American ingenuity has produced an absolutely unique craft to which the name submarine may with real appropriateness be applied, for, sinking in water 100 feet deep, it can remain below and run upon three wheels along the bottom of the sea. This is the _Argonaut_, invented by Mr. Simon Lake of Baltimore, and its main portion consists of a steel framework of cylindrical form which is surmounted by a flat, hollow steel deck. During submersion the deck is filled with water and thus saved from being crushed by outside pressure as well as helping to sink the craft.
When moving on the surface it has the appearance of an ordinary ship, with its two light masts, a small conning-tower on which is the steering-wheel, bowsprit, ventilators, a derrick, suction-pump, and two anchors. A gasolene engine of special design is used for both surface and submerged cruising under ordinary circumstances, but in time of war storage batteries are available. An electric dynamo supplies light to the whole interior, including a 4000 candle-power searchlight in the extreme bow which illuminates the pathway while under water.
On the boat being stopped and the order given to submerge, the crew first throw out sounding lines to make sure of the depth. They then close down external openings, and retreat into the boat through the conning-tower, within which the helmsman takes his stand, continuing to steer as easily as when outside. The valves which fill the deck and submersion tanks are opened, and the _Argonaut_ drops gently to the floor of the ocean. The two apparent masts are in reality 3-inch iron pipes which rise thirty feet or more above the deck, and so long as no greater depth is attained, they supply the occupants with fresh air and let exhausted gases escape, but close automatically when the water reaches their top.
Once upon the bottom of the sea this versatile submarine begins its journey as a tricycle. It is furnished with a driving-wheel on either side, each of which is 6-1/2 feet in diameter and weighs 5000 lbs.; and is guided by a third wheel weighing 2000 lbs. journalled in the rudder. On a hard bottom or against a strong tide the wheels are most effective owing to their weight, but in passing through soft sand or mud the screw propeller pushes the boat along, the driving-wheels running "loose." In this way she can travel through even waist-deep mud, the screw working more strongly than on the surface, because it has such a weight of water to help it, and she moves more easily uphill.