Submarine 'Nautilus' (1886)
From Engineering 1886/12/24:-
'THE SUBMARINE BOAT “NAUTILUS.”
On Monday last there was a trial in the Tilbury Docks of the new submarine boat Nautilus, which has been built by Messrs. Fletcher, Son, and Fearnall to the order of Mr. Edward Wolseley and Mr. C. E. Lyon.
The immersion and emersion of this boat are effected according to a method invented by Mr. Andrew Campbell, and which consists in varying the displacement of the hull without altering its weight. For this purpose there are provided on each side of the vessel four horizontal cylinders, which can be protruded beyond the skin, or withdrawn into the hull, according as it is desired to rise to the surface or descend below it. These cylinders work through glands, and are manipulated either by hand, or by aid of the motive power which propels the vessel. The corresponding cylinders at opposite sides form a pair, and are operated simultaneously, so that their motion has no effect on the trim. Fore and aft, however, the cylinders can be worked separately, and by this arrangement the keel may be deflected from the horizontal, and made to stand at an angle in order to fire a torpedo upwards against the bottom of a vessel.
Besides the displacement cylinders there are other means of varying the buoyancy of the boat. In the bottom there are a number of water ballast tanks, provided with both a hand and a power pump, and by aid of these not only can the weight be varied, but likewise the trim fore and aft. This provision would be specially useful in case of the forward compartment becoming flooded by a collision ; in such an emergency an equal quantity of water to that admitted could be pumped out, while the remainder could be transferred to the after compartment to restore the equilibrium.
The general structure of the boat is easily described ; it is a cigar-shaped vessel 60 ft. long by 8 ft. in diameter, with a short deck in the centre raised about a foot above the top of the circle. From this deck there protrudes a conning-tower, which also serves as a means of access to the interior. At the edges of the deck there are to be mounted two impulse tubes for discharging torpedoes.
When going into action for the defence of a port — the purpose for which the vessel is designed — she will be sunk until the deck is just awash, and will then go out against the enemy. If no alarm is raised either on board the hostile vessel itself or by the guard boats, then the Nautilus will steal almost alongside, and descending a few feet, will fire both her torpedoes into her antagonist below the plating, where they will break into the vitals. Should the conning-tower be caught sight of, then a different line of tactics must be employed, and the boat must make the last part of its journey under water.
On Monday the boat performed a number of evolutions very successfully ; she sank and rose several times, and made several trips both above and below the surface. It was, however, deemed inadvisable to move her except at very slow speeds, the confined space of the dock rendering dangerous rapid evolutions with a craft of unknown capabilities. Up to the present there has been no proper speed trial, but eight to ten miles an hour are expected. The depth attained at the trial was 28 ft. at the level of the deck, or about 38 ft. at the keel. At this point the boat was immersed in mud and it was impossible to descend lower. The hull is, however, strong enough to bear a pressure of about 50 ft. of water ; it is built of 5/16 in. Siemens-Martin steel plates, with 3 in. by 3 in. by 1/2 in. frames, pitched 1 ft. 9 in. apart.
The total displacement is 62 tons.
Submarine boats have only become possible, except on a very small scale, since the invention of electric accumulators. Previously there was no means of propelling them, except by compressed air, of which only a small store can be carried. Now, by the aid of secondary batteries and electro-motors a boat can be provided with a power which can compare with steam in its amount, and yet requires no air to support it, and gives no indication of its presence by smoke and sparks. In the case before us there are 180 Elwell-Parker cells of the E.P.S. pattern, each calculated at about four horse-power hours. These are arranged in two rows, one at each side of the boat, in the central portion. The current is led to two Edison-Hopkinson motors supplied by Messrs. Lewis Olrick and Co., who were the contractors for the machinery, each driving a screw, which, at full speed, makes 750 revolutions per minute. The same power also serves to work a pump, and a line-shaft on which are four worms gearing into wheels on the screws which operate the displacement cylinders. By means of clutches these wheels can be put in and out of gear to move the cylinders by power. The terminals of the battery are led to two very ingeniously arranged switches, worked by levers like the reversing lever of a locomotive, there being one switch to each motor. According to the position of the lever the screws go ahead or astern, and the batteries, each of which is divided into four sections, are grouped in various ways, thus: (1) Four sections in parallel; (2) two sections in parallel and two in series ; (3) three in series, and one cut out, and (4) four in series. At the moment of reversing, the switch interposes a resistance in circuit.
The steering is done with a rudder in the ordinary way, but there is also a horizontal rudder for keeping the boat at a uniform depth below the surface, and this rudder can be inclined either way as desired to counteract any tendency either to rise or to dive. When the vessel is stationary the friction of the water is quite sufficient to keep her in any position at which she has been stopped.
It is intended that the boat shall carry a crew of six men, and it is found that the air she contains is sufficient for the performance of a two hours’ voyage under water, without any means to renew the oxygen or to absorb the carbonic acid. We are informed, however, by Mr. Graydon Poore, of 49, Queen Victoria-street, who is consulting engineer to the owners, and under whose supervision the whole of the work has been carried out, that in the next boat, which is about to be laid down, there will be provision for rapidly renewing the whole of the air as soon as the vessel reaches the surface, and that possibly a supply of compressed air will also be carried.'
