THE SUBMARINE IN TIMES OF PEACE
So engrossed have been governments, inventors, capitalists, and the
public in general, in the development of the submarine vessel for
military purposes, and in the perfection and augmentation of its
capabilities as a destructive agent, that they have never considered
or realized that submarines and submarine appliances possess a wide
range of utility as productive instruments in commercial and industrial
operations.
This concentration of energy upon the construction of military
submarines I believe to have been a very desirable thing, and the
success which has been attained therein, I am convinced, augurs
propitiously for the future well-being of the world. It is time now,
however, to take up the development of the submarine for industrial
purposes. The world stands in need, to-day, of services which the
submarine is uniquely able to render.
While great publicity has been given to the art of submarine navigation
as applied to warfare, little or nothing has been published, outside
of scientific journals, as to the productive capacity of submarine
devices. It seems desirable, therefore, to devote a few pages to
consideration of the submarine in this other field of action. I myself
have devoted the greater part of my own efforts to the construction
of military submarines. But, in the early years of my work as a
constructor of under-water vessels I was greatly attracted to this
branch of submarine work, and from that time to the present I have
spent a great deal of time and money in developing submarine appliances
to be turned to peaceful uses. It is my aim to go into this work quite
extensively when peace is restored to the world. At present, however,
problems of national defence are occupying the attention of every naval
architect.
I shall present in this chapter a few suggestions as to the uses to
which submarine appliances may be turned as productive agents, and I
shall speak briefly and simply as to the mode of operation of such
devices. Many of the things of which I will write have actually been
accomplished in vessels constructed by me. Others of which I write are
now under process of construction. Still others are as yet visionary,
but not at all impossible. Nothing of which I write do I believe to be
impractical or improbable. The submarine can do many things in a new,
more economical, and more productive way.
One important use to which the commercial submarine may be turned is
that of navigating under ice fields, between ports which are bound with
ice fields during great parts of the year, and also for purposes of
exploration and of scientific study.
All navigators know the difficulty of attempting to break their way
through the ice fields, since it requires a vessel of tremendous power
and great weight to break down or through solid ice. A vessel of this
type was first proposed by me in 1899 for exploration purposes in
ice-covered seas. In 1903 experiments were made with the _Protector_ in
order to demonstrate the practicability of navigating in ice-covered
waters.
[Illustration: UNDER-ICE NAVIGATION
Under-ice boat designed by the author for navigating between ice-bound
ports. A boat of this character could keep up communication between
ports that are now closed by ice for several months of the year.
Passengers, mail and freight can readily be transported in this manner
with perfect safety. (See text.)]
Professor Nansen, in his North Polar explorations, has stated in his
book that his average rate of progress during eighteen months, in
attempting to reach the North Pole, was only three-quarters of a mile
per day, and that the thickest ice he found during these months of
endeavor was fourteen feet. His progress was delayed by open waters,
slush ice, and in the winter by the intense cold which compelled him to
"hibernate" for a considerable period of time.
An under-ice submarine as illustrated, with large storage battery
capacity, could navigate underneath the ice in perfect comfort and
safety. The temperature surrounding the vessel, even in the most
severe winter weather, would not exceed the temperature of the water
surrounding the vessel. The vessel illustrated is designed to make
a continuous submerged voyage of one hundred and fifty miles on
one charge of the storage battery. After such a run, it would be
necessary to stop and recharge the batteries. If open water should be
encountered, this recharging process would be done by bringing the
vessel to the surface. If the ice was not too thick, then by blowing
out the water ballast the ice would be broken, since it is very much
easier to lift the ice and break it than it is to force it apart or
downward, as surface vessels are compelled to do. Provision is made
for boring a hole up through the ice so as to permit the drawing in
of sufficient air to run the engines and to recharge the batteries.
Provision has also been made for putting out small mines underneath the
ice to blow an opening to permit the submarine to come to the surface.
A telescopic conning tower arranged to cut its way up through ice
twelve or fourteen feet thick is also provided to enable the boat to
remain under the ice and still permit the crew to reach the surface.
In navigating in an ice pack, the method of procedure would be to
reduce the buoyancy of the vessel to, perhaps, a couple of tons, and
then steam ahead, and it will be observed that the forward portion of
the boat extends downward a considerable distance under the water, so
that when the forward portion of the boat contacts with heavy ice the
reserve buoyancy will not be sufficient to lift or push the ice out
of the way, and the vessel will then be automatically pushed under
the ice and run along in contact with the under surface of the ice. A
toothed recording wheel would give the exact distance travelled, and,
of course, the compass will give the direction. Progress could be made
in perfect comfort and safety under the ice at a rate exceeding one
hundred miles per day.
The _Protector_ was fitted out in 1903 for experimental navigation
under the ice with an inverted toboggan built up over the conning
tower. This arrangement enabled her readily to navigate under
ice fields, and she successfully navigated under an ice field in
Narragansett Bay eight inches thick.
Ice two feet in thickness is sufficient to close navigation to the most
powerful of ordinary surface ships, and great power is required to
crush or break a lane through it by the specially equipped ice-breakers
now used in northern latitudes.
While ice is a deterrent to surface navigation, it is actually an aid
to under-water navigation, providing the submarine boat is specially
equipped with guide wheels or "runners" on top of the hull to enable
her to slide or wheel along under the ice.
