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Show arine iragccl.es nn.i Their Secrets f IDOL'S VBSSBLS BLOWN UI c or the $Uinc Recalls Other Disasters of tlic Deep, J l!tmll Horrible and liqmilly Mysterious. THIJ pOKTIIDO IX MODKRX WARFAKIS. I itkkiiiiiikiiaittiivviiikki.v....i..2 vy In free ram Md stories o( "s In it ptder and snitnunl-Milium, snitnunl-Milium, nol since? the begin-t begin-t our rlvll vsr the number of destroyed by torpedoes In form r by submarine mine, & grewsoms list. U It Rener-lown, Rener-lown, far renipl. that In the ar seven Monitor and eleven i tr., 0f wr were totally de-I de-I t submarine mines? Hail mfederates possessed the Ntne 'lie at Hie beginning of the ae strangle would lure been, 'est. much prolonged, ond the r to life and tonnago been I' Increased OR our early struggle several ' were blown up. notably the lpl. of Immortal memory, but oat memorable case, and aurcly t the most pathctlr, waa tho de-Ion. de-Ion. of the Intrepid, commanded rallent Somen. Bhe waa fitted a (loallng mlno. and on the of September . 1801, atarted iff shore under aall for tho Inner of Tripoli Aniloua eye d her from the blockading fleet, ten o'clock n thunderous report ard, a column of flame waa acen Ing In the aklea. and then the of hundred of Rtina mounted '. No one camo back to tell the but It U believed that Somora Shit word not to bo taken alive e enemy, and blew up the ahlp 4po capture. It wna learned that intrepid bad grounded on the ledge of the harbor, and that ahe en attacked by three gunboats. M aurmlted. but never known, U'o prerent the valuable aupply of linltlon falling Into the hands of (hemy. Somen fired her, destroy-1 destroy-1 a own people and the Trlpolltane lain out of tbelr boats Into the (n American tender In June, H tho wooden ship I'ulton, then ned aa tho receiving ship off B.lyn, blew up from causes never led. Reventy-flvo persons wero barbarrnu canted, however. Its prac-tkul prac-tkul i' indonmrnt for many years. The CunfiHlerate Tfr4u. Submarine boata bad been generally employed In all eiperlmenta up to the beglnnlnR of the civil war, and It was really not until 1803 that movable or fixed laolated torpedoea wero brought Into general use. The confederate torpedoea were usually mado of copper cop-per and filled with pawdor, varying In weights, according to circumstance of employment, from fifty to one hundred and fifty pounds. Tbooo wero carried on tpara attached to ships or boata, were anchored on the bottom, or were sent drifting singly or In pairs, connected by long lines, down tide streama, Tho futea were generally of the percussion type, and fulminate of mercury entered largely Into tbelr composition. The llousatonle waa destroyed by a submarlno boat, but the .Albemarle waa blown up by Cu thick with a tor. pedo carried on the end of a spsr. This torpedo waa raffde of a stout cylindrical cyl-indrical copper case, filled with powder pow-der and fitted with a hollow tube, which carried at Its bottom a fulminate rap. A small slied grape shot, secured with a pin, was held at the top, and by releasing this at the eventful moment mo-ment Cuinlng destroyed tho Albemarle Albe-marle and hie own boat at tho same time, and then mado one of the moat (taring and romantic escape In the annals an-nals of naval hlatory. Many Improved Im-proved systems were employed and much Ingenuity waa displayed, the raoit Inieotlie of all eiperlmentera being a confederate officer, who previous previ-ous to the war had been a well-known danolng master. HamlllnK TfrpUoef, For n season towing torpedoea wero In great favor. These were handled from the ship, and by aerial n dextrous sblftlngs of the conaectlng lluea were carried off each quarter at a safe angle, and made to dive at the de- sired memeat. They proved to be lUnamoua, however, Md Ml effort was thereafter directed to tbe dirigible, or the automobile, torpedo. Generally desert de-sert bed the dirigible torpedo It one that contains Its own propelling and Bring mechenlstus, aad la piloted from the shove by Bean of electric cable, which 'fnnctlon tho machinery. The automobile torpedo I a weapon that In shot from a tube, generally called a torpedo gun. nail takes up tt line of program by machinery contained contain-ed In Ita body There are many forms of these, like tbn Howell and the Whitehead, for cuamnje; and some ox-trnordlnary ox-trnordlnary remiltt have been obtained obtain-ed with both. The Whitehead I dlt-, charged from the tube by eteam or powder, and Just an It leaves the rum-lie rum-lie a lock automatically opened it- THE JUNIOR OFFICERS OF TUB MAINE. (1) Engineer I'roctor, C) Engineer Frrncb, (3) Obrrardl, (4) Wodbamt, (5) Dr. Richards, (6) Ward, (7) Engineer Manafleld, (S) Ramsey, (10) Duller. (11) Watson. leasee the comprrescd air carried In n flaak and aeta In motion the machinery. ma-chinery. Thrro things mutt be done by IL It must ro through (he water at a high speed, preserving Its tlnetr direction; It must float at a conitant depth, and on striking It mutt explode. The Ingenuity and simplicity of the mcchsnlsm rhlch effects these (nice things are really marveloua, The Howell torpedo Is baaed upon tho well-known principle of tho gyro-scope. gyro-scope. Ita apeed and surety of dlrre- 1 tSims, . HOW TIIK MAINE I.OOKB-FROM A niOTOORAI'H TAKEN THH DAY AFTER THH DISASTER. id and about thirty were wound- Tradltlon baa wovon many n ro-die, ro-die, many an Impotalblo atory at thla dlssttor, Ono yarn told plngly how a gunner'a mate had t puolihed aa be