and South a grewsom list. Is It gener-uow- America and Australia were the for Maniple, that In the scenes of policy Inquiry for' months. 'Sr seven monitors and eleven It Is now believed that the explosion a vessels of war were totally de-- l was due to the spontaneous Ignition Had of a paint then used in the British mines? by submarine federates possessed the same navy,-- This, under deterioration or dge at the beginning ofThe whenWTposed tir heat, was found -- to he struggle would have been, give off a highly inflammable gas, and least, much prolonged, and the as the firsV explosion occurred in the r to life and tonnage been neighborhood of the paint locker, this increased, plausible theory is now accepted. lag our early struggles several During the last twenty years two othwere blown up, uotably the er cases have occurred one, when In Iph, of Immortal memory, but 1880 a Spanish gunboat was blown up lost memorable case, and surely In the harbor of Santiago de Cuba, and f the most pathetic, was the the other In 1893, when a most damof the Intrepid, commanded aging and distressing explosion oc3 gallant Somers. She was fitted curred on board of the German arfloating mine, and on the mored. Bhtp Baden, then at anchor off avy jns sired moment. They proved to be dangerous, hoe ever, and all effort waa thereafter directed to the dirigible, or the automobile, torpedo. Generally described the dirigible torpedo la one that contains Its own propelling and Bring mechanisms, and is piloted from the shore by means of electric cables, whith 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 by machinery contained In iU. body. There are many forms of these, -- like the Howell and the Whltetfead, for example, and some extraordinary results have been obtained with both. The Whitehead Is dis charged frorh the tube by. ateam or powder, and Just as It leaves the mux-xl- e a lock automatically, opened re ed seaport. Col. Samuel Colt, the In- ventor of the American revolver, flrs of demonstrated the practicability mines submarine vessels by blowing up fired by electricity. In 1843 he blew In 1843 up the old gunboat Boxer, and Potomac In the he destroyed a brig river, while the vessel was under way, an sailing at the rate of five miles hour. Many forms of mines were used lere and abroad, and they were successcivil fully employed against us In the war. Every system of coast defense concerns Itself with their distribution harbor n and use, and every of the world Is at this day so mapped out that the planting of these mines may be done on a plan which promises Some of these the greatest utility. are constant depth mines that is, well-know- -- n, de-Io- Of 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 1 HOW THE MAINE LOOKS ; wound-Traditio- , Aapklnt The Deetrwetloa. tke English service there have a number of notable case of One mainly in action. known In time of peace was the action of the frigate ,AmphIon, Israel Pellew commanding, off louth. England.'' Here, too, a gun-- i mate appears as the god la the Mne for, apocryphal or not. It la ived to. this, day that the seaman nestion went with a lighted lamp the magazine to steal powder, A then had a ready market people were destroyed, and ng them prominent official tns of the tow who were dining hoard. Among other Crimea laid mjustly to Irish sympathisers by English press and people was the ruction of the British gunboat are in the Straits of Magellan, arrived off Punta Arenas about The IB, 1881. i a. BC on April ain went ashore soon after to pay official call, and about ten a. m. terrible explosions were heard, aa Immense cloud of sifioke waa hovering over the ship In the per-salf the morning. Projectiles U kinds, masses of kuman beings, wreck-wer- e bdp equipage and ef general discovered flying through the and tke water tor a quarter of a ut m ,4. - t J " notable: - The famous -- Battle of. the. Kegs has been sung la. mock heroic verse, and the Philadelphians of 1777 had many a merry Jest over the valorous attack made by the British grenadiers upon these innocuous barrels. Capt. David Bushnell of Connecticut was one of the earliest experimenters with torpedoes, though Robert Fulton was the first to call a magazine of powder intended for use under This great inwater by this name. ventor made many experiments, and the partisans and opponents of the new system filled the journals of that discussions. day with acrimonious The failure of torpedoes In the war of 1812 and the general feeling against this mode of warfare as Inhuman and barbarous caused, however., its practical abandonment for many year. j - The Torjwdo. Submarine boats had been generally employed in all experiments up to the beginning of the civil