A design of the under-ice submarine illustrated was prepared by me a
number of years ago to meet the desires of an associate of Captain
Nansen, the Arctic explorer, for a vessel that could be navigated
either on the surface or under the ice. I explained the principal
features and possibilities of a vessel of this type for under-ice
navigation before the faculty of Johns Hopkins University, in
Baltimore, in 1898, and at one time I thought one of the prominent New
York newspapers was going to finance the building of such a vessel for
North Polar exploration work, but the submarine was then looked upon as
too much of an experiment and nothing ever came of the negotiations.
Some years afterward, in Christiania, Norway, I met and discussed
the project with Captain Scott Hanson, R.N., who was associated with
Nansen in his historical search for the North Pole, and he became quite
enthusiastic over the possibilities of a submarine of this type for
North Polar exploration.
An under-ice submarine of the type illustrated, fitted with large
storage-battery capacity, would be able to average one hundred miles
per day under the ice and about two hundred and fifty miles per day
in open water. Starting from Spitzbergen, therefore, and going over
Nansen's route, if the same conditions were met as he describes,
the round trip to the Pole should be made in about ten days' time
and in perfect comfort, as, no matter how cold the weather is above
the surface, the temperature of the water is always above the
freezing-point below the ice.
Later I was asked to submit to the chief engineer of one of the
Canadian railways plans for an under-ice cargo-carrying submarine to
enable them to transport passengers, mail, and freight from their
mainland terminal at Vancouver to an open harbor on the island of
Victoria.
Cargo-carrying submarines fitted to under-run ice fields will shorten
trade routes by opening up to navigation the Northwest Passage, and
will also open up new ports in northern Europe and Asia, and provide an
outlet for Siberian-grown wheat and other northern products which are
not now utilized because of lack of transportation facilities.
Investigation of the geological formation of sea-bottoms, the flora
and fauna of the sea, will be greatly assisted by bottom-creeping
submarines. Fitted with powerful searchlights and moving-picture
cameras, actual sea-bottom conditions may be reproduced up to depths
of one thousand feet or more. The author, in 1898, succeeded in
taking photographs through the windows of the _Argonaut_ by means of
an ordinary kodak, and last year the Williamson brothers showed in
moving-picture houses throughout the country some wonderful submarine
moving pictures they had secured by the use of their collapsible
submarine tube.
One of the greatest pleasures in life so far denied to most men is to
witness the constantly changing scenery of under-sea life in tropical
waters. It has been one of the great desires of my life to explore
the bottom of the southern seas. All of my submarine work has been in
the more northern waters, covering the Chesapeake Bay, Long Island
Sound, on the Atlantic coast north of Virginia Beach, and in the Baltic
Sea and Gulf of Finland. The range of vision in any of these waters
did not exceed forty feet, but that has been sufficient to create a
zest for more. The beauties of under-sea life can be described only
by a poet. It is impossible for me to convey to the imagination the
wonderful beauty of some of the under-sea gardens when seen through the
windows of a submarine automobile. Imagine, if you can, these under-sea
gardens with masses of vegetation, swaying to the current and waves
of the sea, of a great variety of form and color and with myriads of
many beautiful and variously colored fishes swimming among them, with
perhaps a background of a wonderful coral reef of fantastic shapes,
with the octopus, or devil-fish, lurking at the mouths of dark caverns,
and the long, gray man-eating shark, like a ghost now and then flitting
within one's range of vision. Instead of the sky above you, you see a
scintillating mirror which reflects the sun's rays as they penetrate
the clear blue waters and strike the white sands and are reflected back
to this under surface of the water and are then re-reflected back in
multitudinous rainbows of color.
Such sights await the tourist of the future who visits some of the
southern seas, with the further privilege of seeing some of the old
wrecks, many of which have been lost since the days of the Spanish
galleons by striking on some of these same coral reefs, and whose
skeletons now lie at their base. I have built for my own use a
combination house-boat and exploring submarine automobile, and hope
in the near future to explore some of the southern waters along the
Florida coast and in the Caribbean Sea; also, later to build larger
submarine automobiles to enable "sight-seeing" parties to see some of
the beauties of "Davy Jones' locker."
The Williamson brothers--Ernest and George Williamson--have, by the use
of the Williamson extensible and flexible collapsible tube, invented by
their father, Capt. Charles Williamson, and fitted with an observation
chamber, succeeded in taking some wonderful moving pictures of
under-sea life, which have been shown throughout the world and have
thus given pleasure to millions of people in this country and abroad.
I am indebted to the Williamson brothers for the loan of some of their
wonderful under-sea pictures taken in the vicinity of Nassau, in the
West Indies, where the waters are particularly clear, and the under-sea
floral gardens, noted for their beauty, have been visited by tourists
for many years, who view them through the glass-bottom boats. This
method discloses some of their beauty, but does not begin to do them
full justice, as compared with a view from under the water in their
natural perspective. When viewed from above it is much like judging of
the beauties of architecture of a city from a balloon, as one can only
get a plan view.
