Submarine Navigation.

Hastings Standard, Volume V, Issue 1423, 14 January 1901, Page 3

Submarine Navigation.

Mr John P. Holland, the famous inventor of the submarine torpedo boat which be?rs his name, and which has been purchased by the United States Government, is making preparations for one of the mo3t interesting experiments that has ever been made in connection with ocean traffic. It is his intention to attempt to travel 8500 miles nnder the sea. He is making preparations to start out in a new submarine boat he has invented. He will first of all go to Bermuda, thence to Fayal, in the Azores Islands, and then straight on to Lisbon. The plans for the voyage, it is stated, have been very carefully and ihor>iy!;lv prepared, and Mr Holland entertain no fear of failure. The roal object of the trip is to demonstrate the fallacy of the opinion that submarine boats cannot sustain their.- Ues at a great distance from a base of operations ; that tbey are useless as an offensive weapon against a country on the other side of the sea; and that their mission, if they have one at all, is for only coastal defence. Mr Holland also desires to show his boat in foreign harbors to foreign Governments. H? has the utmost confidence in " No. 7," as it is called. Eight other men will be on board. It has been urged against submarine boats that if they were sent very far the crew would not be able to 3tand the confinement. An attempt will be made to show that this also is a fallacy, but, to guarantee the men against any hardship, an extra crew will be carried in a tender which will accompany " No. 7." The inventor, who ha 3 been interviewed on the subject, say 3 that those in the tender will envy him and his crew when storms come on. While they are being knocked about on the surface of the water, he will quietly sink to where everything is still and placid. The little vessel seems to have been fitted up with all possible convenience and modern appliances. The cooking will be dene by electricity, which will also be used for lighting and such heating as is considered necessary. The ventilation, it is said, will be so well provided for that it will be much better than that on the best steamer afloat. The start will be made from the Holland Company's yards in Bayonne, and it is proposed to make the trip next month.