eart of an old
sailor like myself might safely attach itself.

Then came a short period of trial trips and diving tests, all of
which were carried off successfully, and at last the day of
departure arrived. As soon as the last escort had turned around a
final diving test was ordered.

Instantly the response came back from the turret and the central
station, and the men hurried to their posts. The oil engines were
still hammering away at a mad rate. I left the manhole of the
turret. The cover was battened down, the engines stopped at the
same moment.

We felt a slight pressure in our ears for a moment. We were cut
off from outside and silence reigned. But this silence was merely
an illusion--and was due to the change.

[Illustration: Permission of _Scientific American_.

_A Submarine Entrapped by Nets._]

"Open the diving-valves! Submerge!"

The valves were flung open and the compressed air escaped hissing
from the tanks. At the same time a gigantic, intermittent
snorting ensued, like the blowing and belching of some
prehistoric monster. There was an uncomfortable pressure in our
ears, then the noise became more regular, followed by a buzzing
and a shrill hum. All the high notes of the engines in the
central station intermingled and made a bewildering noise. It was
like a mad diabolical singsong. And yet it was almost like
silence after the dull, heavy pounding of the oil-motors--only
more insistent and irritating. The penetrating hum in the various
vents announced the fact that the diving mechanism was in
operation. It moaned and sang lower and lower in the scale of
tones. These slowly diminishing and steadily deepening tones
give one the physical feeling of mighty volumes of water pouring
in and flooding full.

You have the sensation of growing heavier and sinking as the boat
grows heavier and sinks, even though you may not be able to see
through the turret window, or the periscope, how the bows are
gradually submerged and the water climbs higher and higher up the
turret until all things without are wrapped in the eerie twilight
of the depths.

The faithful lamps burned, however, and then a real silence
suddenly ensued. There was no sound but the gentle trembling
rhythm of the electric engines.

I then gave the or