SUBMARINE MINERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1904, Page 6

SUBMARINE MINERS.

THE VOLUNTEERS IN* CAMP. The defenco work of the Garrison Artillery, both permanent men and volunteers, which has been the subject of late of several notices in the Post, is not conplete without the assistance of tho Submarino Minors. The mine-fields and the searchlight are, especially in these days of night attacks, invaluable allies to forts and guns, and nothing in our defences can De held to be more important. Submarine miners perhaps have not so much to show tho public as have Garri- . son Artillery. Good shooting with live ammunition, even at £5 a round, is occasionally possiolo to the Naval Volunteers, and affords a tangible object-lesson for the public mind. But expense is a bar to any actual exhibitions of the hoisting power of guncotton when applied to vessels; and the Submarine Volunteers aro consequently not so well able to bring home to the casual observer the effectiveness of their concealed weapons. Any doubt on this point will, however, be^ removed if any one cares to look into the work that the Wellington Submarine Miners carry out in their annual camp. The corps is an old one among volunteer companies. Its progress in the last few years might have been greater than it has Deen, but it is now distinctly on the up grade. The old complaint was that the course was too much confined to rope and cable work ; consequently many Submarines drifted into Garrison Artillery (Navals). Nowadays the instruction — which is imparted by the permanent men — has been extended to many branches of electrical work, of great value in outeide channels as well as in submarine mining There is thus' provided a double incentive of interest and profit. Also, the corps has a new captain with high qualifications, in Mr. W. H. Morton, City Engineer. Mr. Morton has had experience in Victoria in field and garrison artillery; and though he is new to submarine niiniug, his artillery aud engineering qiinhhcutions, render him obviously., a valuable officer. The other company officers are Lieutenants Price and Palmer, and they are well backed up by Sergeant-Major Baker and the non-coms. The corps now musters over sixty in camp at Shelly Lay. _ There aro vacancies for recruits, especially of the heavier type, • which will, no doubt, be filled. It may be looked forward to that the Submarine Miners will fill their important place wit_ credit. Submarine mining is divided into three divisions— submarine miners, who lay out the mines ; the testing division, who make up the charges for the mines, test all apparatus, and detect any accident that may happen to the mines when laid ; <md those who have charge of electric lighting and search-lights. In camp, a Post reporter found work m progress in all these departments. Kucent addition of recruits has necessitated a great deal of primary instruction hiing given in the present camp ; other squads are well advanced. The permanent men who act as instructors are the old Torpedo Corps, now designated, in the Permanent Force, the Royal New Zealand Engineers, under Lieut. Symons. The non-comniiSisioned officers, ieaded by Sergt.-Major Parrell, give a lot of time and attention to the Volunteers. The first squad noticed was a batch of reciuits, engaged in the knotting and splicing of ropes, the ABC of the course. Then there was a s>quad jointing and crowning cables. The jointing consists of connecting the cable — by means of indiarubber tape and tubing rendered impervious to water with rubbei solution— 'With the wire that leads to the detonator. The joint is then pushed inside the case containing the mine, and is secured with a grip. The crown is a bulge made in the outer strands of the cable, at a joint inside the .grip, so that that joint cannot slip out through the grip into the water. Thus secured in the mine case, the cable mns, through junction boxes, to the test room. Supposo the mine is an "electric contact." It will be secured to the bottom ■with, tripping chains, so as to float, by its, own 'ouoyancy, at v depth of, say, 15ft to 25ft from the surface. The mine is a globular iron case .containing wet guncotton, &ay 1001b. The cable, which is\ connected with the testroom on shor^ leads into the mine case .to a watertight detonator and primer, consisting of fulminate of mercury and about ,41b of dry guncotton, which is in contact with the main charge. By electric circuit through the copper core of the cable the mine may be fired from the testroom. But when it is in the state known as "active," firing from the testroom may be done without. When a vessel strikes the mine, impact itself sets up a circuit that fires the charge. If anything should, however, go wrong with the mine so as to impair its efficiency, such as water getting into it, the electrical apparatus in the teatioom will detect the defect. As the buoyant electric contact mine will blow up either friend or foe, a passage must be left for friendly ships. To protect this passage against the enemy, "ob- , servation mines" are secured to the bottom, say at a depth of 35ft. They are out of reach of impact, and, in order to be effective at that depth, carry a much heavier charge of guncotton than' is put in electric contacts. The observation mine must,' of course, be fired from the testroom, at the time when the enemy is observed, with the aid" of a Tangcfinder, to be over the mine. Suppose the attacking fleet makes a dash by night. There are two seurchlights — the wandering beam and the fixed beam. The wanderer sweeps here and there till he has picked up the intruders for the benefit of the guns at the fort. The fixed beam is permanently adjusted I to command the minefield, and show when it is time to explode mines. On a foggy night the attacking whips may i elude the wandering searchlight. There is considered to be less chance of their t passing the fixed beam unobserved. The interdependence of the three divisions of submarine mining, and also of guns>, mine-field, and searchlight, is now patent./ A testing squad was engaged in the delicate work of charging an electric contact mine, to carry 1001b guncotton. This is, of course, only one branch of the' all-important work of testing, the comprehensive nature of which has been touched on. The charge, the mine, and all its parts must be submitted to regulation tests, and the man in the testroom must constantly • feel the pulse of the laid mines. A squad was connecting*oip cables, and another one was being instructed by the Sergeant-Major in the principle, mechanism, and working of the' searchlight. The value of an electric lighting and dynamo course is so evident 'that the point need not be laboured. Signalling, with flags, semaphoie, lamps, and heliograph, is another important branch taken up by the Submarine Miners. There is much more to be told, particularly about the junction boxes through which cables from various mine-groups pass, about disconnecting fuses, etc. But sufficient has been said to give an idea of the practical value of submarine mining as studied by the volunteers. The corps should have a prosperous future.

The members of the Old Wellington Navals' Association are invited to attend the funeral to-morrow morning of the late Mr. W. Warren, who was a member of the Wellington Naval Artillery Volunteers.