Chapter III: Experiences of Pioneer Inventors of the Submarine (2)

"One morning, on going down to board the boat, I was surprised to
find no boat there. I was puzzled for a minute, but, on inquiry of
the bystanders, I found that my engineer, Richards, had decided
to take the boat out for a run by himself. He had proceeded down
stream, but that was about all the witnesses could tell me. I
therefore walked along the wharves until I came to a crowd of men
standing on a pier and pointing out into the river. My attention
was called to a point on the surface about two hundred yards off
the pier head. There a great deal of air was coming to the surface
in countless little bubbles. The man told me that the _Irish Ram_
had just gone down there, owing to the fact that the conning tower
was open when it passed close to a barge and tug. The wash from
the tug passed over the little boat, flooded the hatch, and came
near catching Richards below. He happened to be just below the
hatch, however, and was blown out by the escaping air when the boat
went down. He floundered around in the water for a few minutes and
was finally picked up by the crew of the tug. A few minutes later
Richards appeared, still a bit pale from his rather startling
experience. It cost my backers about $3000 to raise the boat and
put her in shape again.

"The final history of the boat is told in a few words. She was
taken one night from her slip in the 'Gap' and towed to New Haven,
Connecticut. During the trip she was in charge of Breslin, one of
the trustees of the fund. I received no notice of the contemplated
move then, nor was I notified after. I am told that when they
arrived in New Haven they attempted to make dives, but handled
the boat so awkwardly that the harbor master decided that she
constituted a 'menace to navigation' and demanded a bond if any
further trials were to be made. As a result she was hauled out
of the water on the property of Reynolds, another member of the
committee, and there she still is. There is also a rumor that they
have tried to sell her to the Russian Government, but failed, as on
investigation the prospective buyers found that title to her was
not clear.

"After the _Ram_ was taken from me, I had no means of experimenting
further or building another boat. After a time I secured a position
with the Pneumatic Gun Company as a draughtsman. While employed
there I managed to interest some members of the company and some
friends of theirs in a design that I had drawn immediately after
the loss of the _Ram_. I allowed these men to examine my plans,
and they, approving of them, set about to organize a company, known
as the Nautilus Submarine Boat Company.

"During the organizing of the company I became acquainted with
Captain Zalinski, U. S. A., an expert on heavy artillery. Through
Captain Zalinski I met many influential men, who not only helped me
with the project in hand at the time, but were largely instrumental
in having my boat adopted by the United States Navy.

"At the suggestion of Captain Zalinski the boat was built at Fort
Hamilton, as he was stationed there at the time, and, being on the
army active list, could not be away from his post of duty. During
the time of her construction everything was under his supervision.
The boat was fifty feet long, six feet beam, and the hull was
constructed of wood. In 1886 the boat was launched. The launching
ways ran down from the fort wall to the water's edge. This part of
the program was in the hands of a young engineer who had either an
insufficient knowledge of the subject or lacked the ability to put
his knowledge to practical use. The result was, that when the heavy
boat started down the launching ways they suddenly collapsed and
she crashed into some piling near the water's edge, tearing out the
greater part of her side and bottom.

"On investigation it was found that the cost of repairs would
exceed the amount of money still on hand in the company's treasury.
Accordingly the wrecked boat was broken up where she lay, the
engine and fittings removed and sold, and the proceeds used to
partly reimburse the stockholders for the money they had invested.
This accident discouraged my company from any further attempts at
submarine construction. Had this boat been successful, submarines
would have become an accepted success years before they did. This
unfortunate incident held me back at least ten years, as it was
that long before I was able to secure backing to construct another
boat.

"About this time the United States Navy Department was mildly
interested in the performances of submarines in France, where
they had attained some slight degree of success. The designs for
these boats, I am sure, were based on certain fundamental points
of my _Fenian Ram_ design. As I have said previously, there were a
number of foreign officers present at Delamater's Yard from 1879
to 1881, while the boat was in course of construction, and it is
hardly to be expected that they failed to take notes. However, the
knowledge they secured did them very little good, because, while
they secured a lot of valuable data, their inexperience caused them
to disregard the most vital points, with the result that their
boats never attained any degree of success. However, I do not wish
to convey the impression that the United States Navy Department
was at this time considering building submarines as the results of
the French experiments; far from it. Had it not been informed of
the success of my _Fenian Ram_, which was far more interesting and
wonderful than anything the French had done, and still remained
unconvinced? I was totally sick and disgusted with its actions, and
was seriously tempted to abandon all further attempts to convince
and awake it from its lethargy. About this time I wrote an article,
"Can New York be Bombarded?" with the intention of bringing before
the public the pitiable condition of our fleet and coast defences,
and showing how a few submarines would place us in a position to
ward off an enemy's attack from mostly any point on our coast as
effectively as if we had an adequate shore defence and a fleet
equal to Great Britain's."

