, on a line with the magazine. The man who steered her (the
_Hundley_) knew where the vital spots of the steamer were and he
did his work well. When the explosion took place the ship
trembled all over as if by the shock of an earthquake, and seemed
to be lifted out of the water, and then sank stern foremost,
heeling to port as she went down.

Only a part of the _Housatonic's_ complement was saved. Of the
_Hundley_ no trace was discovered and she was believed to have
escaped. Three years later, however, divers who had been sent down
to examine the hull of the _Housatonic_ found the little submarine
stuck in the hole made by her attack on the larger ship and inside
of her the bodies of her entire crew.

The submarines and near-submarines built in the United States during
the Civil War were remarkable rather for what they actually
accomplished than for what they contributed towards the development
of submarine boats. Perhaps the greatest service which they rendered
in the latter direction was that they proved to the satisfaction of
many scientific men that submarine boats really held vast
possibilities as instruments of naval warfare.

France still retained its lead in furnishing new submarine
projects. One of these put forward in 1861 by Olivier Riou deserves
mention because it provided for two boats, one driven by steam and
one by electricity. Both of these submarines were built, but
inasmuch as nothing is known of the result of their trials, it is
safe to conclude that neither of them proved of any practical value.

Two years later, in 1863, two other Frenchmen, Captain Bourgeois and
M. Brun, built at Rochefort a submarine 146 feet long and 12 feet in
diameter which they called the _Plongeur_. They fitted it with a
compressed-air engine of eighty horse-power. Extensive trials were
made with this boat but resulted only in the discovery that, though
it was possible to sink or rise with a boat of this type without
great difficulty, it was impossible to keep her at an even keel for
any length of time.

During the next few years, undoubtedly as a result of the submarine
activities during the Civil War, a number of projects were put
forward in the United States, none of which, however, turned out
successfully. One of them, for which a man by the name of Halstead
was responsible, was a submarine built for the United States Navy in
1865. It was not tried out until 1872 and it was not even successf