SLILMMUNIJ NAVIGATION. 



169 



afford protection, which come one knows not whence nor when, and 

 which are invulnerable because invisible. Any nation suitably equipped 

 with such means of defense would be impregnable on the side of the sea. 



Every submarine boat with a single exception, so far as the writer 

 knows, has been designed solely or at least chiefly with reference to 

 use in war. That exception is the 'Argonaut,' designed by Simon Lake 

 and owned by the Lake Submarine Company. 



The 'Argonaut' is intended for peaceful pursuits and is built and 

 equipped accordingly. Her purpose is to save property, not to destroy 

 it. Hit work is to be quiet and prosaic, but none the less efficient and 

 valuable. The success of her inventor and his company depends not 

 upon the favor of governments and department officials, but upon the 

 successful performance of forms of work which have a direct com- 

 mercial value. 



Fig. S. Longitudinal Section of the Submarine Boat 'Akgonaut.' 



She is built to travel on the bottom and is provided accordingly 

 with wheels like a tricycle. Except in war, there is scarcely a single 

 valuable object which can be served by navigation between the surface 

 and the bottom. The treasures of the deep are on the bottom. On 

 the bottom are the sponges, the pearls, the corals, the shell fish, the 

 wrecks of treasure ships and coal ships and the gold-bearing sands. 

 On the bottom are the foundations of submarine works, explosive 

 harbor defenses and cables. To the bottom the ■Argonaut* goes, and 

 on it she does her work. 



Propelled at the surface by her gasoline engines, sbe looks much 

 like any other power boat. The upper part of her hull is that of ordi- 

 nary surface-going boats. Underneath she has the ovoidal form. Con- 

 spicuous on her deck are the two vertical pipes by means of which 

 during submergence fresh air is drawn from the surface and the viti- 