The Williamson brothers commenced their experiments in submarine
photography during the summer of 1913. Their first experiments proving
satisfactory, the following year, 1914, they fitted out an expedition
and visited the West Indies and there took several thousand feet of
films of submarine motion pictures, showing some of the submarine
gardens, divers fighting with sharks, an old wreck, etc. These were the
first moving pictures of under-sea life that had ever been produced.
"Still" under-water photography had been done by Dr. Francis Ward in a
pond on his estate in England and by several others, but none of these
experimenters had ever succeeded in getting the wonderful results such
as those secured by the Williamsons in their 1914 expedition.
[Illustration: A SUBMARINE GARDEN AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
Submarine Photo by Williamson Bros.
This photograph, taken in the vicinity of Nassau, shows a great variety
of tropical submarine growth and fishes.]
Since 1914 the Williamsons have produced many remarkable submarine
scenes in the film productions known as "Twenty Thousand Leagues
Under the Sea," "The Submarine Eye," and other photoplays.
[Illustration: SUBMARINES FOR HYDROGRAPHIC WORK AND WRECK FINDING
Permission of Scientific American
A sweep line extending between the two submarines running parallel
courses locates any intervening obstructions. (See text.)]
As it is of historical value to record some of their experiences, I
quote from Mr. Ernest Williamson's notes:
"During the first experiments in Hampton Roads, I found the
condition of the water to be such that objects could be seen
clearly for a distance of about six feet, and the photographic
results showed that the fish and other objects photographed clearly
at about four feet through the water. My theory, judging from the
experiments, was that it would be possible to photograph through
the water at almost the distance you could see clearly with the
eye, and if it were possible to see through the water a distance
of one hundred feet or more, as we were informed could be done
in the West Indies, I reasoned that we could possibly get good
photographic results at a distance of seventy-five feet.
"The latter proved to be correct, although in the middle of the
experimental work I was a little bit concerned about a published
record at that time of the experiments made by a Dr. Francis Ward
in England. This Doctor Ward had built a cement well in the edge of
a pond in his estate, and through a plate-glass window in the side
of this well, under water, he had photographed fish and water-fowl.
The _Illustrated London News_ devoted four or five pages to his
photographs and technical description of his work, and he made a
point, in drawing his conclusions, that he believed that under
the most favorable conditions it would be possible to photograph
through water at a distance not exceeding three feet. None of
his photographs showed any more than this, and he seemed to have
technical reasons for believing that three feet was the limit.
"During the extensive work we have carried on in the West Indies,
making scenes for our various productions, I have been down in the
operating chamber at the base of the Williamson tube, when the
water was so clear at times I have seen objects at a distance of
two hundred feet--possibly more. At such times we have made motion
pictures showing objects clearly at a distance of one hundred and
fifty feet. These results were obtained at a depth of thirty feet.
I have been down sixty feet in the chamber, and, of course, the
greater the depth the less the sunlight under water and naturally
the photographic results are not so good, but with the banks of
Cooper-Hewitt lamps, which I successfully encased in watertight
containers for the purpose of illuminating the under-sea, we
obtained excellent results within a radius of the greater volume of
this artificial light.
"For exploration and scientific work the artificial lights are a
valuable adjunct, as they make it possible to photograph at any
depth and at any time; but, there being so many other details to be
taken care of in the taking of a scene under water, we try to do
them all in the daytime. With as many as five divers operating in a
scene, the divers wearing self-contained suits with no connection
with the surface, having the tide and wind and the photographic
apparatus and other things to be all worked at the same time, it is
better to be working in the daylight, when you can keep your eye on
the sharks and take care of the divers."
The reproduction of under-sea photographs shown in this book will
give the reader some intimation of the "wonders of the deep," but
unfortunately the wonderful colors and the play of light and movement
cannot be reproduced.
Similarly, for scientific purposes as well as those of safeguarding
navigation, submarines equipped for hydrographic work will prove
of immense value. My work with submarine boats, both in the United
States and foreign countries, has taught me that most charts are very
unreliable, so far as their recorded depths are concerned. While they
may be fairly accurate as to the average depths, they do not record
many of the peaks or depressions that exist, especially where the
water-bed is formed over a rock foundation. Silt and sand may fill
in the depressions between peaks so that the average depth is fairly
constant, yet here and there are outcropping peaks or humps that have,
in many instances, proved fatal to shipping.
The method of charting our coast lines and the estuaries of the sea has
been by the use of the sounding lead, taken at points a greater or less
distance apart. The depths recorded at these points are plotted by the
triangulation method of location from tripods or known structures, or
objects on shore, and shown on the chart. These points would need to
be taken every few feet to give an accurate topography of the bottom,
the cost of which, in time and money, would be prohibitive. Assuming
that our coast waters were sounded and depths recorded, at points only
fifty feet apart in all directions, even such close soundings would not
guarantee that some peak might not project above the bottom and prove
disastrous to some ship.
I remember some few years ago the battleship _Missouri_ struck such a
peak in New York Harbor, seriously injuring her bottom. Thousands of
ships of equal draft had passed this vicinity, but none of them had
happened to strike this particular spot and no one suspected that such
a rock existed in this much-frequented highway. In 1900 the steamer
_Rio de Janeiro_ struck an unknown rock in entering the harbor of San
Francisco, with a loss of one hundred and thirty-one lives and over two
million dollars in property.
