[A PATRIOTIC ANSWER.]
Just after the war of 1776 an American frigate visited England. Her crew of gallant tars had been principally recruited from the fisheries, and some of them, it is to be acknowledged, did not compare favorably in appearance with the spick-and-span, jaunty English naval seamen, for the former were of all shapes and sizes, from the tall, round-shouldered, long-armed Cape Coder, down to the short, wiry members of the ship's company who hailed from various ports farther south, where less brawn was to be found.
One day the captain of the American ship paid a visit to the commander of a British man-o'-war at anchor in the same harbor. The coxswain of the gig was a great, lanky seaman, whose backbone was so rounded as to form a veritable hump. While the boat rested at the gangway of the visited vessel the English sailors gathered in the open ports and "took stock," in a rather disdainful fashion, of the occupants of the gig. At last one of the seamen on board the man-o'-war called down to the coxswain:
"'Ello there, Yankee; I soy, what's that bloomin' 'ump you 'ave on your back?"
The American sailor looked up and called back, quick as a shot: "That's Bunker Hill!"
[OUR SUBMARINE TORPEDO-BOAT.]
BY FRANKLIN MATTHEWS.
Within a year the United States will have a submarine torpedo-boat. It will be 80 feet long and 11 feet in diameter. It will use steam when running on the surface of the water, and when running under water it will use electricity. It will be capable of going nearly nine miles an hour under water for six hours. On the surface of the water the boat will be able to go just twice as fast. When running "awash," that is, with only a small turret sticking out of the water, the speed will be only one knot an hour slower than when running on the surface.