AN UNSINKABLE BOAT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 267, 4 August 1908, Page 8

AN UNSINKABLE BOAT.

SHAPED LIKE AN EGG. One of • the most remarkable boats afloat, the - Uraed, : "from . Bergen, Norway, commanded by Captain 010 Brude, was anchored in the Thames, opposite the Houses of Parliament, in June.- ' . . ■ It.: is. interesting"-for the ' following ' rea-, 'sons:— . i.,. It is . shaped exactly like , an egg..'.; • It is impossible to sink it, short of' smashing it ito pieces.' ' : ;It v cannot' capsizfe.' , ; . It can .weather the .roughest storm without shipping ■ a pint' of water., It can . be l made' airtight, and, if ; subcerged for a -short, time, will rise again like a diving seagull., ■> It is -a, very small vessel, measuring about 14ft.' by 6ft., _ but Captain Brude, with a creiV of;.two friends, has successfully crossed the North Sea in it, completing the journeyfrom Bergen to London in fourteen days. The . boat. has seating . accommodation for about ~twenty-five. people . and may be launched, in' seas in which an ordinary; ship's boat would . not live for a moment. Its sliding keel prevents rolling or drifting. Two manholes give entrance to the in.terior of the/boat from the.top, where.there are a - small railed-ofi deck and a, look-out ,tower. Tho interior is very cosy. Captain Blehr is enthusiastic ' over the boat. .'Jit sails-through-the roughest seas," he remarked, "like a swan. If we left tho manhole open in a hurricane we should not ship' an 9Unce. of water. The average speed of-the.boat is about six knots."