war, and It was really not until 1863 that movable or fixed isolated torpedoes' were brought into general use. The confederate torpedoes were usually made of copper and filled with powder, varying in weights, according to circumstances of employment, from fifty to one These hundred and fifty pounds. were carried on spars attached to ships or boats, were anchored on the bottom, or were sent drifting singly or in pairs, connected by long lines, down tide streams. The fusee . were generally of the percussion type, and fulminate of mercury entered largely Into their composition. The Housatonlc was destroyed by Albemarle a submarine boat, but-.th- e was blpwn up by Cushing With a torspar. pedo tarried o the ,enfl of This torpedo was mdde of a stout cylindrical copper case, filled with powder and fitted with a hollow tube, which carried at Its bottom a fulminate - A small sized grape shot, secured with' a pin, waa held at the top, and by releasing this at the eventful , moment Cushing destroyed' the Albemarle and hie own boat at the same time, and then made one of the most daring and romantic escapes in the anMany Imnals of naval history. and were employed proved systems much ingenuity was displayed, the most inventive of all experimenter being a confederate officer, who previous to the war had been a well-knodancing master. Haadlinff Torpedoes. JFor a season towing torpedoes were in groat favor. These were handled from the ship, and by certain dextrous shlftlngs of the connecting lines were carried off each quarter at a aafe angle, and made to dive .at the de- - Cofdrt The I TBemla.i l . oruUer, Maine, which was blown to atoms In Havana harbor !Bht. had been the object of Intense haired at the hands of the u w m ,e a long time before the truth is known about Spaniard the cause of the tipiosion-whet- her it was done by Spanish hands or was an merely aeridem in the nieanutne a bloody waT may be fought, it Is safe to wager tltft thne is no accident about it. Time will most libel v show that it waa the result of a deliberate conspiracy to kill and murder the crew of a warship flj mg the American flag Pending an investigation the American peopls asked to be patiput ami not to form hasty judgment. This Is asking a 7 grat deal. ; . hand, and were protected hy steel shields tv o Inches thick. The v eight of a broadside of th Maine would--havbeen 2.700 pounds exclusive of the secondary battery. Her Coni SZ.AOO.OOO. department as follows: The Maine had eight steel horizontal Lieutenant Commander Richard boilers, vertical Inverted cylinder dl Walnwrtght. rect acting triple expansion twin acre Lieutenants George F. W. Holman, engines of 9,000 Indicated horse power. John Hoc! and Carl W. Yungen. She carried 822 tons of coal, with whlcU Lieutenants (Junior grade) George P. she could steam 2,770 knots at 14.1 Blow, Join T. Blandln and Friend W, knots an hour, or 7,000 knots at Id Jenkins. knots an hour. She bad a double bot- Naval Cfidets Jonas H. Holden. Watt tom and numerous water-tigT. Cluverus, Amoh Bronson and David F. Bojd, Jr. The full complement of men carried f Run, paymaster. by tbe Maine when ghe was put In com- Charles P. Howell, chief engineer. mission was 306 besides the officers and Frederl c. Bowere, past assistant forty marines. engineer. The Maine, though type of construccJofeuRMorrls and Darwin R. Mer- tion last Improved upon, was one o ritt, aaslzant engineers. the best vessel of Americas new navy. Pope Yzshlngton and Arthur CrenShe cost, all told, 12,500.000 ' shaw, nan? cadets' (engineer division). Captain Richard D. Sigsbee, who wag Luclen I: Heneberger, surgeon. In command of tbs warship Maine, la John P.Jhldwlck, chaplain one of the moat officers in tha AlbertuiW. Catlin, first lieutenant navy. His recordpopular sines ha Waa graduof marina: ated from Annapolis in 1863 la fine. Ha Francis S. Larkin, boatswain. served In Mobile Bay, waa an active Joseph fill, gunner. participant In the work of the Nortlk S fbMfge films, carpenter. Atlantic blockadlng squadron In 1865, and helped In the attacks and Tn tha Dwlptloa of tho Main. The Mali was regarded as one of final assault upon Fort Fisher. Not the most eqetive vessels In the Ameri- long ago the Maine, with Sign be la can navy. speaking of her Just after command, found herself bearing down she was ptjn commission a naval off- on an excursion boat In the East river. icer said tit she "Is not & cruiser, but Ahead was the excursion boat full of a flghtlngtblp, a floating fort. She human beings. On either tide was a is meant fflctly for business." barge. The only clear way showed a The keelg the Maine waa laid la the pier. The old commander ordered hla . Brooklyn tvy yard In October, 