A REMARKABLE FEAT.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15812, 30 January 1917, Page 9

A REMARKABLE FEAT.

building submarines in MONTREAL, THE PERILS OF THE UNDERTAKING. CROSSING THE ATLANTIC BEFORE THE DEUTSCHLAND. frnoil x rtittMSPOXDJS^T.) SAN FRANCISCO, December 18. How Josh J. Tynan, vice-president and general manager of the Union Iron Works and Shipbuilding Yard of San i rancisco, was given high .honours by the British Government for accomplishing tho impossible while building 20,000,000 dollars' worth of war submarines in Montreal amid touch-and-go attempts upon the life of himself and his assistants, with numerous exciting episodes incidental thereto, was told in San Francisco recently by one ol his lifelong friends, who attended a thanksgiving banquet given in Tynan's I honour in Philadelphia by a lurge com- | pany of Eastern shipbuilders and steel j magnates. I Perhaps the most astonishing of the many exciting details of Tynan's roi markable exploit during the first half of 1915 is that the submarines buiit in I Montreal secretly by him and his picked crew of foremen from the I'nicn Iron "Works crossed the Atlantic by their own power almost a year before the Deutschlaud surprised the world, or surprised America at least! len of the submarines were built in eecxpcvj in the Canadian-Vickers shipyard, five miles outside Montreal, by Tynan and his picked American workmen. Every one of the ten crossed the Atlantic by its own power without accident and without public knowledge before tho Dentsch|and was built. At the time tho building of the Canadian submarines was guardedly lieid back by Canadian censors, but now that necessity for further secrecy has died out. the great achievement of Tynan and his men was referred to at the big private thanksgiving banquet in Philadelphia by one of tho after-dinner speakers in these words : — "Joseph 'lynan was called temporarily from the Union Iron Works to perform a herculean task in a Canadian shipyard: and ten months before the Deutschland mado its niucli heralded advent in American waters ho had built and equipped a dozen submarines and sent them across the Atlantic. It was an undertaking thought impossible. One that none but a Tynan could have accomplished. .But until now publicity was not given it, because of urgent reasons not necessary to state. DEATH STALKS TYNAN.

"Death stalked almost- daily through J tho Canadian shipyard during the five | months T.vnan and his men Wore turning j out, at the highest possible pressure, tho ten submarines so urgently needed by tho British. Internal vigilance I warded off attacks by secret foes, who : stole at night across the frozen St. j Lawrence River when the work began. A hold German emissary, who had by ■ patient craftiness gained a letter that assured him admittance to the fencedin, and heavily-guarded shipyard, was trapped at the last moment, by the quick wit. of Tynan himself. Desperate men, willing to risk death for an opportunity to blow up the undersea, boats when constructed, were found within the works with dynamite concealed about them. 3000 AMERICAN'S AT WOJtK. "More than 3000 men, brought unobstrusivelv in small parties from American shipbuilding yards, worked incessantly. Three eight-hour shifts kept the hammers ringing and ! tho forges at white heat without ccs- ! sation. The anxiety from day to day , and from night to night, the suspense, ; the forethought and anticipation dei manded almost hourly, the many diffi- | cult and crucial situations—all* these j were met by big Jo© Tynan, who car- ; ried the load through to a successful end. This is the same Joe Tynan, who i was 'fired' (sacked) fiom the Baldwin Locomotive Engine Works, where he obtained his first job— at two dollars a day—more than twenty years ago! Now his friends say his salary and income from patents on pneumatic tools he has. invented excced 50.000 dollars a year. ''A. huge bonus was paid . by the British Government fpr the turning out of the ten submarines in an incredibly short time, it is currently believed, in shipping circles. Eighteen specialists in different phases of shipbuilding were picked by Tynan when he undertook the work for the British Admiralty. They were clever mechanics ho had trained un in the Union Iron Works. Quietly tLev left, all pledged to secrecy. Their destination was Montreal. When Joe Tynan reached the great Canadian city he was met by General Sam Hughes in Dcrson, the Canadian 'Minister of Militia, who turned over to ' him the CanadianYickcrs shipyards. He found no machinery and few pneumatic tools suitable for his needs, so he made a thorough house-cleaning. The big San Franciscan's next step was to clear oat the president of the concern, its superintendent, and all the Canadian workmen. He appointed each of the eighteen men. from the Union Iron Works to the head of a department. Carefully selected Canadians were used as labourers, but at that sotd« desperadoes got on as workmen. The whole works were fenced in and roofed over. It was winter, and the cold was intense. Guardhouses were built. Picked militia were detailed to protect the place, within and without. Special agents, ostensibly workmen, were assigned to each department to mingle with the men and seek clues to anv plots. "Every precaution was taken. Even Tynan s picked men had to have passes

for gaining admittance to the works. It was through Tynan that German secret credentials were found upon a man who had been highly recommended for n position of some responsibility, and who came vouched for by a prominent man in Montreal. DYNAMITE PLOT NIPPED. '"The workmen upon whom dynamite was found were removed by the militia. Nothing more was ever heard of them. The eighteen San Franciscans never knew what would happen next. It was under such tense circumstances, Aud in an atmosphere continually surcharged with excitement and vigilance, that the ten submarines were built and equipped. Each was equipped eight torpedo tubes—an unheard-of number. Their efficiency was testified to months later in a cablegram from iSir John Scott, a high official of the British Admiralty, thus — "Ten submarines, built in record time in Canada, and sent across u J}der own power, have performed excellent sorvice in all war zones. The Ei made phenomenal record in Sea of_ Marmora, where it operated 2*l days, sinking 23 ships, shelling land fortifications, ammunition trains and arsenals. It was one of ten boats buiit at Montreal. - ' "At the end of four months —previously twenty months had been the usual neriod —the first submarine was completed. After that another ,^ as finished every two or three days. The launching of the first submarine wa3 made quite an occasion among the Government officials and the men at the works. But the general public was not taken into confidence. "The Duke of Connaught. GovernorGeneral of Canada, and brother of the late King Edward of England, _ had grown to like the sterling shipbuilding boss from San Francisco. He promised Tynan that the Duchess sliou -omo to tne launching and christcn the first boat. The Duchess came, but half an hour later than the time set. She expressed herself in grateful terms as both mortified and amused by what she called "the terrible punctuality' of the occasion. Privately it was explained to her Royal Highness that the boat might have been blown up had there been any unnecessary delay. Mrs Joseph Tynan took the place of the absent Duchess, and everyone said she filled it very acceptably. "Tho British Navy sent a commander and crew for each submarine, and when the first boat made its trial trip a tragedv befell. The tibial trip v>-as ordered bv the British Admiralty to be made secrctly. The course was to Murrav Bay and return. A military patrol boat was not taken into confidence. Its commander thought tho undersea boat rushing towards the Atlantic was a German submarine that had crept in and done damage. He attempted to intercept it. The commander of the submarine s£*v t.hc sudden jvttomut to ba r his course and inferred it must be made bv a hostile ship that had stolen into the St.. Lawrence estuary for the purpose. He drove ahead, raitimed and sunk tho military patrol boatSeveral lives were lost. A Naval Board of Enquiry was held, but there was nothing to do but dismiss the case without, r. finding. "When the tenth and last boat was launched, equipped, tried out and had gone its watery way Joe Tynan took his first big sleep in five months. Then came au invitation to a big banquet at tho mansion of the Governor-General. Ml the high military n"d nava. officials were invited. It was made a great occasion, and before it was over had received honours rarely given to an American captain of industry.