A hollow mast was stepped into the deck to supply air to the crew when the submarine was under water, and it was also used to spread a little canvas on when the boat was running afloat and the wind was good.
FIG. 3. VAN DREBEL’S SUBMARINE.
Now, you may think this submarine of Van Drebel’s was a mighty crude attempt, and no one will say you nay, but just bear in mind, please, that it was the granddaddy of the modern submarine and that it traveled submerged down the Thames River, carrying in it no less a personage than King James the First, and covering a distance of seven miles from Westminster to Greenwich.
After this first and very successful attempt at submarine building it was not long until others began to make improvements and to build underwater boats which would outdo the spectacular performance of Van Drebel’s submarine. It ought to send a thrill of pleasure through you to know that most of these inventors were Americans, but in your feeling of pride don’t forget that the oversea workers along submarine lines followed closely on the heels of our own in ingenuity, building, and operative ability.
A Submarine of the Revolution.—The first submarine designed to destroy enemy ships was invented and built by an American named David Bushnell, just about the time that Liberty Bell was ringing out the Independence of the United States.
His submarine, had it not been for an accident, and of which I will tell you later, would now be exploited in every school history of our country. But even the accident showed that the submarine had great inherent possibilities and dynamic power stored up in it which warring nations of the future must reckon with.
Different from all past ideas and present conceptions of submarines, and far removed from any design which is ordinarily thought of in connection with boats, Bushnell’s submarine, instead of going through the water with its long axis horizontal to the top, moved through it vertically.
The way in which this strange craft was submerged—that is, sunk—is fundamental, which means that it is the simple, natural way and the one that is used in all submarines that have been built since then.