SUBMARINE NAVKiATION." 



By Sir William II. White, K. (,'. B., LL. I)., I). Sc, F. R. S., M. Inst. C. E., 



M. R. 1.6 



Submarine navigation has engaged the attention of inventors and 

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

 cation to purposes of war was made about one hundred and thirty 

 years ago. The main object of that application was to threaten, or if 

 possible clestro}^, an enemy's battle ships engaged in blockade by 

 means of under-water attacks, delivered by vessels of small dimen- 

 sions and cost, which could dive and navigate when submerged. 

 From the first, submarines were admittedly weapons favored by the 

 weaker naval i)ower, and as a consequence their construction found 

 little favor with our naval authorities. Under the conditions which 

 prevailed a century ago in regard to materials of construction, ])ro- 

 pelling apparatus and explosives, 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 favorite field of inves- 

 ligation 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, among others, Mr. Scott-Hussell 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 

 Charleston. After several abortive attempts and a considerable 

 loss of life they succeeded in destroying the Federal Ilojisatonic^ but 

 their submarine, with all its crew, perished in the enterprise. 



It is impossible to give even a summarized statement of other 

 efforts made in this direction from 1860 onAvard to 1880, but one 



a Reprinted by i)erniission from author's printed cojjy. 



6 Rend at weekly evening meeting of the Royal Institution of (Jreat Britain, 

 Friday. .Tune !). l!)()r». Sir William Crookes, D. Ss., F. R. S., honorary soeretary 

 and vice-presideut, in the chair. 



235 