The article referred to treats of other types of ships. This is not of interest now, but we quote what he says concerning

"THE SUBMARINE, OR DIVING BOAT

"This boat has a speed of eight miles per hour; she can remain
under water for two days, or longer, without having any connection
with the surface. She can be steered by compass when under water,
and her course may be laid and corrected without obliging her to
remain more than a few moments on the surface. This can be done
without ever appearing over water. She can move at any required
depth, and is more thoroughly under control when completely
submerged than when on the surface. Her horizontal and vertical
motions are controlled automatically or by the pilot.

"The torpedo, carrying a one-hundred-pound charge, can be projected
in a straight line to a distance of eighty or ninety feet,
according to the power employed in expelling it. The method of
attack will probably be as follows: The diving boat, with only her
turret above water, moves toward the ship. When she gets so close
that her presence may be discovered, say half a mile, she descends
a few feet under the surface. Once or twice, after the bearing of
the ship is observed by means of a telescope projected for a few
minutes over the water, corrections are made in the course for
deviations owing to currents.

"When near the vessel she goes deeper, so as to bring her stem ten
or fifteen feet beneath the surface. Netting can thus be avoided.
She can now discharge her torpedo, to explode on contact. As soon
as this strikes, the explosion occurs and a large hole is torn in
the ship's side. The ship will now become unmanageable, and with
assistance may be captured. Experience has shown that in a seaway
she rolls or pitches very little, apparently following the wave
slope in large waves. In short, sharp ones, she seems to rise and
fall bodily with very little tendency to pitching.

"A notion seems to prevail that the proper duty of a diving boat
would be to carry a diver, who could come out and fasten a torpedo
to a ship at anchor, then retire into his boat and move away; also,
that it would be useful in placing and removing stationary mines.
It is very evident that if a diving boat can attain a speed of ten
or twelve miles per hour, fire torpedoes at ships moving at full
speed, and keep to sea for days together, her sphere of usefulness
would be greatly extended. In fact, there is no insuperable
objection to the employment of such vessels for coast defence and
operations against ships. Submarine mines are not so effective
against them as vessels on the surface, because they can pass
them unobserved. They can enter a harbor that may be thoroughly
defended, should it be necessary to destroy vessels inside the
defences. If those on the fleet become aware of their presence it
is more than probable, judging from the action of the French fleet
in 1877-78, that the moral effect of the discovery will be that
they will feel convinced of the foolishness of awaiting an attack
when the time so employed may be more wisely expended in moving to
a safe distance, and in getting there at full speed. Thus, in 1886,
did I try to show by comparison the superiority of the submarine
over the torpedo boats and gunboats, the two arms of defence on
which the Navy placed all its confidence at the time."

From the above words concerning John P. Holland's various efforts to secure recognition of his inventions, and his years of strenuous endeavor to devise a weapon capable of providing a means of defence, there is no question but that it is due to his initiative, perseverance, and success that the diving type of boat was ever brought to be manageable and adopted by the United States and England.

Mr. Holland's health broke down in his later years, said to have been caused by the treatment which he received from some of his associates.

The testimony which Mr. Holland leaves among his notes, and the opinion given me by his son, would indicate that his name and services were used to enable others to make large financial gains, and that he himself received little, if any, benefit from his life's work. His son is authority for the statement to me that such competence as he was able to leave for his family was derived from his other business outside of that of his submarine work, and that his connection with submarine matters undoubtedly affected his mind and health in later years and probably shortened his life.

An appeal found among his papers, addressed to the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives under date of February 8, 1906, would appear to bear out this statement. I quote:

"APPEAL OF JOHN P. HOLLAND, INVENTOR OF SUBMARINE
BOATS, TO THE COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS OF THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, NOT TO LEGISLATE IN
THE INTEREST OF THE ELECTRIC BOAT COMPANY'S
MONOPOLY, BUT TO GIVE HIM
A SQUARE DEAL"

38 Newton Street,
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY,
February 8, 1906,

HON. C. E. FOSS, _Chairman Committee on Naval Affairs, House of
Representatives_.

