THE "ARGONAUT" AFTER LENGTHENING AND ADDITION OF BUOYANT, SHIP-SHAPED SUPERSTRUCTURE, INCREASING THE SURFACE BUOYANCY OVER 40 PER CENT
As the Argonaut was principally built in order to further test out the possibility of navigating on the water-bed in exploration and commercial work, she was propelled, both when on the surface and submerged, by her gasolene (petrol) engines. Storage batteries were carried only for lighting purposes. The air to run her engines was first drawn into the vessel through a hose extending to a buoy floating on the surface. Later she was fitted with pipe masts, which enabled her to navigate on the bottom in depths up to fifty feet. She functioned satisfactorily from the start. We found we could readily navigate over any kind of bottom, soft or hard, by regulating her buoyancy to suit, and she would, due to her buoyancy, readily climb over any obstruction that did not reach higher than her forefoot.
SUBMARINE WITH CUSHIONED BOTTOM WHEELS
Showing how such a vessel will surmount a steep declivity while a boat of the diving type (D) will likely "bury her nose" into it or strike with sufficient force to disarrange her machinery. If the submarine has sufficient statical stability she will maintain substantially a level keel even when riding over a steep declivity.
There were three things which caused us to delay her departure on a submarine exploration trip for a few weeks. The first was the escape of gasolene (petrol) fumes in the boat. When first built, fuel tanks were built in the hull itself and formed an integral part of the vessel. Special care was given to make these fuel tanks tight. They were tested under hydraulic pressure and found to be tight, but the fumes from gasolene (petrol) are very searching, and, after filling the fuel tanks and keeping them filled over night, gasolene fumes were found to exist in the boat the next morning to such an extent that I would not venture to make a start until a fuel tank had been built outside of the vessel, where any escape of fumes would not form an explosive mixture. I followed this practice in all our later gasolene-engined boats, which largely eliminated the danger from carrying gasolene as a fuel. A number of explosions have occurred in other types of gasolene-propelled boats, in some cases with fatal results, from gasolene fuel being carried in built-up tanks within the hull itself.
The next cause of delay was due to the escape of and collection of carbon monoxide within the vessel. This developed on our first submarine run. After we had been down about two hours some of us commenced to experience a dull pain at the base of the brain and a decided feeling of lassitude. On coming to the surface a couple of our men collapsed completely, and one was very sick all night. I could not understand the cause of this, as nothing of the kind had occurred in my previous hand-propelled vessel, so we made another submerged run the following day, and after about the same period of time the pain in the head and weariness came on again. I then discovered that the engine would occasionally backfire out into the boat and that gas was escaping past the piston rings into the base of the engine and from there into the boat. To overcome this difficulty I installed what I called an induction tank, which was piped up to the air intake of the engine and also the engine base. A check valve admitted air into this induction tank. When the engine was started the check valve was automatically lifted and induced a flow of air through the tank, in which a slight vacuum was maintained, which also served to draw the gases out from the engine base. In case of a backfire, the check valve automatically closed and the gases from the backfire were caught in the induction tank, from which they were drawn out on the next stroke of the engine. This solved the difficulty, and thereafter the air was always fresh and pure when running submerged even after a submergence of several hours' duration.
Like Mr. Holland, I also had difficulty on our first submergence in always knowing where we were going. Our compass was first installed in the boat itself, where it was surrounded by steel. The compass adjuster had searched for and found what he considered the most neutral place in the ship to install the compass, and had adjusted it by magnets in the usual manner, but it was too "loggy" for correct navigation and we were forced finally to install it in a bronze binnacle directly over the conning tower, where it could be viewed by mirrors from the steersman's station. This cut out most of the adjusting magnets, and the compass was nearly accurate on all courses. Submarine navigation thus became reliable.
On the completion of these changes the Argonaut was taken down the Chesapeake Bay to Hampton Roads, where several months were spent in examining the bottom conditions in the bay and out on the ocean, and in locating and picking up cables and in examining wrecks. The Spanish-American War was on at this time, and an effort was made to interest the government officials in charge of the mines at Fortress Monroe. I tried to get some of the officers to go down in the Argonaut and see how easily observation mine cables could be located and cut if desired, as I was making almost daily submerged runs in their vicinity. Finally I received peremptory orders not to submerge within a mile of the mine fields, as I might accidentally sever one of the cables, and then, as the officer in charge said, "There would be the devil to pay in Washington."
It was about this time that Admiral Sampson's fleet was holding at great expense its long vigil outside of Santiago, waiting for Cervera's fleet to come out. Our fleet was kept outside the harbor for fear of the mines, while here in Hampton Roads all this time was a vessel capable of clearing away the mine fields, but which was not given serious consideration, as it was thought that the submarine was impracticable. Experiments were also made showing the possibility of establishing submarine telephone stations at known locations on the bottom of the ocean. In January, 1898, while the Argonaut was submerged, telephonic conversation was held from submerged stations with Baltimore, Washington, and New York. In 1898, also, the Argonaut made the trip from Norfolk to New York under her own power and unescorted. In her original form she was a cigar-shaped craft, with only a small percentage of reserve buoyancy in her surface cruising condition. We were caught out in the severe November northeast storm of 1898 in which over two hundred vessels were lost, and we did not succeed in reaching a harbor in the "horseshoe" back of Sandy Hook until three o'clock in the morning. The seas were so rough, and broke over her conning tower in such masses, that I was obliged to lash myself fast to prevent being swept overboard. It was freezing weather, and I was soaked and covered with ice on reaching harbor.