If, on the other hand, any extra weight is taken aboard the submarine, enough water to equal it is blown out by compressed air.
In the Mine Compartment.—The mine, as the stationary bombs that are to be laid in a harbor or some other strategic point are called, are kept in the mine compartment.
This compartment has a trap door in it through which a mine-layer, that is a man dressed in a diving-suit, can get out of and back into the submarine again, or through which the mines can be lowered.
And Last of All, the Sea Anchor.—A submarine must have an anchor as well as a merchantman. The anchor is of the mushroom type, so called from its appearance; and as you will see from the accompanying picture ([Fig. 29]), it is very different from the two armed and fluked kind that so resembles an Irishman’s anchor i.e., a pickax.
Where the Crew of a Submarine Lives.—Proper quarters for the officers and crew in the earlier submarines were sadly neglected; but conditions have greatly changed since then—though of course they are not quite so good as living in a luxurious hotel ashore.
Great improvements have been made in behalf of the undersea navigators and sailors, until in the more recent submarines the crew have quarters that compare favorably with those on board a battleship.
There are oxygen tanks that supply pure air, while electric fans set up a forced draft and keep the air cool and make it circulate freely. Then there are electric heaters which keep the temperature just right under all conditions.
It goes without saying that the modern submarine has its galley—that is, its cook room. But, very different from the galley on the old windjammers that used to sail the seas, the sea-cook does not use a cook-stove, which was also called a galley, but electricity.