DEAR SIR:

I am the inventor of the Holland submarine boat, now in use in the
United States Navy and in Europe. My old patents, to the number
of about twenty, are owned by the Electric Boat Company. On June
16, 1900, I entered into a contract with that company to serve as
their engineer for five years, dating back to April 1, 1899, and
expiring April 1, 1904. Since the expiration of my contract with
the Electric Boat Company I have devoted myself to remedying the
defects in my old inventions, and perfecting designs by which the
low speed of the present Holland boats can be increased three or
four times. Having perfected these inventions until I was sure I
could obtain about 25 knots per hour submerged, and after making
numerous other alterations, greatly improving the efficiency
over my submarine boats now in use in the Navy, I procured the
organization of a company, "John P. Holland's Submarine Boat
Company," May 18, 1905, with sufficient capital to build a boat
under my new plans and inventions, and was about to start to work,
when the Electric Boat Company filed a suit against me in the Court
of Chancery of New Jersey, applying for an injunction, and claiming
substantially that I had agreed to assign to them all my inventions
and patents during the term of my natural life. Two other suits
have been started, one against my new company in the United States
Circuit Court to enjoin the use of the name "Holland"; the other
against me personally, alleging a verbal contract never to compete
with the Electric Boat Company, was commenced in the New Jersey
Court of Chancery. My contract with the Electric Boat Company to
act as their engineer, and to give them my patents and inventions,
was for the five years during which I acted as engineer, and no
longer, and expired April 1, 1904, as stated above.

These suits have had the effect of frightening off the capital that
I had enlisted, and I have not as yet been able to get the capital
to build my new boat, by reason of these suits. The only object of
these suits was to prevent me from building a boat and going into
competition before the Navy Department with the submarine boats now
being built by the Electric Boat Company under my old patents.

The Electric Boat Company makes the allegation in their last bill
of complaint that by threatening to discharge me from their employ
and break their contract with me and stop my salary, that I agreed
to a contract which prevents me from using my brains and inventive
talent in building submarine boats for the balance of my life. This
allegation is absolutely false, even though under affidavit by Mr.
Rice, and would be, if true, most inequitable on account of duress
and on account of want of consideration. This alleged agreement
was not reduced to writing; the only evidence the Court has is the
sworn statement of Mr. Rice; and when the fact is considered that
Mr. Rice, formerly a professor of law at Columbia University, and
having the assistance of Mr. Frost, also a lawyer, failed to have
such an important agreement reduced to writing and signed by me,
the whole proposition appears ridiculous and silly. The further
fact that this bill of complaint containing these allegations, has
been printed and distributed at the Capitol would seem to indicate
that the principal object of this suit is to frighten away the
capital I had enlisted, and prevent the consideration of my new
patents and claims by your honorable committee.

My attention has been called to the bill (H.R. 10070), entitled "A
Bill to Increase the Efficiency of the Navy." It must be apparent
to every member of your committee that this bill is drawn solely in
the interest of the Electric Boat Company monopoly. The clause in
it that "The Secretary of the Navy shall purchase or contract for
said submarine boats within four months of the completion of the
contract trials of the submarine boats now building for the Navy"
is against all public interest, and is something extremely unusual.
If the Electric Boat Company should not complete its contract
for a year or two years or never, the whole business of the Navy
Department in this line would be held up. The bill excludes me,
the inventor of the Holland boats and who constructed and built
the original _Holland_, which is now in the service of the Navy,
from submitting my plans and models to the Navy Department for
consideration, for it would be useless to do so if the Secretary
is deprived, by the proposed law suggested by the Electric Boat
Company, from adopting them, though considering them superior in
efficiency and economy to the plans upon which the present boats
are being built.

I have recently had my models tested in the government tanks at the
Navy Yard in Washington by the United States officers in charge,
and their official reports will show that I can get a guaranteed
speed of 22 knots per hour submerged, and the same speed on the
surface, and this speed can be obtained in vessels of the same
or greater tonnage as those now being built by the Electric Boat
Company.

I hardly think, Mr. Chairman, that your committee, in making an
appropriation for submarine boats, will exclude the Navy Department
from any consideration of the plans made by me when I say to you
that these plans have the approval of some of the most expert
officers in the Navy on the question of submarine boats, and that
the boats can be built at one-third less than is now being paid the
Electric Boat Company for boats of two-thirds less submerged and
more than fifty per cent. less surface speed.

If I am prevented by the suits filed against me by the Electric
Boat Company from obtaining capital with which to build my boats,
which will have three times the submerged speed of the present
boats, and a vast improvement in other directions, then I want the
law so framed that I can present a proposition to the Secretary
of the Navy to cause my plans and new inventions to be thoroughly
examined by a board of experts, and if favorably reported on,
that the government may build the same in its yards under my
supervision, and pay me a reasonable royalty. That is all I ask
your committee to do, and to not frame a law that will exclude
me, the inventor of the present submarine boats, from having my
improvements considered by the Secretary of the Navy, and pass one
in the interest of the Electric Boat Company under its monopoly
now of the business of the department under my old and obsolete
patents.

The title of the bill (H.R. 10070) should be: "A Bill to Prevent
the Increase of the Efficiency of the Navy, and Prevent Economy
Being Considered."