1888. engines reversed, and to th amazeThe dlmslons of tbe hull were: ment of the beholders ' ha steered Length o ail, 324 feet 4 inches; straight for the pier and Tan into it -at water Hi 810 feet; breadth of beam, amuck. Th pier waa badly torn up, 57 feet; n$i draught, 214 feet; ditbe Maine's Bbee waa bruised, but sevsplacement's tons. A sail ares was eral hundred ha man-live- s were saved. allowed otl35 square feet, to be used The excursion boat .ran clear! hut tea barque-rl- fi loaded freight care that were standing on the pier went to the bottom' of tha in isoe. There la ho doubt jig to Captain Work fiwressed slo w?y; rorS'ptaav relative valuation ot tuuua1 had to be silt up. The vessel, with- Slgsbee's Hfa-an- d property. About 1 4,000 la out armor d fittings, was launched property' was destroyed,' hut 1,000 Uvea Nov. 1, 189y)uk presence of a great were saved. That, was not a,Iacl tea h much ceremony, her crowd and minutes .work for a mat whose husl-ne- ss sponsor beta Miss Alice, Tracy It , istejum- - .. goddaughter of Secretary deTracy, then I the head of the navy COMPASS IS ERRATIC. partment. for official trial took place In Octobers 8 94. , Needle Ia Bjial tht armored . The Male was a Plays Pauling' Trieks.J turret veil of the belted eruiser type, Eroin the Nhw York Time: Oae of that is, Bvlng an armor belt to pro- Russia's tnaumerable mysteries is tho , tect the als of the ship, even though Erratic behavior of the magnetic needla the othri part of the construction in many parts of the great empire, Th should b Middled with shot. compare is freaky enough anywhere, The Mfue had for protection against but it seems to take a particular dean opponent's projectiles an armor belt light in refusing to point north for tha twelve lilies thick, tapering to seven subject of the czar. French and Rue-atsciential have recently been Infnchee blow the water Une. The ends were uurotected by aide armor, but vestigating this subject on the vast at both Ids there were transverse ar- central plain between Moscow and mor bu meads of sufficient thickness Kharkov. Tbe greatest- - aberration to defleJany projectiles that might were found In tha province of Kursk, reach s far. A curving steel deck the capital town of which ia ome 600 protected the engines and boilers. The miles almost due, south of Moscow. Ia barbettelarmor was twelve Inches in tbe northern part of the province, neaa thlckBetl and the turret armor platea Tim,' the needle deflect 29 degree: tnrtiher noufh. in the province of -wefeIrTnche-thlek- r Starol Oskol, up to SOegrees, whil ildsbl u fighter,fermld-He- r In the southeast of the province, about Aa a hter the Maine waa a consist-10-iac- h 150 miles south of Tim, the deflection main battery able ah breech-loadin- g rifles Is over 96 degrees, the needle Standing ed of fo almost- - perpendicular rand potfiUng o turrets and six In the nearer east and west thus north and The secondary breech-- 1 Ing rifle. This reversal of the magnetla south. battery nsisted of four have some curious effects, forces may rapid-fir- e guns, and fou new railway are building of number A cannon, four 47tnilllmeter revolving and th engineer, or In that region were also There and foufOatllngs. but whether tha In interested finding and water three Htpedo tubes below ht ts. a THE JUNIOR OFFICERS OF THE MAINE. (2) Englneer Trench, (3) Gfcerardl, (4) Wodham. (5). Proctor, Englneer Dr. Richards, (6) Ward, (7) Engineer Mansfield, (8) Ramsey, (10) Butler, (11) Watson. (1) leases the compressed air carried in a flask and sets In motion the machinery. Three things must be done by it It must go through the water at a high speed, preserving Its linear direction; It must float at a constant depth, and on striking It must explode. The Ingenuity and simplicity of the mechanism v hlch effects these three things are really marvelous. The Howell torpedo is baaed upon n principle of the gyrothe scope. Ite speed and surety of direc- well-know- FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN THE DAT AFTER THE DISASTER. n and about thirty were has woven many a role, many' an impossible - story t this disaster. . One yarn told ,lngly how a gunners mate had punished as he thought unjustly, In In revenge destroyed the ship olng he lost his own' life, but ha-a- n 1 in killing the object or hH TefTthe had ship officer, who eom-o- n ,ly a short time before the of the crime. The real story a to he that a fuddled gunner's by some error made hts way the magazine with an exposed ed candls, stumbled Into the pow-lair- el of the period and thus blew ihlp skyward. 4t , 1 - Kiel. eeoaaufeaoosseojoasosooo0 oTHE MAINE BLOWN UP Tn O 0o HAVANA HARBOR. 