much; but, as looking for it was out of the question, there remained nothing for me but to put the best face I could upon the matter, determining, as a forlorn hope, to give notice of my loss to the corporal of the Civil Guard on reaching the station for that district at Facina. This I eventually did, offering at the same time a reward of five hundred reals for its recovery. From Lecinas our road to Algeciras seemed only to grow worse and worse; in fact, in some places it disappeared altogether; and for five days (the longest I ever spent) lay through a wild and magnificent, but uninhabited country, veined with fierce torrents, the crossing of which was a constant scene of difficulty, and even danger. A better idea of our difficulties may be gathered from the fact that though we took five days to accomplish the journey, it is practicable in two, during summer, being only ninety miles in point of distance.
The last part of our journey lay in the great forest through which the Guadalquivir boils and tumbles headlong on its way. Enormous cork trees, with their stripped and bleeding branches, fringed with delicate ferns, abound on every side, and altogether there is a depth of colour, a gloom, and savage grandeur about the whole worthy of Salvator Rosa; and it is a common saying with the French, “that Poussin could not paint it, or M. Joinville take it.” Yet with all its beauty, the discomfort under which I first saw it has connected it with so many unpleasant impressions on my mind, that I doubt much whether I shall ever be able to think of it without a shudder.
After staying a short time at Gibraltar, and being kept in continual remembrance of my misfortunes on the way by the want of my watch, I returned to Cadiz, and there casually informed the consul of my loss, and the reward I had offered, receiving, however, very little comfort.
Months passed by, when to my surprise and joy I received intimation that my watch was found, and actually in the hands of a friend of the British consul at Cadiz, the latter having received it from the corporal, Ramero Fernandez (I record his name for the benefit of fellow travellers), of Facina, to whom I had reported my having lost it. After diligent inquiries had been made, for a long time ineffectually, a young peasant, a native of Tarafa, brought the watch and claimed the reward. It was detained until the fact was made known to the commander of the Civil Guard, thence through him to the consul at Cadiz, from whom I received it.
Thus, after lying several weeks under water, my watch was restored to me, and as it ticks contentedly in my pocket reminds me that time does not stand still, even in Spain, since it has seen the establishment of the Civil Guard.
THE TRIALS OF AN INVENTOR,
WILHELM BAUER, THE GERMAN ENGINEER.
Part II.
Bauer next determined, as a last resource, to try if fortune was more favourable in the north, and proceeded to Russia. His plans immediately awakened the interest of Prince Constantine, and after exhibiting his model and drawings before a marine commission, appointed by the influence of the Prince to consider them, he received orders to commence a hyponautical apparatus, to be 52 ft. long, 12 ft. 6 in. high, 11 ft. broad, to be built of iron plates ½ in. thick, supported by 3½ in. iron ribs; thus securing strength sufficient to support the weight of a column of water 150 ft. high. He consented to keep the method of construction secret, to superintend all the expenses incurred, and, when the vessel had realised his promises, to accept 20,000 rubles as his reward. The works were begun the 3rd of May, 1855. The vessel to be provided with three large and two small cylinders, the larger to contain 45,000 lbs. of water, which would immediately cause her to sink. The angle of her descent, to 49°, was determined by interior iron ballast, to be moved in a groove as required; her speed of descent, regulated by the two smaller cylinders, containing 620 lbs. of water. Bauer had found the admission of 10 lbs. only would be sufficient to sink her 1 foot in five minutes, and maintain the same rate of fall; 40 lbs. carried her 2½ ft. in one minute. Force-pumps secured the ejection of the ballast water from the cylinders, and enabled those in charge, as a greater or less quantity was thrown out, to keep the vessel at any given level. A screw worked by treadwheels moved her back or forwards, her rudder to the left or right, and a screw fixed in the centre of the keel enabled her to turn as on a pivot. Except in very thick water artificial light was rendered unnecessary by her being provided with eighteen windows. A jointed iron arm-case, with an elastic glove, enabled those within to unship the moveable ballast hung below; two other arm-cases in her head gave the means for securing the grenades; these arm-cases could all three be drawn within the vessel, though remaining hermetically fastened to her. He found means could be arranged for an explorer to leave and return to the vessel, when she had reached the bottom, without allowing any water to enter, and that the man could take with him a sufficient amount of air, without any connection with the interior. Thus the use of the hyponaut in pearl-fishing, scientific purposes, recovery of wrecks, and war operations would be much enhanced. The funds at his disposal did not, however, allow him to provide the diving chamber; and, indeed, the work was considered a merely experimental one, and he could not have carried out his proposed application of atmospheric power on so small a scale.
The great men of science at St. Petersburg had declared officially that “if Herr Bauer’s plan for submarine navigation did not succeed, they believed no other would ever solve the problem.” And now, November 2nd, 1855, the Russian admiralty entered into possession of the completed “hyponaut.” But all these last months a great entanglement of very dirty red tape had been gathering round the hands of our inventor. Prince Constantine and Baron Mangle, Minister of Marine, had in vain given all their influence to forward the work; the Admiralty had always found new hindrances in the way, and now the vessel was at last finished, the ice had set in, and there was no resource but to remove it from St. Petersburg to Cronstadt, to test its powers.