If your committee is desirous of increasing the efficiency of
submarine boats for the Navy, and at the same time reduce the cost
to the government at least one-third, if not one-half, of the
prices now being paid for submarine boats, a clause in the Naval
Appropriation Bill on the following lines would effect the object:

"The sum of _________ Dollars is hereby appropriated for submarine
boats, and the Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized to
contract for or purchase or build in a navy yard of the United
States these submarine boats, whichever in his judgment will
increase the efficiency of the Navy and will be in the interest of
economy to the department."

I consider my old patents assigned to the Electric Boat Company as
obsolete; they are ten years behind the age.

I can build in the Navy Yard at Brooklyn boats under my new
patents, designs, and inventions, in six months, and guarantee a
submerged speed of 22 knots per hour.

Admiral Bowles testified before the Senate Committee on Naval
Affairs at its hearing on submarine boats. He was at that time
chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair of the Navy
Department, and his statement at that time is entitled to the
serious consideration of your committee, because it was that of
a government expert, and is true in every respect. This hearing
before the Senate committee is printed and the hearing took place
on May 29, 1902. Admiral Bowles's testimony can be found in Senate
Document 395, 1st Session, 57th Congress, page 82. He said that
the Holland boats ought not to cost more than $89,489, and in this
sum he said he had allowed an ample profit, and in addition had
included $11,000 for experiments and tests. Admiral Bowles is now
president of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, and is building
the submarine boats that the Navy contracted for last year, and
they are now being built under my old plans and patents, so alleged.

If your committee will call upon the present Chief of the Bureau
of Construction and Repairs, he will undoubtedly inform you that
he can build in the Brooklyn Navy Yard my submarine boats as
quickly and as expeditiously as they can be built by the Fore River
Shipbuilding Company.

I am a poor man, while the Electric Boat Company has among its
principal stockholders three or four millionaires, including August
Belmont, Isaac L. Rice, and others. The capital stock of that
company is ten million dollars. They have deprived me, by their
flimsy lawsuit, from getting capital to build a boat under my new
inventions and patents, and are now asking Congress to pass a law
which will prevent the Navy Department from adopting my new plans
and inventions, even should the entire department consider that
they are far superior in every way to the plans now being used by
that department.

I do not believe that your committee will commit itself to this
monopoly which is against the interest of the government.

I am advised by my attorneys that as soon as the suits of the
Electric Boat Company can be reached and tried the Court will
undoubtedly dismiss them, but in the meanwhile they act as an
injunction against me, as they prevent my enlisting capital which
is timid and dreads a lawsuit.

Very respectfully,

Mr. Holland and I worked on entirely different lines in the development of our respective types of boats, he being a consistent advocate of the diving principle. He contended for many years that a submarine boat should be built small in size and with little statical stability, so as to dive quickly, while I have stood for great statical stability and for methods of submerging the vessel bodily on a level keel instead of diving at excessive and dangerous angles. I have never refused to accede to him the credit of having been the man who first made the diving type of submarine practical, and to acknowledge his genius and attention to detail which overcame the difficulties which caused the failure of many of his predecessors who attempted to build boats of the diving type.

He died on August 12, 1914, just at the beginning of the present European war, and consequently did not live to see the fulfilment of his prophecy that the submarine would prove the superior of the battleship if they ever became opponents in actual warfare.

My own experimental work began when I was a mere schoolboy. I had become interested in the submarine by reading Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." Shortly afterward I took up the study of natural physics and became interested in the use of the diving bell. Being an excellent swimmer and fond of boats, I spent most of my vacation times on or about the water. I remember building a canvas canoe from a description published in _Golden Days_. This canoe was very "cranky," being only about eighteen inches wide and the sides eighteen inches high. The only way I could learn to sit in the canvas canoe was by ballasting her with pig iron and gradually reducing the ballast as I became more expert, until finally I learned how to keep an equilibrium and maintain the canoe upright. There was only one other boy I remember in the village of Toms River, where I lived at that time, who could ride this canoe, consequently some of the boat men, when they saw it one day drifting bottom side up down the river, came to the conclusion that I had been dumped out and drowned. When they came alongside and righted the canoe they were much surprised to find me in it. I had turned the canoe upside down and crawled up into it, the air pressure keeping the water from rising into it. I had crawled in there for the purpose of finding out how long I could live on the volume of air contained within the canoe; in the meantime it was drifting down the river.

Strange to say, the design of the submarine boat which I made at that time, when I was only about fourteen years of age, contained most of the elements which are being used successfully in the Lake type of boat to-day: the use of the hydroplanes for control of depth, bottom wheels for navigation over the bottom, and a diving compartment with an air-lock so that the crew could enter or leave the vessel when submerged. These plans were shown to my father at that time, who rather discouraged me in the matter on the ground that submarine navigation was something that great engineers had given a lot of attention to, and that I had better give more attention to my regular school studies than to fooling around with experiments of that nature--which was good advice.

