Читать книгу Robert Fulton and the Submarine онлайн

34 страница из 48

FULTON’S “NAUTILUS,” 1798

The offensive feature of the design consisted first of a vertical spike attached to the top of the observer’s dome. In the spike was an eye through which passed a cord leading through a stuffing box to a winding spool in the forward end of the boat. The second part was a torpedo attached to the other end of the cord. In action the Nautilus would be placed directly beneath the hull of an enemy vessel, the spike being in contact with the bottom planking. As one end of the spike projected into the observer’s dome, a blow on that end would drive the upper end, which was sharp and detachable, into the ship’s timbers. Then the Nautilus was to move forward leaving the spike sticking in the ship. As she moved forward, the torpedo would trail behind, but as the cord passed through the eye in the spike, the torpedo would soon be brought into contact with the hull, when the shock would fire the discharge. In the meanwhile, enough cord would have been paid out to permit the Nautilus to have attained a safe distance.