1905.] Suhmarim Navigatioa. 155 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, June 9, 1005. 



Sib William Crookes, D.Sc. F.R.S., Honorary Secretary and Vice- 

 President, in the Chair. 



Sir William H. White, K.C.B. LL.D. D.Sc. F.R.S. 

 M.Inst.C.E. M.R.L 



Submarine Navigation. 



Submarine navigation has engaged the attention of inventors and 

 attracted general interest for a very long period. Its practical applica- 

 tion to purposes of war was made about 130 years ago. The main 

 object of that apphcation was to threaten, or if possible destroy, an 

 enemy's battleships engaged in blockade by means of under-water 

 attacks, delivered by vessels of small dimensions and cost, which could 

 dive and navigate when submerged. From the first, submarines were 

 admittedly weapons favoured by the weaker naval power ; and as a 

 consequence their construction found little favour with our naval 

 authorities. Under the conditions which prevailed a century ago in 

 regard to materials of construction, propelling apparatus and explo- 

 sives, the construction of submarines necessarily proceeded on a limited 

 scale, and the type practically died out of use, almost at its birth. 

 Enough had been done, however, to demonstrate its practicability 

 and to make it a favourite field of investigation for inventors, some 

 of whom contemplated wide extensions of submarine navigation. 

 Every naval war gave fresh incentive to these proposals, and led to 

 the construction of experimental vessels. This was the case during 

 the Crimean War, when the Admiralty had a submarine vessel secretly 

 built and tried by a special committee, on which, amongst others, 

 Mr. Scott-Russell and Sir Charles Fox served. Again, during the 

 Civil War in America, the Confederates constructed a submarine 

 vessel, and used it against the blockading squadron off Charlestown. 

 After several abortive attempts, and a considerable loss of life, they 

 succeeded in destroying the Federal ffousatonic, but their submarine 

 with all its crew perished in the enterprise. 



It is impossible to give even a summarised statement of other 

 efforts made in this direction from 1860 onwards to 1880 ; but one 

 cannot leave unnoticed the work done in the United States by Mr. 

 Holland, who devoted himself for a quarter of a century to continuous 

 experiment on submarines, and eventually achieved success. The 

 Holland type was first adopted by the United States Navy, and was 

 subsequently accepted by the British Admiralty as the point of de- 



