USS Discovery

“ He was at once appointed to the command of the Resolution, and Captain Clerke, who had been with him on each of his previous voyages, received orders to commission the Discovery, a vessel of three hundred tons, fitted out as the Adventure had been. The ships were ready early in July, 1776. Everything that could tend to preserve the health of the crews was put on board,—warm clothing, as well as numerous animals, garden seeds of all sorts, and iron tools to traffic with the natives, while many things, purely for the benefit of the people, were to be supplied. ”

“ Two years earlier the French Government had taken up the work the British Government had neglected from the time of Captain Cook's condemnation, and had despatched two ships, the Astrolabe and the Zelée, to try and get into higher latitudes than those reached by Weddell. The Government of the United States also sent out vessels to continue the work already so successfully done by American whaling skippers. The voyages did not add materially to the discovery of land, although some valuable scientific facts were observed and recorded. ”

“ The class of vessels best adapted for discovery in the Polar seas, seems to be that of one hundred to two hundred tons’ burden. They are stronger, more easily managed, in less danger of being stoved or crushed by ice, and not so expensive as those of larger dimensions. An increase of size is a diminution of [Pg 19] comparative strength; and hence it is evident, that a vessel intended for discovery should be just large enough for conveying the requisite stores and provisions, and for affording comfortable accommodation to the navigators, but no larger. ”

“ They found the entrance to Smith’s Sound perfectly clear of ice, none drifting southward, although there was a fresh northerly breeze. The scene of the wreck of the Polaris was visited, and either the log, or a copy, of the ill-fated vessel discovered. The next point touched at was Cape Isabella, on the 29th of July. Here a cairn with a small depot of provisions was erected, at an elevation of 700 feet from the water, by the crew of the Alert, while the Discovery pushed forward. On the 30th of July the Discovery was beset off Cape Sabine, by a close pack five or six miles broad. ”

“ V GREAT TELESCOPES AND THEIR WORK One hardly knows where, in the history of science, to look for an important movement that had its effective start in so pure and simple an accident as that which led to the building of the great Washington telescope, and went on to the discovery of the satellites of Mars. ”

“ Modern marine architecture is making steamships almost unsinkable, more quickly responsive to their helms, more seaworthy in every way. Perhaps with the perfection of the submarine boat, ships, instead of being tossed on the boisterous surface of the waves, may go straight to their destination through the placid depths of ocean. But whatever the future may bring, the history of the American sailor will always bear evidence that he did not wait for the perfection of safety devices to wrest from the ocean all that there was of value in the conquest ”

“ From the founding of the Naval Observatory to the development of the most advanced electronics, the U.S. Navy has been a leader in developing devices and techniques designed to make the navigator’s job safer and easier.
The development of almost every device known to navigation science has been deeply influenced by Naval policy. Some systems are direct outgrowths of specific Naval needs; some are the result of technological improvements shared with other services and with commercial maritime industry. ”

“ Four years later the navy of the United States consisted of six hundred and seventy-one vessels. No nation of the world had such a naval power. The stern lessons of the great war had taught shipbuilders that wooden ships were a thing of the past. The little "Monitor" had by one afternoon's battle proved to all the sovereigns of Europe that their massive ships were useless. And all this had been done by a people grappling in deadly strife with an enemy in their very dwellings. The world's history contains no more wonderful story of energy and invention. ”

“ The prevailing impression that any new invention could control the submarine in time to be effective was deprecated. The American press was at that time constantly calling upon Edison and other great American inventors to solve this problem, and, in fact, inventors in every part of two hemispheres were turning out devices by the thousands. A regular department of the Admiralty which was headed by Admiral Fisher had charge of investigating their proposals ”

“ The exploring expedition of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, with the sloops Vincennes and Peacock, the brig Porpoise, the store-ship Relief, and the tenders Sea-gull and Flying Fish, was the most pretentious. It was authorized in 1836, and was directed chiefly to the extreme South, but some work was done among the islands of the Pacific. A number of thick quarto volumes give the reports of officers and specialists, but only people engaged in a scientific study of nature ever fully appreciated the great value of the work done. ”

“ The advantages of science in nautical affairs have rarely been more strikingly illustrated than in the fact, stated in the report of the Navy Department, that by means of the wind and current charts projected and prepared by Lieutenant Maury, the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, the passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific ports of our country has been shortened by about forty days. ”

“ Although by adding to the length and displacement of torpedo boats better seagoing qualities have been secured, they have thereby become more conspicuous objects by night or day, whereas formerly, being small, they were not easily seen or hit. The difficulty of getting within range without detection has once more led people to seek a solution in submarine navigation. The idea of travelling under water in an hermetically sealed boat has engaged the attention of many enthusiasts, but hitherto without much practical success. ”

“ We therefore feel fully authorized to assert that we have frequently made voyages from America without the above articles, and we are fully persuaded that every seaman with common nautical knowledge can do the same.”
No doubt many valuable data lie hidden in old log-books and sea journals, early newspaper files, shipping records of old business houses and elsewhere. To anyone with time and the inclination for research a fascinating field is open where material of historical and scientific value may be found. ”