thought unjuatly, In revenge destroyed the ahlp. In doing he lost his own life, but ed In killing the object of his ha-I, ha-I, an officer, who had left the ahlp ttly a short time before the com-tton com-tton of the crime. The real story iia to bo that a fuddled gunner'a e by eorao error mado hla way t the msgaslno with an exposed ited candle, stumbled Into tho pow- barrel of the period and thus blew ship skyward. The AraphlAn't rlrurllon. n the English service there hare n a number of notable cases of ex- slon, but mainly In action. Ono " II known In tlmo of peace waa the (ruction of the frigate raphlon, at, Israel follow commanding, oft 'mouth, England. Here, too, a gun- ra mate appears aa tho god la the iehlnefor, apocryphal or not. It la tlaved to thla day that the araman question went with a lighted lamp 'o the magailne to ateal powder, ilch then had a ready market. Bev- l hundred reople were dettroyed. long them prominent officiate and liens of the town who were dlnlne K board. Amonc other crimes laid I unjuttly to Irish sympathisers by 1 English preaa and people waa the alttructlon of tho Drltlsh gunboat Atterel In tho Btralta of Magellan. s arrived off runts Arenas about aa a. m. on April if, 1881. The ptaln wtnt ashore soon after to pay Bs omclal call, and about ten a. in. Bro terrible explosions were heard, jd an Immense cloud of smoke was Sen hovering over the ship In the per-m per-m t calm Bf the morning Projectiles all kinds, maasee of human beings, If ship equipage and of general wreck-Be wreck-Be war discovered flying through the r, and the water for a quarter of a mile around the ahlp waa littered with debris. Iloats put off from the shore, and out of the whole ship's company of oier ISO souls only eight were tared Fenian plots were held to be the rauie of (be dltaater, and South America and Australia were 'the scenes of police Inquiry for months it la now behVrvrd that the cxplneton waa due to the spontaneous Ignition of a palm then utcd In the Ilrltlth navy. This, under deterioration or when exposed to heat, was found to give off n highly Inflammable gas, and aa the first explotlnn occurred In the neighborhood of tho paint locker, thla plausible theory Is now accepted. During the laat twenty yeara two other oth-er case have occurred one, when In 1884 n Spanish gunboat wss blown up In tbo harbor of Santiago de Cuba, and tho other In 193, when a most damaging dam-aging and dlstreatlng explosion occurred oc-curred on board of the Germsn armored, ar-mored, ahlp Iladen, then at anchor off Kiel. Of the war Inventions employed to destroy ship by submarine or aerial projectiles or by mines the number Is legion. We were among the earliest to employ theee. and our contributions contribu-tions to tho history of torpedo warfare war-fare hare been very many and very notable. Tho famous "Rattle of the Kega" haa been sung In mock heroic verse, and the I'lilladelphlana of 1777 had many a merry Jest over the valorous valor-ous attack made by the IlrltKh grenadiers gren-adiers upon these Innoeuoua barrels, CapL David Ilutbnell of Connecticut Connecti-cut was one of the earliest eiperlmentera eiperl-mentera with torpedoes, though Robert Rob-ert I'ulton waa the Drat to call a maga-xlno maga-xlno of powder Intended for ute under water by thla name. Thla great Inventor In-ventor mado many experiments, and the partltana and opponents of tho new system filled the Journals of that day with ncrlmonlnua discussions. Thn falturo of torpedoes In the war of 1812 and tho general feeling against thla mode of warfare aa Inhuman and Hon are given by the functioning of an Inner wheel, which la relatively very heavy on the periphery, and revolves re-volves with such velocity and In such a constant pltne tint high speed and great atralghtneaa of trajectory are eecured. There are many other forms, but these two ore employed In our service, ser-vice, and thn Whitehead It used by nearly all the navlea of tbo world . Hubiimrln Mine. The term "submarlno mint" la applied ap-plied to drfrntlve mines or to thote which would Lo used to obstruct the channel! of a river or estuary, or the approaches to a fortified or unprotect ed seaport. Col. Samuel (Jolt, the Inventor In-ventor of the American revolver, tint demonatrated the practicability of blowing up veasela by submarine mlnea And by electricity. In lilt ho blew up tbe old gunboat Hoier, and In 181 be destroyed a brig In the Potomac river, while the vest! was under a. sailing at the rate of five mllea an hour. Many forms of mine were ueed here and abroad, and they were sticeeeo-fuljy sticeeeo-fuljy employed against na In tho civil war. Hvery system of coaal defense roncerna Itself with their distribution and use. and every well-known harbor of the world la at thla day ao mapped out that the plantlAR of these mine may be done on a plan which promise the Rreatest utility Some of thrae aro constsnt depth mlnea that Is, such aa will float always at a certali depth below the surface, no mallei what may be the state of the tide some are filled to explode on contact and most aro so arranged that the) may be exploded at will by observer! stationed at polnta of refuge, In bomt proof and lookout alatlona athore. la the harbor of Havana so guarded and ao protected, and could the Malm hnvn been anchored close to one ol these submerged volcanoes, operated so easily by the simple twltt of a bos-tile bos-tile band ashoroT I iTt. ..... THH MIDSHIP SECTION OP TUB MAINHtKOM A PHOTO TAKEN THP DA' AFTER THE DISASTER. |