In Long Island Sound we found, during a deep submergence trial with one
of our submarines, a depth of two hundred and fifty-six feet, whereas
the chart indicated a depth of only twenty-seven fathoms (one hundred
and sixty-two feet).
In one instance in Russia we were conducting submerged trials on the
official trial course of the Russian Government in the Gulf of Finland,
this being the course on which they tried their surface torpedo boats,
and we were assured that there was not less than sixty feet of water
on the course, yet we struck rock peaks twice on this course in less
than thirty feet depth. The record of ships that have been lost, due
to striking uncharted rocks and shoals, is a large one, and a more
correct topography of the water-beds of our coast and inland waterways
should be worked out. In 1899 and 1901 considerable time was spent
in experimental work with the submarine boat _Argonaut_ in locating
sunken ships and recovering their cargoes. To find a sunken ship it
was necessary to search the bottom thoroughly, and many experiments
were made and success attained to such an extent that we could search
thoroughly an under-water area of from ten to twenty square miles per
day. It is the result of this experimental work that has led to the
design of the herein-described apparatus, which will give very accurate
contour records of the bottom within such depths as would prove of
interest to navigators of either surface vessels or submarines. The
advent of the submarine has made it more important to know where
obstructions exist, as they require at least seventy feet depth to
navigate at speed entirely submerged and to enable them to keep below
the bottom of surface ships. This method of water-bed surveying
consists of using two or more submarine boats of my bottom-navigating
type, with access tubes extending to surface vessels. Instead of
using two bottom wheels arranged in tandem, as is used on my military
submarine, I use a single pair of toothed driving wheels capable of
being swivelled and driven to propel the submarine in any desired
direction over the bottom. The submarine vessel contains also a diver's
compartment, so that examinations of the bottom may be made and a
record kept of the materials and conditions found, which are recorded
as frequently as may be desired directly on the contour sheet, on which
the soundings are being automatically recorded.
Navigators of surface vessels are interested principally in knowing
the amount of water they have beneath their keel and the nature of
the bottom, so that they may judge of their location by soundings,
especially in time of fog. It is not essential, therefore, to know
every foot of the bottom, but it is essential to know that no
obstructions exist extending nearer to the surface than their keel. It
is also essential for submarine commanders to know that there are no
obstructions nearer the surface than their depth of submergence, if
they are running submerged at speed. It is possible that collisions
with submerged obstructions may have been responsible for some of the
mysterious submarine fatalities.
This method of bottom investigation permits of very accurate contour
lines being run as close together as may be desired for harbor
work. On the coast, in depths exceeding fifty to seventy-five
feet, if contours were run one-half mile apart, it would probably
be satisfactory if a guaranty could be given that there were no
obstructions over five or six feet in height which lay between such
contours. Two vessels as herein described are capable of automatically
recording parallel contours at the rate of two or three miles per hour
and to guarantee that there are no dangerous obstructions lying between
them.
Referring to page 267, a surface vessel is shown with a well which
extends from under the pilot-house and out under her stem. An access
tube extends from this well forward to a small submarine vessel. The
upper end of this access tube is pivoted to strong bearings secured in
the sides of the well, and is further secured by tension rods extending
from part way down the tube to bearings secured to the outer skin of
the ship in line with the bearings in the well. Large bearings with
stuffing boxes in the submarine boat end of the access tube permit of
access through a door to an air-lock compartment, and a second door
leads from the air-lock into the diving compartment, a sliding door in
the bottom of the diving compartment permitting the door to be opened
for inspection of the bottom. By donning a diving suit members of the
crew may also leave or enter the vessel when on the bottom. The water
is kept from entering the diving compartment by air compressed to the
same pressure as the surrounding water pressure, corresponding to the
depth of submergence, the same as is done in my military submarine
boats. A motor, drawing its power from a dynamo on the surface vessel,
drives through suitable gearing the tractor wheel arranged near the bow
of the submarine. This tractor wheel may be turned by its vertical
steering post so as to propel the vessel in any desired direction.
The weight of the submarine upon the bottom is regulated by water
ballast. A depth-recording device operates in connection with a
distance-recording apparatus, so that an exact contour of the bottom is
reproduced on a roll of paper, the record being made by the revolution
of the tractor wheels. Corrections of errors are made by taking
observations from the surface vessels from known points on shore by the
usual triangulation method.
A drum is mounted on the submarine on which is wound a double wire.
The upper wire is an insulated wire and is used to telephone between
the two submarine vessels. The lower wire is a bare wire and is
used to locate obstructions. The two wires are secured together as
shown. Suitable recording devices in the interior of each vessel
give the amount of wire unwound from its drum. A tension regulator
holds a certain desired strain or pull upon the sweep lines, and
another indicator gives the direction of lead of the wires during the
"sweeping" operations. The surface vessel has a propeller in her skeg
operating athwartship in addition to the usual stem propeller.
The method of operation is as follows: Two vessels are required, which
proceed to the location to be charted. In surface navigation the
submarine, carried at the forward end of the access tube, is emptied
of her water ballast and floats on the surface in front of the surface
vessel, being pushed ahead of the latter vessel by the access tube, the
pivoted bearings at each end of the tube giving sufficient flexibility
to prevent any damage to the tube because of strains set up by the
waves.
