Submarine Appliances And Their Uses
Deep Sea Diving, &c., &c.

THE QUESTION OF LIFE-SAVING DEVICES IN SUBMARINE BOATS AND SOME CONSIDERATIONS AFFECTING IT.* During the last few years considerable attention has been given to the question of affording the crews of submarine vessels some chance of saving their lives in the event of a serious accident to their craft, and everyone will agree that the reasons for supplying surface vessels with lifeboats, rafts, etc., should apply with equal force to underwater ships. Unfortunately, however, the problem is a very difficult one to solve on account of the natural difficulties which preclude the employment of the well-known life-saving devices in use on the surface. It should be here stated that there is no difficulty in constructing submarines that would be safe under almost any conditions, but such a vessel would be so ham- pered by her safety devices as to have little or no military efficiency, and, since sub- marines are at present only built for fighting, such a vessel does not enter into serious consideration. In studying this question it is essential that the salvage of the submarine and the saving of the lives of her crew, after accident, should be dealt with separately. In- evitable delays in the arrival of the salvage vessel, tind in getting purchases on, con- ditions of tide, weather, etc., render it almost certain that a submarine cannot be raised in time to save life. The saving of life must be the first consideration; the salving of materiel should be left to those who carry out such work with the aid of suitable vessels and appliances. There are some elementary facts in connection with this subject that are not always thoroughly understood. First of all, submarines navigate below the surface of the sea with a small re- serve of positive buoyancy, so that any accident to their machinery, rudders, etc., simply necessitates an involuntary return to the surface, and, in war time, possible capture, but not loss of life. Further, the means provided in all submarines for expelling water by means of compressed air, electric or hand pumps, etc., allow for any small leakage of water to be dealt with, so that the only conditions under which one can imagine a submarine unable to rise must be such as to have involved a large and sudden loss of buoyancy due to an inrush of water into the hull from some cause or other. * Copyright by R. H. Davis in the U.S.A. CO