1886 'THE SUBMARINE BOAT NAUTILUS. Yesterday an exhibition of the submarine boat Nautilus, the invention of Mr. Andrew Campbell, was made before a number of military, naval, and scientific men, and representatives of the Press, in the Tilbury Docks. The arrangements were such as to preclude any thorough inspection of the ingenious little vessel, the main points of which have already been described in our columns, but the various evolutions performed were gone through satisfactorily, and the Nautilus successively rose and sunk in the water at the will of those inside. The trial was witnessed by a large number of visitors, including many ladies.'[1]
1886 THE NAUTILUS. In the Times of November 29 was described a submarine torpedo boat in which the principle of displacement is utilized for the purposes of submersion and emersion. There operations are successfully performed means of cylinders which are projected from or withdrawn into the boat according to whether it is desired that she should ascend or descend in the water. This boat was tried in the West India Docks on November 27, when her descending and ascending powers were fully demonstrated, and her surface propelling power to a limited extent, her electrical connexions not then being quite complete: Since that time the boat has been completed and named the Nautilus. She has been fitted up with a new conning tower, which forms also means of ingress and egress in place of the inconvenient man-hole in the deck previously used. The Nautilus is steel-built, cigar-shaped, 60 feet long and 8 feet diameter amidships, and is propelled and steered by electricity. A party of about 130 ladies and gentlemen were conveyed to Tilbury on Monday by special train to witness further trials in the deep-water dock with this boat, which was successfully submerged end emerged several times. She was also moved about at slow speed at the surface of the water. In all this she did little or nothing more than on the previous occasion, and it is to be regretted that some manoeuvres approaching those demanded of a submarine torpedo boat were not executed. One of the functions of such boat would appear to be submarine travelling and rising and sinking en route, and it is to be regretted that with 1,600ft clear run water 600ft wide and 34ft deep, and in the presence of large assembly of practical men, including Lord Charles Beresford and a number of other naval officers, the boat was not put through its paces in these respects. Various reasons were assigned for the non-performance of such a run, and it was stated that it would be carried out on a future occasion.'[2]
See here for a drawing and a short description of the Nautilus. It shows five displacement cylinders on each side, rather than four. Reference is made to GB Patent 16915 and US Patent 344,178 Granted to Andrew Campbell & James Ash in 1886. The article provides a link to an extract from a book [3], from which:-
'When her most important trial took place at Tilbury, she had several distinguished visitors on board, including Lord Charles Beresford and Sir William White, the well-known Naval Constructor. Down she sank right enough, but she remained below so long that the spectators on shore began to get very anxious. What had happened? It afterwards transpired that there was a deal of soft mud in the bottom of the dock, into which the Nautilus settled comfortably down, with the result that her cylinders could not be pushed outboard. The mud offered too much resistance for the mechanism, which was designed for use in clear water. The air supply began to get short, and passengers and crew were beginning to lose hope, when Sir William White suggested that all hands should collect at one end of the boat. This caused the other end to lift clear of the mud, the cylinders could be pushed out and the boat came to the surface. The engineer, who had quite recovered any alarm he may have felt, was now full of confidence, and immediately opened the scuttle to shout to those on shore that they were going to make another descent. But most of those on board had had enough of the Nautilus, and “were not taking” any more experiments. They thought they would look better from terra firma. So the sanguine engineer was hauled down out of the hatch that he was blocking and there was a general exodus to the shore. The unlucky submarine got a bad name, and disappeared from public notice.'
'STRANGE TRAVELS.
The year before last [i.e. 1886], when I took a brief and uncomfortable cruise in the submarine torpedo boat Nautilus, in Tilbury Docks, I felt that I had temporarily severed myself from my species, and developed into a new kind of animal. The Nautilus lay beside the quay. All that was visible of her looked very much like the back of a small floating whale, save for the fact that in the centre of this back there rose a little iron structure shaped something like the cover of the manhole of a locomotive engine. This structure opened at the top; and, with some others, I descended through it into the bowels of the new monster. I found myself in a kind of long, narrow passage that seemed to be crowded with machinery. . . When all was ready, the boat, which was propelled by screws worked by stored electricity, was steered into the middle of the dock, the cover of the manhole was shut down, the side cylinders were pulled in, and we began to descend.
There were six or seven of us; there was no room in which to move about, and we had only the limited supply of air that filled our cramped chamber. I looked through a glass scuttle which was on level with my eyes. The water outside looked exactly like the worst kind of London fog. The interior of the boat was lighted by electricity, or we should have been in darkness. Still further down we went, and the hue of the water grew deeper, until at last it was as black as night. Suddenly we stopped. The tell-tale showed us that we were 30ft. below the surface; but we had all believed that the dock was deep enough for to descend 40ft. We were, however, at the bottom. It was then that the critical moment came. We wanted to rise again; and to raise ourselves we had to push out our cylinders, and so increase our displacement; but unfortunately were stuck fast in the mud at the bottom of the dock, and the cylinders wouldn't move. I don't mind confessing that it was a very disagreeable position. There we were, 30ft. under water; half-wet through, owing to the condensation of the moisture; with only sufficient air to keep us alive for a short time, and working like [deleted] at the machinery which ought to have forced out the fateful cylinders. Already the violent exertion in the foul, hot atmosphere was telling some of us. I remember that I began to wonder how long would elapse before our bodies were recovered, and which of us would die first; and when, at last after minutes which seemed almost many hours — the machinery moved a little, I could have cheered if I had had enough breath to cheer with. We came up with rush: and when the manhole was once more opened and the cold air played again my face I felt as if nothing earth would tempt to repeat the experience. Yet I did repeat part of it: I went down again the same day. But that time the Nautilus did not stick in the mud.— From Cassell's Saturday Journal.'[4]