I did not make a proposal to build a boat from my designs as submitted in 1893, but offered to coöperate with the government in developing submarines under my patents, which were then pending, on such terms as the government might desire. Not being fortunate enough, however, to secure the financial assistance of the government in developing my inventions for the protection of our country, I turned my attention for a time to applying my inventions to commercial purposes and to prove the practicability of navigating on the bottom.
For this purpose I built, in 1894, the Argonaut, Jr., which I mentioned in the preceding chapter, and will now describe more fully. This vessel was provided with three wheels, two on either side forward and one aft, the latter acting as a steering wheel. When on the bottom the wheels were rotated by hand by one or two men inside the boat. Her displacement was about seven tons, yet she could be propelled at a moderate walking gait when on the bottom. She was also fitted with an air-lock and diver's compartment, so arranged that by putting an air pressure on the diver's compartment equal to the water pressure outside a bottom door could be opened and no water could come into the vessel. Then by putting on a pair of rubber boots the operator could walk around on the sea bottom and push the boat along with him and pick up objects, such as clams, oysters, etc., from the sea bottom.
Experiments with this vessel on the bottom of Sandy Hook Bay convinced a sufficient number of people who were permitted to witness the experiments that submarine navigation in this manner was practicable, and I succeeded in raising sufficient capital to build a larger vessel to continue my experiments on a broader scale. Therefore, in 1895, I designed the Argonaut.
"ARGONAUT" AS ORIGINALLY BUILT. LAUNCHED IN AUGUST, 1897
Built to further demonstrate the possibility of navigation over the waterbed of seas or the ocean. She covered thousands of miles in her experimental work, testing out the practicability of the submarine for various kinds of commercial work.
At this time I was living in Baltimore, Md., so I made a contract with the Columbian Iron Works and Dry Dock Company, of that city, for her construction. This company was also building for the Holland Torpedo Boat Company the Plunger, which was being constructed for the government under the 1893 appropriation. Both vessels were completed about the same time. They were launched in August, 1897, and went into dry dock together.
The Argonaut, as originally built, was thirty-six feet long and nine feet in diameter. She was the first submarine to be operated successfully with an internal-combustion engine. She was propelled with a thirty-horsepower gasolene (petrol) engine driving a single-screw propeller. She was fitted with two toothed driving wheels forward, which were revolved by suitable gearing when navigating on the water-bed. They could be disconnected from this gearing and permitted to revolve freely, propulsion being secured by the screw propeller. A wheel in the rudder enabled her to be steered in any direction when on the bottom. She also had a divers' compartment to enable divers to leave or enter the vessel when submerged, so as to operate on wrecks or to permit inspection of the bottom or to recover shellfish. She also had a lookout compartment in the extreme bow, with a powerful searchlight to light up a pathway in front of her as she moved along over the water-bed. This searchlight I later found of little value except for night work in clear water. In clear water the sunlight would permit of as good vision without the use of the light as with it; while, if the water was not clear, no amount of light would permit of vision through it for any considerable distance.
