A study of this vessel shows that she must have been a very stable craft and not likely to dive at an excessive angle or to stand on end, as was the tendency of many of the early diving boats. A report signed by Gen. T. W. Sweeny, U. S. A., and Col. John Michal, Col. T. R. Tresilian, and Major R. C. Bocking, engineers, strongly endorsed this vessel.
On the strength of the above-mentioned reports and endorsements, the government, through the Navy Department, appointed a commission composed of Commodore C. M. Smith, Commodore Augustus L. Chase, Chief of Bureau of Ordnance, and Edward O. Mathews, Chief of the Torpedo Board, "to examine, inspect, and report on the merit of said boat." As the report of this commission confirmed the capacity and efficiency of the boat for submarine purposes, the government made a contract for her purchase for the sum of $50,000 (£10,250).
The contract specified certain conditions which were to be fulfilled before the final payment was made, one of which was that Halstead should "write out fully and describe, without reservation, all the inventions, secrets, and contrivances necessary to enable any competent person or persons to operate and manage said boat as contemplated, desired, or designed, more especially the methods of furnishing, managing, controlling, purifying, and renewing the air when and in quantity as needed, so as to enable those in the boat to descend and ascend or remain under water any reasonable length of time; also, to open the doors in the bottom of the boat and keep the water from coming therein at any reasonable and regulated depth." For this information Halstead was to receive such further sum as a board of officers might grant. Halstead was to have the further right to apply to Congress for additional compensation.
In carrying out the provisions of the contract, the government, on May 27, 1870, took over the Intelligent Whale and then paid $12,050 (£2,470) on account of the contract. Shortly after this Halstead was instantly killed. Differences then arose between Halstead's heirs and others who claimed an interest in the contract. It does not appear that anything further was ever done with the boat to carry out the terms of the contract. She lay neglected for years on the old "Cob dock" in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but was recently erected as an exhibit on the Green.
Some years later that famous inventor, Mr. J. P. Holland, brought out a submarine vessel called the Fenian Ram. This vessel was about thirty feet long and six feet in diameter. She was navigated, when submerged, by the use of vertical and horizontal rudders located at the stern. The novel feature introduced in the vessel was an under-water air-gun which was designed to fire a shell under water.
Mr. Holland was originally a school teacher in Ireland, from which country he was exiled because of his political beliefs. On coming to the United States he became affiliated with the Fenian movement. Previous to his construction of the Fenian Ram Mr. Holland built experimentally a small one-man boat. The money to build the Fenian Ram was subscribed by the "Clan-na-Gael" and other Irish patriotic societies, and an associate of Mr. Holland recently informed me that over $200,000 (£41,000) was subscribed to enable Mr. Holland to carry on his experiments. After the collapse of the Fenian movement the Fenian Ram was towed up to New Haven, Connecticut, and hauled out on the banks of the Mill River, where it has lain ever since, hidden under a pile of lumber.
One of the former leaders of the Fenians informed me that the scheme was to build a number of submarines of about the size of the Ram. They were to have been carried across the Atlantic in a special ship with water-tight compartments extending below the water line, into which the submarines were to have been floated and a sea door closed. On arrival on the English coast, this special ship, which was apparently a harmless merchantman, was to locate the British war vessels in some one of the harbors, sail in and anchor near them; then the little submarines were to be released from their mother ship and proceed to sink as many of the British ships as they could by firing explosive shells into them below the water line. The novelty of such an attack was relied upon to spread consternation among the British fleet and thus enable the submarines to escape.
In 1878 Mr. G. W. Garrett, of Liverpool, took out a patent and constructed a small boat whose equilibrium was to have been maintained by the admission of water into a cylinder and forcing it out by a piston. In 1879, Mr. Garrett brought out a larger vessel, called the Resurgam, in which his means of control were forward diving rudders similar to those of the Confederate Hunley. The novel feature of this vessel was the installation of a very large steam boiler in which sufficient heat could be stored to enable the vessel to make a submerged run of several miles after the fires were shut down. This vessel was lost during her experimental trials.
Mr. Garrett then interested Mr. Nordenfelt, the inventor of the celebrated Nordenfelt gun, in his boat. Mr. Nordenfelt improved upon Garrett's boat and built vessels for Greece, Turkey, and Russia. His first boat was sixty-four feet in length by nine feet beam, with a displacement of about sixty tons. The method of submerged control, which he devised, consisted of the use of two downhaul screws located in sponsons on either side of the vessel. These screws were operated by bevel gears and were run at sufficient speed to overcome the reserve of buoyancy. The vessel was intended to be always operated with a reserve of buoyancy. To submerge, therefore, it was necessary to run the propellers at a speed sufficient to exert a thrust to overcome this buoyancy and pull her bodily under water. After reaching the desired depth, forward motion was then to be given by the usual screw propeller, and she was expected to make progress on a level keel and in a horizontal plane. The level keel was to have been maintained by the use of a horizontal rudder placed in the bow.
This method of submerged control for submarine vessels of moderate speed seems to me to be an excellent one in principle. I have been surprised that further development has not been made along these lines. I think the final abandonment of the Nordenfelt type of vessel was due to failure in carrying out the details of design rather than to faulty basic principles. A former chief engineer of Mr. Nordenfelt informed me that the heat from the large amount of hot water stored up in the reservoirs—for submerged power—made the interior of the vessels almost unbearable for the crew when the hatches were shut down, and that he did not believe the submarines ever made any submerged runs after being delivered. I also judge, from his description of his experiences with the vessels, that they lacked longitudinal stability and were difficult to hold in the horizontal position, which Mr. Nordenfelt claimed was a sine qua non for a submarine boat. I concur in this claim.