The Underwater Trial of the Submarine
A reporter goes below the surface in a revolutionary new vessel, experiencing the strange sensation of submerged travel through the dark waters of the bay.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The submarine boat is 10 feet long, with 7 feet depth of hold and 8 feet beam. Its interior arrangements are not unlike those of other boats. The boat is operated without the use of the rudder, having a mechanical steering device which the pilot operates. The submarine is entirely submerged with the exception of the two lamps. The pilot stated he was the only man on board who could see, although the reporter was in the cradle. 'Give her some steam,' said the pilot. Another motion of the engine gear and the boat darted ahead at a rate of eight miles an hour. Then the pilot grasped the lever controlling the horizontal rudder and gave it a pull. A slight pitch forward was the sensation. The boat was taking a downward plunge. The hatch, the light shining through the glass in the pilotage, grew dim and went out. Only the candles lit up the interior and threw fantastic shadows of engine pipes and of the deadly torpedo machinery upon the side walls of the boat.
“The light shining through the glass in the pilotage grew dim and went out. Only the candles lit up the interior.”
Long before the modern submarine fleet became a staple of Puget Sound defense, inventors were experimenting with these 'cradle' vessels in Seattle’s harbor. The obsession with speed and stealth in naval technology remains a constant, though we now trade candle-lit hulls for sophisticated, nuclear-powered sonar arrays.
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