SUBMARINE VESSELS 



by divers, the torpedo-boat was found sticking in the 

 hole she had made, and all her crew were dead in her. 

 It was a reckless adventure these men had engaged 

 in, and one in which they could scarcely have hoped 

 to succeed. They had tried it once before inside the 

 harbor, and some of the crew had been blown over- 

 board. How could they hope to succeed on the out- 

 side, where the sea might be rough, when the speed of 

 the David was not over five knots, and when they 

 might be driven out to sea! Reckless as it might be, 

 it was the most sublime patriotism, and showed the 

 length to which men could be urged on behalf of a 

 cause for which they were willing to give up their lives 

 and all they held most dear.'' 



RECENT SUBMARINES AND SUBMERSIBLES 



After the Civil War several nations interested them- 

 selves in the subject of submarines, and during the 

 Franco-Prussian war in 1870-71, France attempted 

 the construction of such vessels, but without success. 

 Yet the possibility of producing these boats was be- 

 coming more apparent every year by the improvements 

 in electrical motors, gasoline engines, compressed-air 

 motors, and the automobile- or fish-torpedo — itself a 

 miniature submarine boat. 



In America the progress made in submarine-boat 

 construction has been fully as great, if not greater, 

 than in any other country. Undoubtedly the foremost 

 figure in this progress has been Mr. P. Holland; and 

 his efforts and successes are largely responsible for the 



[105] 