One of the vessels takes her station at the point of beginning the
day's survey and anchors; the other vessel then comes sufficiently near
to secure the end of the sweep line from the anchored ship and then
moves over to her starting point, which might be only a few yards away
or as much as a mile. I have found, in wreck-sweeping operations, that
it is practical to go as much as a mile apart, depending upon how close
together the contours are desired. These sweep lines of the two vessels
are then joined together and the submarines sink to the bottom, on
which they are allowed to rest with sufficient weight to prevent their
being drifted out of their course.
We will assume that their starting points are one-half mile apart,
and that they are to run contour lines due west from their respective
starting points. The boats should therefore lie due north and south
from each other, and the sweep lines should lead at right angles from
each toward its companion boat. The dynamo is now started in the
surface vessel to supply the motors in the submarines with power. The
two submarines now start ahead.
The surface vessels, by means of their athwartship propellers, are
always kept headed due west, therefore the course must also be due
west. Each operator in the submarine keeps watch on his indicator,
which records the amount of line paid out, and also enables him to be
kept advised, by frequent inquiry through the telephone, of the amount
of line his companion vessel has out. The operators also keep each
other advised of the distance their respective vessels have travelled
and the direction of lead of sweep line. Thus they can always keep
each other on lines due north and south. If now an obstruction is
struck, such as a rock, a sunken ship, etc., the strain on the sweep
line becomes greater than normal, and the line commences to run off its
drum. After running a short distance the sweep line will begin to lead
aft instead of at right angles to the course. The two operators then
stop and advise each other of the lead of the line. The one whose line
leads the greater number of degrees off from right angles to the course
is nearest the obstruction. He now turns his tractor wheel in the
direction of the lead and wheels over to the obstruction, taking in his
sweep lines as fast as he goes. The characteristics of the obstruction
are noted, and its position accurately located by the triangulation
method and recorded on the chart. In practice this sweep line extends a
few feet above the bottom so as not to pick up small boulders, stones,
etc., and would be caught only on the larger submerged objects. In
taking off the readings from the contour sheets, when plotting the
depths on the charts, the assurance can be had that no obstructions
exist between the surface and the depth of the sweep line, as the depth
and contour recording gauge is located at the height of the sweep line.
The actual contour depth would be the distance between the sweep line
and the water-bed, which could be added if desired.
As the submarine may be used for purposes of making navigation more
safe, so also may it be used for the recovery of ships' cargoes and for
salvaging ships which have had the misfortune to be sunk.
In searching for sunken vessels two boats are used, of the same
general type as the "hydrographic submarine." When a wreck is located
divers go out and examine it. If it is concluded that she has cargo
on board worth salving, her location is plotted on the chart and
then the recovery boats are sent out to remove the cargo. I have
done much experimental work in locating sunken wrecks and recovering
their cargoes. In 1898, 1899, and 1900 the _Argonaut_ and special
wreck-finding apparatus were used in this experimental work. Numerous
wrecks were found and a number of cargoes were profitably recovered,
notwithstanding the fact that the apparatus used was crude and
experimental. In 1901 I was called from this line of work to take up
the construction of submarine torpedo boats, and have been too busy
ever since, building for the United States and foreign governments, to
find the time and opportunity to push on this very interesting phase of
submarine work.
[Illustration: THE "ARGONAUT" SUBMERGED
Drawn by C. McKnight Smith for _Harper's Weekly_, April 1, 1899. (By
permission. Copyright 1899 by Harper & Brothers.)
This shows the remodelled "Argonaut" with her buoyant ship-shaped
superstructure, on a submerged wrecking expedition, as was actually
accomplished in the years 1900-1901.]
Searching for sunken vessels is, perhaps, the most interesting of
all submarine work. It is like fishing. One is always on the _qui
vive_ for a "bite." There is hardly a location along our coast or in
Long Island Sound that does not have a tradition about lost treasure
ships, and every time one gets a "bite"--that is, our lines get fast
to some sunken object--excitement runs high in the expectation of some
valuable find. In my experimental work in the vicinity of Bridgeport,
Connecticut, we located sixteen sunken vessels, the great majority of
them containing coal, which we recovered at a cost of about fifty cents
per ton. Most of these vessels had been sunk a long time. Only a few of
them were known by name, and some had evidently been sunk many years.
One that we searched for during several months had a cargo of copper
ore and copper matté which was quite valuable. We finally found her
several miles away from where people testified they saw her disappear.
