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Predicting Success for the Holland. In a letter to the New York World, Lewis Nixon, builder of the new submarine torpedo boat Holland, which was launched at Eliza- - bethport, N. J., recently, says he is of the opinion that she embodies ideas that will make her the only practical submarine torpedo boat yet created. This vessel, both because of the character of the inventor and the high repute of its constructor, will attract the attention of the whole world of naval enterprise, and the practical tests soon to be made of the vessel will be watched with profound interest. If the Holland proves to be what all appearances seem to warrant the designer in claiming, she is likely to work a revolution in naval warfare. She is presented as a definite solution of the problem of submarine naviga- tion, with a speed of eight knots an hour under water and capable of being submerged and sent beneath the surface in less than oue minute. If these conditions can be accomplished in practical working tests, and if to them can be added the elements of safety for the crew and pre- cision of moyement while under way, the importance of the new craft is almost incalculable. Mr. Nixon says that the Holland possesses one important advan- tage over all others of its class in its facility of movement. "It may be manoeuvred," he says, "so as to resemble a minnow nibbling at a bait. The European boats, none of which have the fighting power of the Holland, are from 150 to 200 feet long. Vessels of this class hav- ing such length are useless for harbor defense work, for they need an ---- - = Se ° FR A W/E a Cay no \ Vata ica 4, hues ARAL, She3 (ye rane | (A oes Rah yun ts AS SERS. BS Se , SS mae COS N eenrigeg L eS aks z aS Ney GE AEC el CO) * yi E reds be CR Wh a AEBS, Vso : s L BOW VIEW SUBMARINE ocean to play in. For submarine work, too, they are unwieldy. A slightly too great movement of the horizontal rudders used in sinking the boat beneath the surface would throw such long vessels against the sea's bottom, while so large a mass moving on the surface (as would be necessary when on soundings) would present an easy mark to the enemy. The small but powerful Holland, however, can swim ina _ pond, and in water deep enough to float a battleship can play like a porpoise or steal upon its prey like a shark."' This vessel was not constructed for the navy, as might have been supposed, but to the order of her inventor. Another and a much larger boat of the same type is being built for the government at Balti- more, and it is expected that she will be completed in October. The government appropriated $150,000 for the Baltimore boat. The shape of these vessels, as indicated by the illustration, is cylindrical. The Holland is 55 feet 3 inches long and her widest diameter is 10 feet3 inches. Power comes from a gasoline engine and a dynamo, the former to be used when the boat is sailing along the sur- face and the latter when submerged. It will take less than a minute to submerge and about the same length of time to rise. Armament consists of three torpedo tubes, to discharge high explosives. Six men will constitute the crew. The vessel is equipped with an entire outfit of Blake pumps. One of these pumps is of special design to be used in connection with a system for submerging or raising the boat when necessary during its manoueverings. Appointments of captains and engineers for 1897, vest pocket size, $1.00. Order from the Marine Review, Cleveland, Ohio. MARINE mp fe _- REVIEW. Advances in Transportation by Water, It isa noteworthy fact that in the matter of transportation by water, quite apart from all questions of steam and electricity, it has been reserved for the present generation to make advances and im- provements which apparently might have been made equally wella thousand years ago. Interesting reference to this was made some time ago by Sir Benjamin Baker in a presidential address to the British Institution of Civil Engineers. Thus, the aborigines of America and many races of mere savages early found out the advantage which the lightness of birch bark canoes gave them in war or in pursuit of game, and paddles of all kinds were developed. Why, when speed was a matter of life or death to them, did they not ages ago give up paddles and take to oars, and find out, as our record-breaking rowing men have done, that, by the simple contrivance of sliding seats, an advan- tage is gained which, other things being equal, renders the result of a race a certainty? Again, why, when sailing ships had been in exist- ence thousand of years, did Columbus set off to discover America ina carved and decorated 70-foot sarcophagus which could neither sail nor weather a storm, instead of in a clipper ship? The men who built the Santa Maria for Columbus, and many larger vessels, were quite capa- ble as artificers of constructing, with the same materials and imple- : ments, clipper ships of 500 to 900 tons such as astonished the world in the historical race from China to London in 1866. At the end of May in that year, five vessels, the Fiery Cross, Ariel, Taeping, Serica, and en oo tai vit ial iN alan apareiacal rT TTT eT Ll | wy TORPEDO BOAT HOLLAND ON STOCKS. Taitsing, left Foo-chow-foo laden with tea for the race home. With varying luck the different vessels, at times covering 328 miles in a day, proceeded on their long course, and in the English channel the Ariel and Taeping sighted each other for the first time since leaving China, and off Plymouth were racing neck and neck with every stretch of canvas set. Finally after about three-months' race, the Ariel finished ten minutes ahead of the Taeping, having left China twenty minutes before her; the Serica arrived the same day, the Fiery Cross the following day and the Taitsing the day after. Allowing for the difference of time in starting, three of the vessels did the passage in ninety-nine days, and the two others took two days longer. Here there was no help from steam or steel, but the old materials, wood and canvas, sufficed for the work. Asso many advances might have been made in the direction of rapid transit by sea and by land by the skill- ful but illiterate mechanics of many centuries ago, without any aid from scientific research, it would appear probable that the reason for the solution of the problem in being so long deferred was that wars, revolutions and great social changes occupied men's thoughts in former times, and there was not that unceasing struggle for commerical Supremacy and material advantages which is so characteristic of the present century. Necessity, therefore, did not give birth to invention. --Cassiers' Magazine. An artistic brochure entitled "Summer Outings" is published by the Nickel Plate road, describing vacation resorts along that line. Ad- dress B. F. Horner, general passenger agent, Cleveland, O., fora copy. 55 Jul 15