Consequently I did nothing further in the matter until 1892, when my attention was called to an advertisement of the United States Government for inventors to submit designs of submarines to the Navy Department. Then I prepared plans which, in my judgment, would meet the Department's requirements. I was still a youngster, and knew nothing about the difficulties met by outsiders in getting hearings before government officials in Washington. On the appointed day, in June, 1893, on which the bids were to be opened I appeared in Washington with my plans and specifications under my arm, and was directed to the room adjoining the Secretary's office, where a large number of people were assembled. At this time I knew nothing of anyone else's experiments in submarines, and thought that I was the first and only one. I was consequently much disturbed to see so many people present. I sat down on a lounge, and a young man a little older than myself sat down on the lounge alongside of me and said to me, "Well, I suppose you are here on the same errand as the rest of us; I see you have some plans, and I suppose you have designs of a submarine boat which you are going to submit." I said, "Yes, and I guess there are going to be a good many plans submitted, judging by the number of people who are here." The gentleman then said, "No, I only know of two others who are going to submit plans: there is Mr. J. P. Holland, the gentleman standing over there, and my father, Mr. George F. Baker, of Chicago."

He then explained that he was the son of Mr. Baker, the man who had built the Baker boat, and whose experimental work was responsible for the appropriation of $200,000 by the government for building a submarine. I then said to him, "Well, then, who are all these other gentlemen present? "He knew most of them and obligingly pointed them out to me, saying, "There is Senator So-and-so and Congressman So-and-so, and Mr. So-and-so the great lawyer," etc. I then said to myself, "Well, Lakey, it looks as though you were not going to have much of a show here." I submitted my plans and specifications, however, and returned to Baltimore and to my other business. I was much surprised, therefore, to receive, some time afterward, a telegram from the editor of the _New York Tribune_, a Mr. Hall, stating that he had received information from Washington that my plans were looked upon most favorably by the majority of the Naval Board and that they were going to adopt my type of boat. He asked for an interview and a description of the boat. I did not go over to Washington, expecting to receive notice in good time that the award had been granted--which is proof positive that I was still young and ignorant. Nothing further was heard of the matter until I saw a notice in the paper that it had been decided not to build any submarines at that time, and that the matter had been postponed indefinitely. Some years afterward I met the late Admiral Mathews, and he informed me then that he had been a member of the board, and that four of the five members of that board were in favor of adopting my type of boat and of having the government start the development of a submarine on those lines, but that the constructor of the board opposed it on the grounds that when the boat was running on the bottom on wheels she might run off from a precipice and go down head first, and reach so great a depth as to be crushed, evidently not realizing that her great static stability and the use of her hydroplanes would prevent this from happening. Anyway, they did not arrive at a conclusion, and any action was postponed for the time being.

In the meantime Mr. George F. Baker, who had moved to Washington in the full expectation of getting the contract, had died, and the Holland Torpedo Boat Company had offered to build, under guarantee of its performance, a boat to meet the department's desires. As I had no company back of me, and, being only a youngster, was without capital of my own, the department decided it was better for them to place a contract under a definite guarantee of performance than to undertake to develop a submarine themselves. I did not name any price for building the boat at the time I submitted my plans, but expressed the desire to coöperate with the government in any way that they wished. My youthful hopes at that time were that if they considered my general plans worthy of adoption I should be taken into the navy and given some sort of a commission to work out the details of the boat. When I saw some mention in the paper that the matter was to come up for consideration again, I did, however, make a visit to the Navy Department, and assuming, from my observation of the Senators, Congressmen, and representative men who were present at the time of the first opening of the bids, that it was necessary to have some sort of a standing, I secured a letter of introduction from the governor of my native state, New Jersey, who at that time was Mr. Leon Abbott, introducing me to the gentleman who at that time was acting Secretary of the Navy, for the purpose of finding out, if possible, whether I had any chances, and the proper procedure to pursue in getting further consideration of my invention. Presenting myself in the Secretary's office, I sent in my letter of introduction, and the word came back that the Secretary would see me in a few minutes. I waited in the ante-room for a couple of hours, but no word came from the Secretary. Finally he appeared in the doorway and said, "Now, gentlemen, I am going to my lunch, and will be back at half-past two." I Went out to my lunch and was back in the waiting room a little before half-past two, shortly after which the Secretary came into the room, passed around, shook hands with every one, and talked a minute or two with some of his visitors. When he came to me he shook my hand, and I explained to him that I had sent in a letter from Governor Abbott and had been awaiting an opportunity to see him. His reply was, "I will see you in a few minutes." He returned to his office; at four o'clock he appeared at the door again and said, "Gentlemen, I will not be able to see any of you again to-day, as I must now sign my mail."