Somewhere off Bridgeport lies the wreck of the old Sound steamer
_Lexington_. Legend has it that she has a fortune in her safe. Many a
ship has been sunken in the waters about Hell Gate; search was carried
on there for years for the old British frigate _Hussar_, which struck
on Pot Rock and sank during the Revolutionary War. Tradition has it
that she had four million dollars (£820,000) in gold on board to pay
off the British troops, and that she carried this treasure to the
bottom with her. There is a cargo of block tin somewhere in a sunken
barge off the Battery, and many a ship with valuable cargoes lies along
the coast from Newfoundland to Key West. The yearly loss in ships and
cargoes throughout the world has always run into many millions of
dollars, and since the war this has been multiplied a hundred-fold,
and amounts to billions. The time will come when many of these ships
will be found, and such of their cargo as is still valuable will be
salvaged. Salving a sunken cargo is not a difficult engineering feat,
providing the proper apparatus is at hand. It is the novelty of the
enterprise and the mystery surrounding submarine work that make it so
difficult to the layman. Diving, as heretofore conducted, has been
difficult and dangerous work, and only the strong could stand the
hardships connected with it. The advent of submarine salvage vessels
fitted with proper machinery and in the application of scientific
methods, however, will clear away many of the hardships and dangers
connected with salving a sunken cargo, and more experience and proper
apparatus will prove that certain cargoes may be removed from sunken
ships in moderate depth with almost as much rapidity as they can be
lifted from the hold of a vessel alongside of a dock. Take anthracite
coal, for instance. With a six-inch pump, on the old _Argonaut_, I
have transferred fifteen tons of nut coal from a sunken barge to a
sunken freight-carrying submarine in nine minutes. A turn of the air
valve then sent the sunken freight boat to the surface. The coal was
transferred while all the boats were submerged in seven fathoms of
water. It was this kind of experimental work which has enabled me to
devise apparatus which will undoubtedly operate successfully on a much
larger scale, as explained in the illustrations.
[Illustration: EXPERIMENTAL CARGO-RECOVERING SUBMARINE
This vessel was built in 1899 and experimented with in 1900, to
demonstrate the practicability of transferring cargoes from sunken
vessels to submarine freight carriers. (See text.)]
The crucial feature of diving operations lies in the time required
in decompression, which, if held within the limits given by Fleet
Surgeon Mourilyan, would practically limit diving operations to half
the present depth of submergence and greatly increase the cost and the
time demanded for such undertakings. Strange as it may seem, the human
body will stand an immense amount of compression, but the greatest
care must be taken to make the recovery to normal a very slow and
deliberate process. Doctors Leonard Hill and Greenwood, of the London
Hospital Medicine College, have conducted a series of scientific
investigations regarding the physical limits of a normal man to
compression without risk of strain or ultimate injury. Remarkable as it
seems, they have shown that it is possible to submit to a pressure of
seven atmospheres--the equivalent of a submergence to a depth of two
hundred and ten feet, a depth considerably in excess of the best diving
records up to the time of their experiments. These gentlemen proved
conclusively that immunity from serious consequences could be assured,
provided the period of decompression was sufficiently long. The
experiments were not made under water, but were made in an experimental
air-chamber especially fitted up for them by one of the big English
submarine engineering companies.
[Illustration: SKETCH DRAWING ILLUSTRATING A METHOD OF TRANSFERRING
CARGOES FROM SUNKEN VESSELS TO SUBMERGED FREIGHT CARGO-CARRYING
SUBMARINES
Demonstrated as practical in 1900 by the combined use of the "Argonaut"
and the demonstrating freight-carrying submarine shown above.]
Under the conditions usually prevailing in the fields wherein divers
are employed, it is not possible, with the systems of working generally
adopted, to provide this period of decompression nor to work with this
studied deliberation when descending from or when ascending to the
ordinary surface vessel. The suit of a diver weighs over two hundred
pounds, and when inflated the bulk is considerable. A diver being
lowered from a vessel is swung to and fro like a pendulum, and if
there is any sea on--the open sea is never entirely still--the surge
naturally affects the diver so that it is beyond human possibility
to limit his descent to a nicety or to take the time either in going
down or coming up that science has proved necessary to his physical
well-being in the most generous sense. The greater the depth the
greater the difficulties, and to reach a submergence of one hundred
and fifty feet is now practically prohibitive except under ideal
conditions. The semi-submergible boat has, however, met the problem
squarely and has overcome many of the difficulties heretofore deemed
insuperable. The simplicity and the practicability of the working
principle involved are graphically shown by the accompanying drawings.
This combination consists of a tube which may be built of any desired
length or so constructed that this may be increased by the insertion
of additional sections. This tube is provided with an operating
compartment or working chamber at the free end, and water-ballast
tanks are distributed throughout the length of the tube so that the
structure can be placed in equilibrium with the water when ready for
submergence. In the working chamber there are also water-ballast tanks
by which that end of the tube can be sunk and caused to rest upon the
bottom with any desired pressure or dead weight. This operating chamber
has a hatch and door located in its bottom. This bottom door can be
opened when needed--the whole compartment becoming then a virtual
diving bell, so that divers can be sent out if so wished, or operations
through this open passage to the water-bed can be pursued by means of
tools and appliances controlled from within the compartment. There
is also an air-lock or equalizing chamber. Its purpose is to enable
the operators to become gradually accustomed to change of pressure
when entering or when leaving the working chamber when the latter is
being used with the bottom door open; the air pressure within the
compartment would be maintained in constant accord with the water
pressure corresponding to the particular depth at which this tube would
be in use. The tube itself may have its upper end attached to the side
of a surface craft, but preferably it floats in the well of a craft
especially designed to work in combination with it, as shown.
[Illustration: SEMI-SUBMERGIBLE WRECKING APPARATUS
The submergible tube has the diver's operating compartment shut off
from the rest of the apparatus by means of an air lock which permits
passage from the surface vessel and normal air pressure to the diver's
compartment, where the air is under pressure equal to the compartment's
depth of submergence, when the diver's exit door is open. The above
illustration shows divers "breaking" the cargo out of the hold of a
sunken ship and sending it to the surface.]
