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Argonaut 1897
Simon Lake built the Argonaut, which was made of steel plate, thirty foot long with three wheels to run along the sea bed. The boat had a powerful searchlight and could go down to 150 feet. Driven by a petrol engine she had a flexible pipe with a float to hold the top of the pipe above the water, so that the petrol engine could be run underwater. A primitive form of schnorkel. The boat also had an air lock so that a diver could emerge form the boat.

Eynhallow
T Broadley.

Argonaut (Submarine) 1897

The Argonaut was a class of submarines built by engineer Simon Lake (September 4, 1866 – June 23, 1945). He was a Quaker American mechanical engineer and naval architect who obtained over two hundred patents for advances in naval design and competed with John Philip Holland to build the first submarines for the United States Navy.

When used without clarification generally refers to the second built and larger one launched in 1897 at Baltimore. She was 36-foot (11 m) long, cigar shaped and built of steel. She had a gas engine and propeller, dynamo, searchlight, and pumps for air and water. Her main attribute like that of the older sibling and predecessor Argonaut Junior (1894); was a wet diving chamber that allowed a diver to leave and re-enter the submarine. The "Argonaut No 1", and "Argonaut No 2" are used as the name of this vessel.

"Argonaut No 1" was built in 1897 and is 36 feet (11 m) in length. In September 1898 it made an open-ocean passage from Norfolk, Virginia, to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, becoming the first submarine to operate successfully in the open sea.

"Argonaut No 2" was a reconstruction of "Argonaut No 1" finishing in 1900 with a length of 60 feet (18 m) and significantly different profile.

Micronesia 1997, S.G.?, Scott: 269a.

Source: Wikipedia.

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