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Submarine
Here I am Sergeant Ezra Lee, in 1775
more than twenty feet under water in a wooden submarine called the “Turtle”
because it looks like two turtles with their belly’s glued together. I am hot
and wiping sweat off my forehead with the back of my shirt sleeve. I have only
fifteen minutes of air left to attach the underwater mine, set the timer, and
get out of here. The air is beginning to smell like my sweaty socks and I have
been unable to screw this attachment to the H.M.S. Eagle. The hull of this ship
has been covered with harder copper than we had thought. Well one more try, twist, twist, push,
twist, the screw just won’t go in. I have got to get out of here, the air is
getting worse. I set the timer and turn loose the mine. There is enough black
powder to blow up three ships and me if I don’t hustle. The timer is set: now
to pull on the mine’s release line. My black smith muscles are quivering with
the strain, as I pull and tug, ah! there, there now it has finally released.
The mine is slowly floating upwards and soon one of the watch crew onboard the
ship above might see it. I am turning this tub around using the
rudder and the screw propeller. I wish I had three hands to do it with. Faster
and faster I turn the propeller’s hand crank in front of me to get this ship
moving at its maximum speed, three miles per hour. The tide that helped me get
here is now moving me away from the shore. It was suppose to have turned by now
and help me back to shore well! It’s not! The harder I try; I just don’t seem to
get anywhere. I wish that I could anchor here and wait it out, but time won’t
let me so I must try harder. Hay! What do you know? The tide has turned. Now
with a little luck I will make it back to shore before that mine explodes. The air is now really bad and I am
getting dizzy so I must go up. I hope that I am far enough away from the ship
so the English won’t see me. I stop turning the forward propeller and reach for
the handle overhead and turn it round and round with my right hand and pump the
water ballast out with my left hand. It is not empting fast enough, so I quit
turning the propeller and grab the other pump with my strong right hand. Soon
the depth gauge with its Fox Fire pointer glowing in the dark shows me it is
not far to the surface, where I crack the hatch and a small wave splashes over
the top, it is cold, but the fresh air is great. Back on shore with David Bushnell the
submarine’s inventor we watch silently as the mine explodes harmlessly. |
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