A Wild Claim

Leonide Apoítoloff, a young Cosaack englneer, whose name is liardly known outside his own country, claims to have made a discovery and p.itented an inyeution (liisiintid tu cIiuil'i: the facu of the maritime world. "Wild na his claim may sound, for hc asseris that liis invcntioa will cii:il)!c lis to cross the Atlantlo in twenty-six hours, tliere is euough substance in his dreani to have secured him tli ree years' leave of absence by the Russian government in order th;it he inay prosecute his ecientilic researcher. M. Apostoloff elected to study at Marseilles. Tliero a representative of Pall Mali öazette called upon him. M. Apostoloff is tall and dark, hia face buspeaks energy and great deterininalion. He U eightand-twenty. "Is it true," asked our representative, "that you expect to perforin the voyage f rom here to Algiers in four hours?" ''Certainly," replied M. Apostoloff. "My boat will travel 100 knots nu hour, tliat is to say live times quicker thiin tlie tastest ateamer. I have applied to navigation the spiral principie, that is all." "Uut what U the ppiral principie?" "It is somewhat difllcult to put into words. You know thüt ittakeslonger to hommer a nuil into the vvall than to screw It in. Agiiin, In the old da3's the b:ill l'rom a gun eut thus straight at its object and hit perhaps at a hundred yards. Now the b.ill is twisted out and goes imniensely quicker and mucli furtlicr. Still another illustration. Why does a man swim? Because he agitatcs his anus and legs you reply. Very good. But why does a serpent 8wim?" aml M. Apostololt smiled triuniphamly. "You do not know? Perliaiis you did not even know thal he who tempted our lirst inother swain at all. Yet a serpent in the water goos quicker along than the tastest Ush." "What sujfgested this ide.i toyou?1' When I was quite a young fellow my regIment was ordered to Samara, where a uriajíe was nein; umie over tne river. The district is singulatly bereftof stones, and as tliey were absolutely necessary in maklng the foundations of the bridge, the moujiks extracted thein from the bed of the currentitself. Andliow? Uy uieans of an ingeuious invention of their own. A rope was coiled several times round a large tree trunk. One end of the ropo had been made fast, to the other dangled an iron natued koschka, wliich signilies little oat's claw. At a touch from the h in 1 i lie beam turned round in the water, the rope, unwindiiijf liself with tlie rapidity of lightning, descended and tlie claw clutched ho!d of anytliing it fontal in the bed of the river, and at a reverle touch the t.eain brouglit it up to the surfaee. Sometimes very large stones were brought up in tliis marnier. This struck me greatly. How inte l'jent of these poor peas mts to have discoyered tlie spiral principie for themselvesl Simply dropping tlie rope into tlie water nrould not have been of anyjíood! If you doubt this try lt for vdurself with a "riicn t suppose you began trylng expi'iiiiíeiHs?" "Just 80. I tiied many experiments, wlshlng alo to discover some new motor to drive my boat along. But the great principie of the tliing lay in tlie spiral idea" "But how can you apply the pencil ana thread plan to a boat?" "ThU8. My boat to look as it is not unlike a long, raiher polnled, egg in sliape, an egg around which has been twisted a piccc of 8trinr. lt will revolve rapidly; in tact, the difiérenos batweeu the speed ot my boac and the modern steamer will be - to quote rnyself again - the diflerence between a blunt nail driven into the wall and a nall screwed ín. You are womleriiig where the passengers will go. Well, inside, for this egg-shaped form is only an outslde shell. Inside, fastened stcurely to the beam running through it, is an inner shell, cabln, etc., which remaiDS absolutely steady as if on land. You will note that the rudder is both perpendicular and horizontal. This enables the steerer to direct the boat up or down uniler the water, a thing the usual torpedo boat cannotdo. ThU Ís, roughly speakinfr, a torpedo boat - half in and half out of the water. My B iteau Piongeur will remata habitually under water." 'Of what material will your Piongeur be made?" "Of the strongest steel, to enable it to resist the great pressure of the water above it. On the other hand, the boat will be very light, so light indeed that in case of and injury to the machinery, etc , Hiere will be no danger, for it will of itself rise to the surface of the water." "How will the inhabitants of your little crafi breathe?'' "Every thirty-eight hours it must come up for a long deep breath," answered M. Apostoloft, smiling. "Practically, the only danger we liave to fear is the outer shell or corps tournant, getting smasned, either by runniiiK on lo a rock or encountering a wh.ilc. Htill, a powerlul electric light will shino through a belt of thick glass running arounü the boat, and will illuminate the water depths above, helow, and for a hundred yards around us." "And will the Piongeur always remain under water?" 'No, not necessarily so; but If it Is half out of the water the speed of the corps tournant will be reduced by neaily half, the boat will proceed at a rate of eihty knots an hour, instead of scuttling alonjr at 120 knots an hour." "Tour invention will bi! chiefly useful for the purposes of maritime warfare." "i wish more to utilize my discovery for the purposes of commerce, but of course, as a torpedo boat it would be irresistable." "Have you ever actua'ly tried it yourself in water?" "Yes. ïionie time ago In Russla, on the Volgn. I was not rich, so 1 built my boat of tin, rather a foolhardy proceeding. A steamer containiug a party of my f rienda started to race me. 1 ii H tcw minutes 1 had rushed far beyond it, and in fact dissappeared entirely ("rom their sight. 'Alas!' cried they, 'Poor ApostoloU' has gone to the hottoni.' But atter some time they carne up to me. I was resting comfortably on tlie bank. Great, as you may suppose, was their joy and relief. But the extreme rapidity with which my boat had goue caused the tin, of which it was composed, to smash up." "And when will you have your craft in working order?1' "By January. It will be twenty-eight metres long and about turoe and one-half metres through in the thickest part. There will be room for twenty-five persons. My flrst voyage will be to Toulon and back in flfty minutes; my next trip will be an atletnpt to go to Algiers and back in eight hourg. I no wr have over fifty applications from people anxlous to go on the trial trip." 'Now, M. Apostoloff, we come to what is of course an important Item. Where does your motive power come from?" "Ah, tliat is my secret. I have dlscovered a iiew electric motor which cannot unluckily be patented; that is why I am keeping it to myself ns long as I can. Soon ie vrill become common property, but no one can steal from me my corps tournant," he added cheerfully, "and without it they can never hope to attain one-third of my speed." "And whnt will De the relative cost of your B:iteau Piongeur in cmnparison to the ordinary torpedo boat?" "Forty per oent cheaper, as far as the cost of construction is concerned, and 4 per cent chenper in actual working expense. Tliiis the lOOf. worth of coal which goes to supply the torpedo boat wlll be replaced by Of. worth of my new motive forcé! In fact there will be practlcally no working expenses after the iirst Installatlon." "You can at least teil me one tliing about your new motive power. Will it also supply the light?" "Yes, it will." "Have you ever tuought of seriously adapting your Batean Piongeur to pnssenger traffic?'' "Certainly. Think whatit will be for a man of business to get to New York in twenty-six liours. Those wbo do not like the idea of being insiile the shcll will have to have a kind of platform attached to the extretnities of two of my Bateaux Plonsreurs. "And do you propose to aell the patent to any country ?" Certainly not; or rather, if I did I should of conree keep it for Russia, my own country."