I was on hand again the following morning, and notified the colored man that I was still waiting for the interview which the Secretary had promised me. The word came back that he would see me in a few minutes. I waited all the morning; the noon hour came, and the Secretary then stated that he was going out to lunch and would be back at half-past two. Every one else who had appeared in the morning the day before had been granted his interview and a new crowd was waiting. I was the only chap who had "stood pat." By this time I was pretty much disgusted. As I went out into the hall the Secretary came out of his door and, putting his hand on my shoulder, said, "I am sorry to have kept you waiting, but as soon as I have finished my lunch I will take up your matter." You may be sure I was on hand, and after he returned he sent for me. He called a colored man and said, "I want you to take this young man down to Captain Sampson (afterward Admiral Sampson, who was at that time head of the Bureau of Ordnance), and tell Captain Sampson that Mr. Lake comes with a letter of introduction from the governor of my state, and I want him to listen to what he has to say about submarine boats, and report to me." This colored man, instead of taking me to Captain Sampson, turned me over to another colored man, and did not report the message which the Secretary had given him. This second colored man took me to Captain Sampson's clerk, and finally I was ushered into the Captain's presence and started to tell him about my boat and its possibilities. He immediately assumed a bored expression, turned his back to me, put his feet up on a chair, and said, "Well, go ahead, but make it brief." I admit that I was pretty much tongue-tied by this time, and I do not flatter myself that I impressed him in the least degree, as his manner had the effect of a cold douche upon my enthusiasm. I remember that as I walked out of the Navy Department I vowed never to return until I was sent for, and I never did.

I now started making experiments on my own account, and built the _Argonaut, Jr._, and later the _Argonaut_; and I did not return to Washington until I was sent for by a telegram from the late Senator Hale, at that time chairman of the Senate Navy Committee, asking me to come to Washington and submit a proposition for building submarine boats for the United States Government. I was never able to account for my treatment in Washington until some time afterward, when I had an office in New York. The former Acting Secretary had at this time left the Navy Department and was practising his profession of law in New York, where I believe he is still engaged.

Having some legal business at that time which I thought he might be able to handle because of his experience in the Navy Department, I called upon him in regard to it. He stated that, as he was then free, he could handle it for me, and when I recalled my visit to him when he was Secretary of the Navy he said he remembered it very well. He laughingly remarked that I may have thought him a little slow in receiving me at that time; and then explained that, previous to his accepting the portfolio as assistant secretary of the navy, he had been the attorney for a rival submarine boat company; that he knew all about their boats, and the fact that they had expended large sums of money in the development of submarines; and that, although he had resigned as attorney for the company before he became acting secretary, perhaps his former association with them had led him to give less consideration to my proposition than he otherwise might have done.

As I believed the submarine to have great possibilities commercially as well as for war, I gave up my other business and came to New York, opened an office in the old Cheeseborough Building, and tried to secure capital to build a commercial submarine. I advertised in the papers and visited a number of capitalists in the effort to interest them, but usually, after obtaining an interview, as soon as I asserted that it was possible to navigate over the bottom of the ocean as readily as it was over the land, and that when on the bottom I could open a door in the boat but that no water would come in; and, further, that divers could very readily pass in and out of this open door, I observed in most cases a look of dread in their eyes and their hands would slide over and push a button. An attendant immediately came to the door and reminded Mr. "Blank," whoever he might be, that he had a very important engagement or that some other visitor was waiting to see him. Unfortunately for me, this was about the time that a madman had attempted to bomb Russell Sage in his office.

The result was, that after spending six months and all of my savings I had not raised a dollar. I then decided that it was necessary to get some engineer of national prominence to endorse my project, so I went to Charles H. Haswell, author of "Haswell's Handbook," and former chief engineer of the United States Navy, and explained to him that I wanted him to give me a professional opinion on the practicability of my boat. I offered to submit him my plans of the boat--of which I also had a model in the tank of water in the Cheeseborough Building which I would like him to see, as I thus would be better able to explain to him its method of navigating on the surface and submerging beneath the surface and on the bottom itself. And I then asked him how much he would charge me. He stated that he should want $1500 for the investigation and opinion. By this time I had expended my savings and hardly had $15--let alone $1500. I explained the situation frankly to him, and he said, "Well, I will go down and look it over and give you a report anyhow, and you can repay me at some future time when you are able." He did so, and gave me a very excellent endorsement, but I found that even his endorsement was not sufficient to induce capitalists to invest their hard-earned money in any such crazy scheme as mine appeared to them. I finally decided to build a small experimental boat myself to demonstrate the two principal features over which almost every one seemed to be sceptical. These were the ability to navigate over the bottom of the ocean and the ability to enter and leave the boat while submerged without any water coming in and foundering her. I therefore gave up my office and moved down to Atlantic Highlands, where, with the financial assistance of my uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. S. T. Champion, I was able to build the _Argonaut, Jr._ She was built of yellow pine planking, double thick, lined with canvas laid between the double layers of planking, the outer seams caulked and payed. She was a flat-sided affair and would not stand great external pressure. She was propelled when on the bottom by a man turning a crank on the inside. Our compressed-air reservoir was a soda-water fountain tank. The compressed-air pump was a plumber's hand-pump, by which means we were able to compress the air in the tanks to a pressure of about one hundred pounds per square inch.