The general method of operating upon a submerged wreck is as follows:
The vessel carrying the tube is brought to the place of operation;
it may be carried there either by towing or by its own power. The
carrying vessel is moored over the wreck by quartering lines; anchor
lines connect with anchors run out abeam on each side of the vessel.
These lines are controlled from within the operating chamber, when once
the anchors are planted, so that the lower end of the tube, when
submerged, may be swung through the arc of a circle within the pivotal
point at the buoyant end attached to the surface vessel.
The operating chamber and tube are lighted electrically, and
electricity also supplies power control within the chamber. Compressed
air is led into this compartment to supply the chamber when operating
under pressure and also to supply any divers sent out therefrom at such
times.
The surface vessel being properly moored, the ballast compartments are
flooded and the working end of the apparatus allowed to settle near
enough to the wreck to permit of inspection through the "aquascope,"
or the bottom door may be opened and divers sent out for more intimate
inspection, and instructions may then be telephoned to the surface
vessel so to change her position that the working compartment may be
located in the place most convenient to act as a base for carrying
on the operations of recovering cargo, making repairs, etc., as the
occasion may demand.
The position of the operating chamber may be over the hatchway of a
ship, or, in the case of an old and worthless hulk, the decks may be
blown off and the working end of the apparatus lowered right down
through and on to the cargo itself. Sufficient additional water ballast
may now be introduced to hold the working chamber securely to the
bottom, or it may be held fast to the hulk itself, if that course be
preferable. It will thus be seen that communication is now established
between the surface and the submerged vessel at the point where it
is desired to carry on the operations, and it will be realized that
this can be accomplished without the use of divers and in absolute
safety throughout the range or reach of the apparatus. The operators
are protected by a strong steel tube, which now forms a sheltered
passageway to and from the surface under normal atmospheric pressure,
and no more skill is required to go down within working reach of the
sunken ship than that required to go up or down a flight of stairs. It
will also be seen, by referring to the sketch, that the operators are
where they are protected from the currents, and even quite a severe
storm on the surface would not interfere with work below, so long as
the surface vessel could be held to her moorings.
The illustration shows a wrecking plant of the "Lake" design as it
appears when operating on a sunken steamship. The case taken for
illustration is that of a vessel that had been sunk for some time and
where it had been considered advisable to blow away the decks in order
to enable the operating compartment of the tube to be lowered right
down into the cargo hold. The ship's hold is lighted up electrically,
and the work of removing the material follows. A light down-haul line
leads from the lower block of each set of derrick falls, and is led
through a block secured conveniently to the diver's station. This
line is handled by an electric winch in the operating compartment.
Its purpose is to return the hoisting line with its sling to the
divers after each load has been discharged upon the surface craft.
As the divers operate only a few feet from the working chamber, they
are protected from the surge of the surface boat, with its attendant
pull on air-hose and life-line, and also from possible aggravation
by currents; and, as the handling of all lines is done by mechanical
power, work of recovery may be carried on in a very expeditious manner
with a minimum of stress upon the operator.
[Illustration: THE "CAVIAR MAP" OF SHIPPING'S GREATEST GRAVE-YARD
(The little circles represent wrecks.)
Reproduction of a chart published by the German Hydrographic Office,
giving a list of wrecks which have occurred in the locality pictured
during a period of only fifteen years. This great loss of shipping was
one of the principal causes leading up to the construction of the Kiel
canal.]
In many waters the divers would be engaged in plain view of their
tenders in the operating compartment, who would handle the down-pull
lines and transmit signals by bell or telephone to the control station
on the boat above. Work is thus carried on continuously by relays
of divers who are thoroughly conversant with the progress of the
undertaking and the circumstances affecting performance. Through the
medium of the equalizing room the divers, who leave their helmets,
shoes, and weights in the operating chamber, are able to undergo slowly
and comfortably either decompression or compression after or before
each shift. They can remain in the equalizing room as long as necessary
to effect this in the way most conducive to their physical well-being.
This compartment is well lighted, is fitted with seats, and provides
every reasonable convenience for the diver during this intermediate
stage.
Statistics have been published to show that practically the entire
commerce of the world sinks in every twenty-five years. In the present
war the rate of sinking has been, of course, enormously accelerated,
and millions of tons of ships have been sunk, with billions of dollars'
worth of cargo. Many of these vessels were sunk in the North Sea or
the English Channel, where the water is comparatively shallow, and
where many of the cargoes can undoubtedly be recovered with the proper
apparatus. The loss of ships in peace times is such a common occurrence
that little attention is paid to them except when their loss is
accompanied by great loss of life, as was the case with the _Titanic_,
the _Monroe_, the _Empress of Ireland_, or the _Lusitania_. There are
therefore great opportunities for devices of this nature to operate
profitably.
Another use to which the submarine may be put is the recovery of
shellfish from the sea bottom. For such work as this adaptations of the
submarine vessel are well fitted.
