The Brighton Boys with the Submarine Fleet | Page 6

by some strong and unseen power.
"I say, old boy, this beats drilling out on the campus at Brighton with
the school battalion, eh? what?" exclaimed Jack.
Ted was doing a clog dance on the deck. "I'm just as happy as I can
be," was his gleeful comment.

Very shortly the lighthouse that stood on the cape's end marking the
harbor entrance had been passed and the Dewey was out on the open
sea. Before the boys stretched water---endless water as far as the eye
carried---to the far thin line where sky and water met. They were lost in
contemplation of the wonderful view. But their reveries were suddenly
disturbed by a sharp command from Executive Officer Binns:
"All hands below---we are going to submerge!"
The Dewey was going to dive!

CHAPTER III
SEALED ORDERS
Ted and Jack hastened to follow their comrades down the hatchway. A
sea-gull flapping by squawked shrilly at them as the boys waited their
turn at the ladder. Instinctively they took another look around them
before dipping into the hold of the Dewey. They realized that here,
indeed, was the real thrill of submarining. The cap was lowered at last
and secured, and the crew hastened to their posts amid the artificial
light and busy hum of the ship's interior.
Now the Brighton boys were to learn how the Dewey was to be
submerged! For one thing they noted that the oil engines used for
surface cruising were shut off and the locomotion of the vessel
switched over to the electric drive of the storage batteries. But their
attention was directed chiefly to Navigating Officer Binns, who had
taken up his position before a row of levers and water gauges
amidships.
"Pump three hundred pounds into No. 1," was the command given by
Binns. One of the levers was thrown over, and immediately could be
heard the swirling of water. The boys were unable to grasp the full
meaning of what was going on until Bill Witt shuffled up and said: "I'll
put you fellows wise to what's going on, if you want me to."

Ted and Jack were glad to know what it was all about and listened
attentively to the commands of the navigating officer and the
interpretations given by their new-found friend. Bill explained that the
process of diving was called "trimming" in submarine cruising, and that
the pumping of the water being directed by Binns was done to fill the
ballast tanks, thus increasing the displacement of the Dewey and
causing it to settle in the water. First one tank was filled, and then
another, until the vessel was submerged on an even keel. This was a
revelation to the boys, for they had supposed it was only necessary to
tilt the ship and dive just like a porpoise.
To their great delight the recruits found that the Dewey, like other
submarines built since the beginning of the great world war, was
equipped with twin periscopes, and that, furthermore, they would be
allowed to watch the submersion of the Dewey through the reserve
periscope if they so desired. Would they care to? Well, rather! For the
next few minutes they took turn about peering into the mirrors that
reflected the whole panorama before their eyes.
Gradually, they could see, the Dewey was settling into the embrace of
the sea. Now she was down until the waves rolled completely over the
deck and splashed against the conning tower. Down, down they
dropped till only the periscope projected above the waves. Before them
stretched the wide sweep of water, the ocean rising slowly but surely to
overwhelm them. One after another the waves surged by. Now the eye
of the periscope was so close to the crest of the water that it was only a
matter of another moment until they would be under. Up, up, up came
the water to meet them. Ted's heart was in his mouth while he viewed
this awesome spectacle. Then he gave way for Jack to take a squint
through the tube that carried with it a last look at the world of sunlight
they were leaving. And now the eye of the periscope was so near
submersion that the swell of the waves swept over it and momentarily
blotted out the light. Then the spray dashed madly at the "eye" of the
tube---and they were under!
Down in the depths of the ocean! It was a moment to stir the pulses of
the two Brighton recruits. Wide-eyed in wonder, tense with the strain

of the experience, they stepped back from the periscope. Through Ted's
mind flitted memories of Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues
Under the Sea," and he was suddenly inspired to find out whether it
was possible to glimpse any of the wonders depicted by the writer.