0 o 0 0 0 Offlcer, rn the lint He Ship. The Maine was a battle ship of the second class and was regarded as one of the best ships In tbe new navy. The officer of .the Maine, besides Commander Sigsbee, are glen at the navy -- of September 4, 1804, started pff shore under sail for the Inner Anxious eyes p of Tripoli. led her from the blockading fleet, ten oclock a thunderous report pard, a column of flame waa seen Ing In the skies, and then the .of ..hundreds jof guns mounted 3. No.obb came back to tell the biR it is believed that Somers his word not to be taken alive e enemy, and blew up the ship ape capture. It was learned that Intrepid had gronnded on the ledge of the harbor, and that she een attacked by three gunboats, s surmised, but never known, to prevent the valuable supply of inltion falling Into the hands of iemy, Somers fired her, destroy-- s own people and the Tripolitans aing out of their boats Ipto the bb- - American tender. In June, the wooden Bhip Fulton, then ned as the receiving ship off dyn, blew up from causes never leL . 8eventj-flv- e persons were a tion are given by the functioning of an inner wheel,' which la ralatively very heavy on the 'periphery, and revolver with eueh veVeclty and. la such a constant plane that high speed and great straightness of trajectory are secured. There are many other forms, buttkese two are employed in our service, and the Whitehead is used by nearly all the naries of the world Sebautrbie Mine. The term 'submarine mine" hT applied to defensive mines or to those which would be used to obstruct tbe channels of a river or estuary, or fhd approaches to a fortified or unprotect such as will float always at a certall depth below tbe surface, no matte) what may be the state of the tide some are fitted to explode on contact and most are so arranged that the) may be exploded at will by observer) stationed at points of refuge, in bomt proof and lookout stations ashore. Is the harbor eLJlavana so guards! and so protected, and could tbs Main) have been anchored close to one oi these submerged volcanoes, operate! so easily by tbs simple twist of a hostile hand ashore? An Cltklaklnf HttllM, In a .dry goods store a little hoy yet in drosses disturbed the peace of hundreds of shopper, mainly, though, because there seemed to be nothing they couTd do for him. HI mother, a wejl meaning woman of email Judgment and experience, waa buying a hat Suddenly the lad by her side began to shriek as If In severe pain or fright. The wo man tried to soothe him, but he screamed more fiercely, upon which she spanked him, A crowd gathered and an attendant picked up the then thoroughly unnerved youngster and carried him kicking and yelling Into an anteroom. There he struggled ! ahd gasped until a woman put some pink candy in kle hands. For a moment it attracted him. Then he crumbled it fiercely and cried hysterically eg ala. A peppermint from a third woman lm pressed him slightly, hut he did not gain eelf control until his mother asked him if he wanted to go otit of doors. Like a stifling animal he shrieked. Tear' Tbe woman told ins that shs could, not uderstand It at all. He never had such aa attack before. . Not by way of explanation, but incidentally, ghe added that she and the boy had just landed from the Teutonic the day before. He had been sick In hie bertk for six days. Poor child! Poorer mother I Not to see any connection bet wee six. days ctalckueta in closed cabftt and a nervous fit In a close store os the ' seventh! She never - knew, she said, he had such a temper. Grace . t Drew ln New York Press j A HUll)enUldln. - American Tourist I understand. Marquis, that yon fell In love, with a distinguished American lady on ao count of her pretty foot?" Marqula De pretty vay she foots da Dat la New York Weekly. bills. It' -- ; f Wll-merdl- Oft' twin-scre- f &n -- are UNITED States cruiser maine. blown up in havanA hArbor. durability of their lines 'will sustain the long accepted theory that those last beet which are parrallel with rails one-ha- lf the magnetic meridian, As three run ton displacement, east and west over a considerable port the equipment. The turrets containing e of Russia, tt will be the north and south guns were arranged the 19-lline that first show, sign of wear, be cou'd four echelon, re that all or artem. with whereas such line In other countries trained directly ahead are-th- e more easily maintained in re: This ara range are ef 2 degree, pair. rangement, of guns was post effectMj tn the case ef the Japanese , Why Isnt th relict of a man wbq h The battle of Yalu River! dies Of hav fever a gras widow? four on the berth deck. . Two torpo feet long, drewlng t boats alxty-ot- e of fourteen and feet, and were two-thir- d' Pt , ch ( six-inc- , r f i r i: |