A submarine vessel of the "Lake" bottom-working type has been designed
and is now being built for the location of and the recovery of
shellfish on a large scale. Shellfish abound on both the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts in great quantities. They are about the most delicious
and nutritious food known to man. The most common shellfish are the
oyster, the round or hard-shell clam, the long-neck or soft-shell clam,
the scallop, and, on the Pacific coast, the abalone, which is valuable
both for its mother-of-pearl shell and its meat, which is a great
delicacy, the most of which is sent to Japan, either dried or canned.
My own sea-bottom investigations, combined with the sea-bottom
investigations of the United States Fish Commission, have led me to the
conclusion that edible shellfish abound along our coast in such great
quantities that they can become an important rival to our meat-growing
and packing industries, provided the proper apparatus is used for their
recovery. I have, when "wheeling" along the bottom, found beds of the
round or hard-shell clam in such great quantities that there must have
been thousands of bushels to the acre. This was in waters too deep
to be recovered by the usual clammers' apparatus. It is impossible
to dredge for the soft-shell clam, as the shell is too delicate, and
to pull them out of their bed would crush them. The abalone attach
themselves to rocks, and it requires considerable force to break their
hold, so there is no known means to recover them with surface ships.
The oyster industry is the only one that has thus far been developed by
planting and cultivating methods, so that it is now a great industry,
employing thousands of steam, internal-combustion, and sail boats in
their cultivation and collection for the market. The method employed by
the largest growers is by the use of power boats which drag dredges.
These are rakes with a meshed bag dragging on the bottom back of the
tooth bar of the dredge to collect the oysters after they are raked
or torn up from their beds. This is not a scientific method, for the
reason that many of the oysters are killed by the heavy dredge being
dragged over them. It is largely a hit-or-miss or grab-in-the-dark
method, as it is impossible to clean up the ground in this manner.
Some oyster grounds will produce from three to four thousand bushels
of oysters to the acre. When dredging is started it is only necessary
to drag the dredge a few feet before it is filled; then, as the
oysters become thinner, the drag becomes longer. They drag in all
directions across the grounds, but, as they cannot see the bottom,
there are places they never hit, because the wind and currents prevent
a systematic covering of the ground.
[Illustration: SUBMARINE OYSTER-GATHERING VESSEL
By admitting water ballast into ballast tanks the vessel is allowed
to sink to the bottom with sufficient weight to afford traction to
the toothed driving wheels in the central operating compartment. This
compartment is open at the bottom; water is prevented from entering it
by the use of compressed air. As this apartment is well lighted the
oysters may readily be seen lying on the bottom the full width and
length of the compartment. When the boat is given headway the oysters
are automatically transferred into the cargo holds by means of a system
of pipes and suction pumps to induce a flow of water which carries the
oysters from the dredges.]
The design of a submarine oyster-dredging vessel is such that the
vessel goes down to the bottom direct and the water is forced out of
the centre raking compartment so that the oysters may be seen by the
operator in the control department. With only a few inches of water
over them, headway is then given to the submarine and the oysters are
then automatically raked up, washed, and delivered through pipes into
the cargo-carrying chambers, as shown. Centrifugal pumps are constantly
delivering water from the cargo compartments, which induces a flow of
water through the pipes leading from the "rake pans" with sufficient
velocity to carry up the oysters and deposit them into the cargo holds.
In this manner the bottom may be seen, and by "tracking" back and forth
over the bottom the ground may be cleaned up at one operation.
The author's design of vessel illustrated has a capacity of gathering
oysters from good ground at the rate of five thousand bushels per
hour. The use of the submarine will make the recovery of oysters more
nearly like the method of reaping a field of grain, where one "swath"
systematically joins on to another, and the whole field is cleaned up
at one operation.
In many other fields of industrial and commercial enterprise the
submarine is qualified to render valuable services. In general
submarine engineering work; in the construction of breakwaters,
lighthouses, driving piles and building abutments, and in the deepening
and improvement of waterways and harbors, the submarine will be
utilized. In prospecting for, and the recovery and separation of, gold
from river-beds and sea-coast bottoms submarine devices have been found
to be very efficient and economical. A new method of laying tunnels
under water has been proposed in which adaptations of the submarine
boat will play a great part. However, these latter developments of the
submarine are so highly specialized and a description of them would
be so very technical that mere mention of these possibilities will be
sufficient for the purposes of this book.
Thus it is evident that the submarine has a utility entirely apart from
that of a military weapon. Its unique qualities fit it for the labors
of peace as well as for those of war. Of course, in both cases, either
as a naval weapon or as an industrial mechanism, it is the unique
capacity of submergence possessed by the submarine which makes it of
value, and in either case it is the question of accessibility which is
all-important. In the war use the chief function of the submarine is to
make itself inaccessible to the foe. It is immune from attack because
it cannot be seen. It is able to strike at its foe with success because
its presence is not detected by him. It is thus able to make use of
its destructive energy in perfect safety. On the other hand, the chief
value of the industrial submarine lies in the fact that it constitutes
a means of access to places otherwise inaccessible to men. It is very
desirable and very profitable for men to go down into the depths of the
sea. There are things well worth doing on the bed of the ocean. Travel
may be made safe, goods of great value may be brought up, foodstuffs
of the first order may be obtained there; with submarines men may
prosecute their labors beneath the sea with very little danger and at
a minimum of cost. The diver's profession will become, through the use
of this mechanism, an important factor in the economic affairs of the
world.