the anchor outside the boat and an automatic knife
which cuts the cable should the anchor be fouled.

[Illustration: Permission of _Scientific American_.

_The Method of Attack by Nautilus._]

Immediately aft of the torpedo chamber, cut off by a water-tight
partition, is the battery compartment. It gets its name because of
the fact, that beneath the deck which is full of traps readily
raised are the electric storage batteries of anywhere from 60 to 260
cells according to the size of the boat. This room is commonly used
as the loafing place for the crew, being regarded as very spacious
and empty. In it are nothing but the electric stove, the kitchen
sink, the various lockers for food and all the housekeeping
apparatus of the submarine. Mighty trim and compact they all are.
The builder of twentieth century flats with his kitchenettes and his
in-door beds might learn a good deal from a study of the smaller
type of submarine. Next aft come the officers' staterooms, rather
smaller than prison cells, each holding a bunk, a bureau, and a
desk. Each holds also a good deal of moisture, for the greatest
discomfort in submarine life comes from the fact that everything is
dripping with the water resulting from the constant condensation of
the air within.

The great compartment amidships given over to machinery is a place
to test the nerves. The aisle down the centre is scarcely two feet
wide and on each side are whirling wheels, engines, and electric
motors. Only the photographs can give a clear idea of the crowded
appearance of this compartment. It contains steering wheels, the
gyroscopic compass, huge valves, dials showing depth of submergence,
Kingston levers, motor controllers, all polished and shining, each
doing its work and each easily thrown out of gear by an ignorant
touch.

The author once spending the night on a United States man-of-war was
shown by the captain to his own cabin, that officer occupying the
admiral's cabin for the time. At the head of the bunk were two small
electric push buttons absolutely identical in appearance and about
two inches apart. "Push this button," said the captain genially, "if
you want the Jap boy to bring you shaving water or anything else.
But be sure to push the right one. If you push the other you will
call the entire crew to quarters at whatever hour of night the bell
may ring."

The possibility of mistaking the button rested heavily on the
writer's nerves all night. A somewhat