My diving suit I built myself by shaping iron in the form of an open helmet, which extended down as far as my breast; this I covered with painted canvas. I used the dead-light from a yacht's cabin as my eyeglass in front of the helmet. I tied sash weights to my legs to hold me down on the bottom when walking in the vicinity of the boat. A cousin, B. F. Champion, accompanied me on my first submerged run with the _Argonaut_, which was in Blackfish Hole in the Shrewsbury River. We submerged the boat alongside of a dock and started across stream in the river. The first time we went under water a stream of water came through a bolt-hole which had not been plugged and struck "Bart" on the back of the neck. He said, "Ugh!" and made a dive. The _Argonaut_ had a little port-hole in one end about six inches in diameter, and "Bart" said afterward, "I made a dive for that port-hole, but came to the conclusion that I could not get through, so I stopped." It was a simple matter, however, to drive a plug in and stop the water from coming in. On our first trip we ran across the river and back, and, although there was a strong current in the river, she "backed" right back to her starting place, having rested on the bottom firmly enough to prevent the current from carrying her down stream.

A small experimental boat built by the author to demonstrate the practicability of wheeling over the bottom and of sending divers out from the boat without water entering the vessel. She was propelled by hand over the waterbed; she had an air lock and diver's compartment which permitted egress and ingress of a diver when submerged.]

Later we took the boat up to Atlantic Highlands and had a lot of fun running around on the bottom of New York Bay picking up clams and oysters, etc. We finally decided to organize a company and build a larger boat; so one day we invited the mayor of Atlantic Highlands, the president of the bank, and a number of other prominent people of the little community to witness our trials. A number of the men wrote their names on a shingle, which was tied to a sash weight and then thrown off the end of the Atlantic Highlands pier in about sixteen feet of water. My cousin and I got into the boat, submerged her, wheeled her forward to where the sash weight had been thrown overboard, picked it up, and had it back on the dock again in five minutes.

The performance of the _Argonaut, Jr._, becoming known, she received no little newspaper notoriety. In looking over my old clippings I find that there was a vein of scepticism and sarcasm running through most of these early accounts of her performance. I just quote briefly from one of the papers describing her, the _New York Herald_, of January 8, 1895:

THIS BOAT CRAWLS ALONG THE BOTTOM. AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT IT WAS TO
DO, BUT IT ESCAPES AND ASTONISHES FOLKS IN OCEANIC, N. J.

DRIFTS UP THE SHREWSBURY

IT WILL CRAWL FIVE MILES WITHOUT COMING UP TO BREATHE WHEN INVENTOR
LAKE COMPLETES IT. FUN FOR MERRY MERMEN.

"RED BANK, N. J., Jan. 8, 1895.--Strange things come in with the
tide in the ungodly hours of the night, and in the stillness of the
night strange things follow them, but the strange thing which came
up the North Shrewsbury a day or two ago, and which lies high and
dry on Barley Point, is a 'new one' on the good folk of Oceanic.
Now that they have fairly discovered it, they are sorry that it
didn't wobble ashore in the summer, when Normandie-by-the-Sea
below the Point is crowded with curious persons from the city. Any
enterprising Oceanic man might have fenced in the queer thing and
charged every one a quarter to see it."

The few substantial persons who had witnessed the _Argonaut's_ experiments provided the capital for the construction of the _Argonaut First_ and enabled me to complete her, and she was launched on August 17, 1897. I had called the little experimental boat the _Argonaut, Jr._, because it was born before its mother, although the mother (the _Argonaut First_) had been conceived and designed first. I did not have sufficient capital to go ahead with her construction, and even the design of the _Argonaut_ itself was cut down to correspond to the size of the subscriptions that we had been able to secure.

The raising of capital to most inventors is a serious problem; it has always been so with me. I have always been interested in mechanical accomplishments, but always dreaded the necessity of trying to raise capital to carry on those experiments. I have never valued money for itself or felt the need of it except when I did not have it. I think this is the case with most inventors, which is the reason why so many of them go to unscrupulous promoters who rob them of their inventions, or else often tie them up so that they themselves are incapable of continuing their development work.