“ U.S.S. PATHFINDER arrived in the South Pacific a new ship with an untrained crew. No one aboard except the six U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Officers had ever had any experience in hydrographic surveying and they had none in planning and laying out of surveys, chart compilation and publication, or the establishing of aids to navigation such as beacons and buoys. The Commanding Officer was the only officer who had any experience in Navy organization, operations and procedure other than short training courses. A majority of the crew had never been to sea. ”

“ The Naval Observatory continues to pursue its appropriate labours with its usual good results, and is found to contribute the most important facilities to the improvement of navigation. I cannot better commend it to the regard of Congress than by a reference to the letter of Lieutenant Maury, which accompanies this report.’ (Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, December 4th, 1852; Hon. Jno. P. Kennedy.)
“The Naval Observatory, under the superintendence of Lt. M. F. Maury, is doing much for science and navigation, much for the benefit of mankind and the honour of our country. ”

“ In order to appreciate the enormous progress which the United States have made as a naval power in the past thirty years one must turn to the American Navy List for 1879, and compare it with the present equipment in the matter of ships and personnel, which places the United States in the position of being the second naval power of the world—second, indeed, only to Great Britain, and with resources for the production of warships of the latest design and the highest fighting capacity scarcely if at all inferior to those of the United Kingdom itself. ”

“ Slowly and with infinite labour this first submarine navigator worked his way through the water in the first successful under-water boat, the crank-handle of the propelling screw in front of him, the helm at his side, and the crank-handle of the screw that raised or lowered the craft just above and in front. No other man had made a like voyage; he had little experience to guide him, and he lacked the confidence that a well-tried device assures; he was alone in a tiny vessel with but half an hour's supply of air, a great box of gunpowder over him, and a hostile fleet all around. ”

“ No better evidence of the complete demoralization of architectural development in the United States can be found than in the movement made in 1872, in which the Hartford class, after having established thoroughly its great utility, was by the addition of a spar-deck reduced to the plane of the Challenger, with increased draught, reduced speed and steaming capacity, and in fact a reduction of all the qualities which had rendered it superior, notwithstanding the total disappearance of the type not only in the English but in all foreign navies. ”

“ America has supported the transatlantic lines, but almost every civilized people with a seacoast has outdone us in building the ships. For a time, indeed, it seemed that we should speedily overcome the lead that England immediately took in building steamships. Her entrance upon this industry was, as we have seen, in 1838. The United States took it up about ten years later. In 1847 the Ocean Steam Navigation Company was organized in this country and secured from the Government a contract to carry the mails between New York and Bremen. ”

“ This conspicuous success of submarine navigation in the United States will push on under-water navigation all over the world. If such a successful test had come a few months earlier it might have played a great part in the war just closed (Spanish-American war) . The next war may be largely a contest between submarine boats. Before the United States gains her full development she is likely to have mighty navies, not only on the bosom of the Atlantic and Pacific, but in the upper air and beneath the waters of the surface. ”

“ Two iron torpedo ships have been completed during the last year, and four of our large double-turreted ironclads are now undergoing repairs. When these are finished, everything that is useful of our Navy, as now authorized, will be in condition for service, and with the advance in the science of torpedo warfare the American Navy, comparatively small as it is, will be found at any time powerful for the purposes of a peaceful nation.
Much has been accomplished during the year in aid of science and to increase the sum of general knowledge and further the interests of commerce and civilization. ”

“ These under-water craft are only a part of the equipment that Bernard Meeker, a young Englishman, has provided to help him in his search for the lost city. There are divers' uniforms specially strengthened to resist the great pressure under which the men must work. Huge electric lamps like searchlights to be lowered into the ocean depths and give light to the workers are stacked close beside powerful generators in the ship's hold. In the chart room there are rolls of strange maps plotting out the ocean floor, and on a shelf by itself rests the tangible evidence that this search means gold. ”

“ The United States has also beyond its own territory made valuable additions to hydrographic knowledge in the work of officers of the Navy in a number of oceanic exploring expeditions, and surveys on the coasts of Mexico and in the West Indies, and in the explorations of Fish Commission vessels. ”

“ Some day science will sound the depth to which this dead shell has fallen, and the little creature will perhaps afford solution for a problem a long time unsolved; for it may be the means of revealing the existence of the submarine currents that have carried it off, and of enabling the physical geographer to trace out the secret paths of the sea. ”

“ This simple statement serves to show how much the modern methods of conducting such submarine operations are dependent upon the advance in chemistry of modern times. In fact, hardly a single appliance used in such operations, from the steam-engine which drives the drills, to the gutta-percha tubes, and the india rubber suits which enable the divers to descend below the water, but what are inventions or discoveries which belong entirely to modern times, and enable men to-day to perform operations which to the ancients would have really been impossible. ”

“ They required the genius of hundreds in their experiments and the lives of thousands. The hope of miraculous inventions in an hour of crisis is only the vain dream of the novelist. We have ceased to hope for such deliverance. We are training men to master the already perfected mechanism of the submarine—thousands of them. Lake, the inventor, is an admiral. We have a model at work six thousand feet above the sea. I command the Eagle’s Nest, the camp on a great mountain plateau where we are training thousands of aviators. ”