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“Of all naval devices that have been made the object of painstaking invention, there is probably none whose history at once dates back so far and includes so many and heartbreaking failures.” So writes an American journalist with regard to the submarine torpedo boat. And of all the inventors who have grappled with the subject of submarine navigation, there has been no one who from personal experience could more freely endorse this than the German inventor Wilhelm Bauer, who built his first submarine in the year 1850. The story of Bauer is one continued series of disappointments, due not so much to inferiority of design or workmanship on his part as to the action of the naval authorities of the various nations who, one after the other, coquetted with his inventions. Born at Dillingin in Bavaria in 1822, he entered the army when twenty years of age, and serving ads a cavalryman for seven years his mechanical aptitude caused him to be transferred to the artillery. During the years 1848-50 an intermittent war raged between Germany and Denmark. At this period the fine war-fleet which Germany now boasts was in its feeblest infancy, and no match for the comparatively powerful Danish Navy. The whole German coast was practically open to its attack, and the damages it committed in thecourse of hostilities set Bauer’s mind to work on the subject of a submarine boat which would cause the Danish raiders to keep at a more respectful distance. The project was enthusiastically taken up by the army engaged in Schleswig-Holstein, which subscribed the bulk of the money that was required for the construction of his first submarine – about ₤600. It was a curious looking craft, short, narrow, and deep in proportion to its breadth. It was built in the workshops of Messrs. Schneffel & Howaldt at Kiel and christened Die Brandtaucher, or the “Marine Diver,” by its inventor. It had a displacement of 35 tons and was driven by a screw actuated by a hand-turned engine amidships. "At the end of the year Bauer took out the Brandtaucher towards the Danish fleet then blockading the port of Kiel, with the result that the Danes became so much alarmed at the appearance of this new engine of war that they stood much farther out to sea. In February 1851 Bauer made a second trial, from which he barely escaped with his life. Accompanied by a couple of sailors he took the boat below water and dived so deeply that she was unable to resist the pressure of the water and began to leak in the most alarming manner, finally settling on the bottom in 60 feet of water. Bauer, however, kept his wits about him, and after a longargument with his crew, who had given up all hope, induced them to assist him to pump more water into the boat until the air contained in it was at such a state of compression that the pressure equaled that of the water outside. He was then able to open the scuttle and escape with his men to the surface. His friends above water during this crisis caused him more anxiety than anything else, as, in their efforts to grapple the sunken submarine, their grapples kept on banging against the glass scuttles, threatening ti break them in at every moment. Had this occurred, Bauer and his companions must inevitably have been drowned. As for the Brandtaucher, it lay in the mud at the bottom of Kiel harbour till 1887, when it was fished up and placed in the Naval School at Kiel. There it remained till 1906, when it was taken to Berlin and placed in the Naval Museum. "Bauer appealed in vain to the Bavarian Government to provide him with funds for the construction of a second submarine, and then betook himself to Austria, where he met with a severe disappointment, he tried without success to get the Government to consider his plans, until a lady with a great deal of Court influence was attracted by the idea and persuaded the Emperor to see him. As a result of this interview a commission was appointed to examine his plans. They were reported upon favourably, and a considerable sum of money was voted to Bauer to enable him to continue his experiments. Then at the last minute the Minister of Commerce, Von Baumgarten, whose Department had been one of the largest subscribers, was seized with misgivings and raised such a storm of opposition to the project that it was dropped. But Bauer, it has been well said, was “the most persistent inventor to be found in the whole history of submarine navigation,” and made up his mind to “try again” in another quarter. He came to England, and was fortunate enough tofind a warm ally in the person of the Prince Consort. Money was forthcoming, and the inventor set to work on a submarine and a corvette as well. But he was not allowed to carry out his plans in their entirety. Scott Russell, Charles Fox, and the celebrated engineer Brunel were associated with him in the construction of his submarine, while Lord Palmerston is also said to have had a finger in the pie. The result was that “too many cooks spoiled the broth.” The boat began her trials, and soon finished by sinking and drowning a large number of men. Bauer and his invention were at once at a discount in this country, although it is said that his plans were retained or copied by some of his assistants in the building of the ill-fated boat. Anyway, Scott Russell brought out a submarine a year or two later which bore a suspicious resemblance to a boat that Bauer built about this time for the Russian Government called the Diable Marin. It was intended to be employed at the siege of Sebastopol, and cost the Government 7000 to build. She was to be propelled by oars pulled by men in diving-dresses supplied with air by a tube with a funnel-shaped float. It also sank on its trials and drowned the crew. "After leaving England Bauer had approached the Government of the United States, but they would not have anything to do with him. He next went to Russia, then at war with England, France and Turkey, where he was taken up by the Grand Duke Constantine and built the Diable Marin referred to above. The new boat was 62 feet long and over 12 feet wide, and was somewhat of the same shape as the ill-fated Brandtaucher. It was propelled by a single screw driven by gearing connected with a kind of treadmill which was 7 feet in diameter. When it was desired to descend, water was pumped into three big cylinders, 10 feet high and 4 feet 6 inches in diameter. To ascend they were, of course, emptied again. There was a smaller cylinder whose duty was to keep the boat steady – a kind of ballast tank. "The mode of attack by the Diable Marin was to be a somewhat curious one. A big mine holding 500 lb. of powder was carried forward, and to fasten this to the bottom of an enemy’s ship a pair of long, thick india-rubber gloves were fitted to the hull of the vessel so that a man standing right forward and looking through a pair of thick glass scuttles provided for the purpose, could put his arms into the gloves, detach the mine, and affix it where required. There was an opaque black fog hanging round Cronstadt in the small hours of the morning of May 26, 1856, and a sentinel perched up on some of the immense granite fortifications that held the British Baltic Fleet so long at bay suddenly saw a mysterious object floating close to his post. Presently, he discerned a man standing upon it, and challenged. To his surprise he received the correct countersign, and, bewildered and alarmed at what he considered a supernatural manifestation, he threw down his rifle and took to his heels. This was about three in the morning. Sentry after sentry was equally flabbergasted, and so Bauer made a kind of triumphal entry into the impregnable harbour. |