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"After two more days of preparation, The Holland No. I was ready for her first test. Air, under twenty-five pounds pressure, was pumped into the bow and stern tanks, but again there was discouragement. the stern sank slowly in the water, and it was evident that faulty riveting was responsible for the leak. On the twenty-ninth of May, the inventor succeeded in getting the boat to float on a fairly even keel; nevertheless, as a precaution against a fatal accident, two flat-bottomed rowboats were lashed to either side of the submarine with lines attached in slinglike fashion. Dunkerly drove his steam launch out from Lister's boathouse, maneuvered it into position, and picked up the line attached to the submarine's bow. Slowly yhr little flotilla moved upstream beyond the island and out of sight of the curious who might tarry on the Spruce Street bridge. All day the men worked, experimenting with ballast, until they had secured the proper trim." "The Brayton engine, mounted on angle irons in the central compartment forward of the operator, did not live up to Holland’s expectations, nor the specifications claimed for it by the designer. It was a two-cylinder affair with ordinary slide valves opening into a single pressure chamber. It might have been operated by steam or compressed air, but nothing would induce it to explode gasoline. Undefeated by such a discovery, Holland ingeniously attached a rubber hose to the top of the pressure chamber. Then he ran it through a watertight hole in the turret and over the side to Dunkerley’s launch, where he fastened it to a valve on the launch’s boiler." |