Having made an initial success by my experiments, like most unsophisticated inventors I also fell into the hands of a promoter of this type. He was introduced to me by an officer of a bank, and, after an investigation of my project, claimed that he could raise all the money necessary to float a project of this kind, which in his judgment had the greatest possibilities of anything he had ever learned of. He said that his friends, the Vanderbilts, "Jack" Astor, and the Goulds, would immediately subscribe large sums upon his submitting the proposition to them. He secured possession of my plans, and took me to his house, which was a handsome brownstone structure standing in beautiful grounds. Another evidence of wealth was that he always had a smart carriage with liveried coachman waiting for him at our various conferences, held frequently in the directors' room of the bank. He had himself made the general manager, myself the president, and Hon. William T. Malster, of Baltimore, the treasurer of the company. At his suggestion we sent out a notification to our subscribers that twenty-five per cent. of their subscriptions was due and payable. Mr. Malster was president of the Columbia Dry Dock and Iron Works, Baltimore, the company with which we had placed the contract for building the _Argonaut_, and as he was a Baltimorean he had kindly consented to serve as treasurer of my company. Everything now looked rosy, and I gave my attention to preparing the detailed plans of the _Argonaut_. One day the general manager came into the room and said, "Now I have arranged for the sale of $100,000 worth of our stock." (He was to get a certain percentage of the stock for selling it to his friends, the Astors, Goulds, etc.) "So," he continued, "I want you to go to Baltimore and get Mr. Malster to sign up a lot of this stock so that we can make immediate delivery of it and get the money, and it would also be advisable for you to have Mr. Malster sign some checks in blank," the checks of the company requiring the signatures of both president and treasurer.

I visited Baltimore and explained to Mr. Malster what our general manager told me, and he said, "Well, Simon, you are a young man, and I think an honest one, and I am willing to trust you. I will sign these certificates, but don't you let them go out of your hands or sign them yourself until you have some definite written obligations on the part of those who are going to purchase this stock that they will pay for it." I returned to New York and told Mr. H---- that I had the certificates, etc., signed, and asked him when he would be ready to deliver the money and receive the stock. He stated that his friend "Jack" Astor was then out of town and he wanted him to be on the list first and would wait until he returned. He said, "I will see him at the first opportunity, but in the meantime you had better sign these certificates in blank and leave them with me, as I will have to fill out the names as he wants them, and I have had to agree to give him the biggest part of my commission to get it started." At the same time he told me that he would like to have a loan of a couple of thousand dollars for a few days (this we had on deposit there in the bank in the company's name). He said, as I had Mr. Malster's signature, I could easily make him the loan and he would return it soon, for he had a large piece of property which he had arranged the sale of, but there were some back taxes due on it which he wanted to clear off before turning over the deed. I told him that I could not make a loan of the company's money. He then became very angry and said, "Well, if I did not trust him to that extent he would not go to his friends or dispose of the stock." He was a very pompous individual, wore gold eyeglasses, and had a large acquaintance, formerly having been a business man of standing.

The fact that he had been introduced to me by an official of the bank led me to investigate him no further, but when he attempted to get the company's funds and its stock in blank I started an investigation, and found that the house that he was living in, and the horses and carriages, had been secured from another unsuspecting individual much older than myself in much the same manner. This individual had been in business for many years, nevertheless the promoter induced him to reorganize his successful business on a much larger capitalization. The promoter made an agreement with this man to sell the stock of the new company, and promised he would interest his friends, the Astors, Goulds, and Vanderbilts. As a partial consideration for this he was to receive this mans beautiful home and a certain percentage of the stock. The man's wife having died, he did not care to live longer in the house, so he agreed that the house should be given as a part consideration, and as a guarantee of his delivery of the house and stock as a part consideration on this promoter's agreement to float the stock of the much larger capitalized new company, he had placed both the controlling stock of the company and the house in escrow, and had turned the possession of the house over to this promoter, who was now our general manager, with the deeds of same to be held in escrow and not to be finally recorded until the Goulds, Vanderbilts, Astors, etc., had come into the new company. Hard times occurred about this time, so he claimed, which prevented promised capitalists from coming in, but, as Mr. H---- held the control of the company by holding the control of the stock, he had himself elected an officer of the company at a handsome salary and still held possession of this most beautiful home without ever having paid a dollar. I merely recite this as a warning to inventors to look out for the plausible New York promoter. I also discovered that Mr. H---- had made application for patents, my own patents not yet having been issued, with the idea of getting me into interference in the Patent Office, and it was necessary for us to threaten him with arrest and bring a suit against both himself and the cashier--whom we now learned had known of his previous experiences and expected to share in his profits this time--in order to get a legal release so that we could proceed with the work.