Monday,
HONGKONG TELEGRAPH
April 8, 1940.
MAGAZINE PAGE
HISTORY'S JUDGMENT ON THE SUBMARINE
"An Abominable Weapon"
TWICE during the last three.....
centuries the British Ad- miralty refused to accept sub- marines as weapons. On both occasions the inventors were aliens.
On a sunny day in 1624 stands were constructed for a big audience near the mouth of the Thames. Onc, Myn- hoer Cornelius van Drebbel, from Alkmaar in Holland, had promised that he would drive a new kind of ship under the water.
King James I gave the signal for this sensational performance to begin, and a strange-looking little vessel put off from the shore, cheared by thousands of doncza.
Lon-
The boat reached mid-stream sinit.. to began suddenly and When she had disappeared, the King entered a row-boat which brought him to the spot where the vessel had vanished.
HE could see her lying at a depth of three or four yards on the river bottom.
By EGON LARSEN
Bauer's Submarine of 1851.
Two hours later the first sub- and her marine appeared again,
larded-obviously fifteen sailors well and healthy after their strange adventure.
The King expressed his satisfac. tion to Mynheer van Drebbel, and asked the naval experts to give him their opinion of this new mon-of-
war.
But the Admiralty did not form a very high opinion of the Dutch- man's invention. They dissuaded the King from introducing sub- marines into the British Navy.
This magic instrument
YOU SAW the news last week that the Hongkong Government telephone exchanges were to become auto- matic. It probably didn't interest you, unless you were a civil servant.
Not in an age when you can talk from ship to shore, from one side of the globe to the other. But if Graham Bell were to return to this world he would tell us how- lucky we were.
He would recall how on March 10, 1870, he said over 100ft. of wire, "Mr. Watson, come here; I want you." That was the first telephone speech ever made-not much more than 60 years ago. To-day there are 35,000,000 telephones in the world, 3,000,000 of them in the British Isles.
Yet the telephone constantly provides uncanny examples of its near- human ingenulty. In your radio
parts of the world clear pictures through phone, you can receive from all receiver, which, after all, is only a tele
the same sort of telephone as you have in your home.
News and messages are exchanged on the teleprinter, a telephonic typewriter whereby every word transmitted is simultaneously typed on a duplicate machine at the other end.
But telephone
engineers are men of insatiable ambition. They say we have seen only the beginning of wonders. All the time they are ex- perimenting with some new and incredible way of bringing us a little nearer the other end of the world.
Their experiments have been fruit- telligible a conference as if they had ful enough in the past few years, all sat round the same table.
a telephone Paris, for example, has
You are more familiar, perhaps, exchange that forecasts the weather.
with the iden (if not the practice) of You "Invalides 8800," and
dial cheery voice
says, "Here is the wea- sitting in a drawing room and talk- ther forecast for the Parts region ing to an uncle In California. But what goes on while you and Chilfor- during the next 12 hours."
fascina-
In the same city you dlui "S.V.P." nia are conversing makes a
a story of special ("you please") to be connected ing story-and
since all calls from English Interest, with a bureau that answers all kinds North and Central Amerien to Eu- of queries and provides messengers
rope and from South Africa to In- run errands. Paris and Berlin have a service for dla pass through the London Inter- "absent subscribers." If you expect national Exchange. Faraday Built- to be away for long from your home Ing, Queen Victoria-street, E.C.
to
or
office you can have your line By international agreement the transferred to a department where greater part of the speech between callers' names and messages are re- British and Continental operators is corded.
man. Fluency is essential, for lime is money. The operators are skilled
Another half
century and
later,
we find
Corporal
-Wil-
helm Bauer,
Bavarian artil-
lery
expert
fighting with the
Prussian
against
army
the
Danes In ilol-
stein.
In his leisure. hours he con- structed the mo- del of a curious ship able to suil under water.
The officers of hts regiment col- to enable him to lected a fund build a real submarine; the balance of 200 talets being paid by the Prussian War Ministry.
The first of February, 1851, was Wilhelm Bauer's great day. On that day he presented his boat in the harbour of Kiel before thou- sands of spectators and many off- cers of the Admiralty.
The vessel was small, it carried only three men-Bauer and two sailors and it could not remain hour ander more than half an water the air giving This time.
out after
The boat subnerged and dis- The crowd walled appeared. patiently for twenty minutes, after which time the submarine was supposed to emerge.
But nothing happened, it could not be seen, and no sign of life came from under the water..
Through a bole in the wall water had penetrated. The boat had sunk to a depth of fifty-two feel. If the wall had broken, they were lost.
But Wilhelm Bauer had his own Idens. He knew that there was just one change; to open the upper hatch.
And this hatch could be opened only when the pressure of air in side the boat equals the pressure of the water from outside.
For hours they waited-in a boat emerge which was supposed to
níter
twenty minutes. At last Bauer was able to open the hatch his theory was right. A whirl
of air
nir seized the three men and threw them up with terrific force.
Under the eyes of the bewildered spectators three men were sudden- ly shot out of the water as if they had been fired by a gun,
They fell back into the water and were picked up by rescue bonts. This
turn unexpected changed the whole performance from tragedy to comedy.
Everybody laughed. And their laughter killed Wilhelm Bauer's invention.
Prussia was unwilling to spend any more money on this folly. Bavaria, Bauer's native country, nor the had neither the const money, Austria declined.
Finally Wilhelm Bauer went to to England. He sent his plans Prince Albert. The Prince passed them on to the Admiralty. Months later Bauer received the Admir- alty's answer:
"We do not require vessels of this type. It is an abominable weapon, We prefer to fight as sailors on board ship rather than in such a bor!"
Spotting The Rank
– LIEUT.-COMMANDER (E) and ENGINEER LIEUTEN- .ANT-COMMANDER
war
This rank is distinguishabla from Lieutenant-Commander in the executivo branch by strips of purple cloth between the gold stripes.
When conducted in English, French, or Ger-
began there wore 123 Licutonant-Com- manders (E) and one Engineer Then there is the "conterence" call, linguists.
on Lieutenant Commandor The voice of a colier in London of special interest to the film world,
Of these a the active list. where all the men who matter seem talking to San Francisco travels by
In land lines from Faraday Building to to be in perpetual conference.
certain proportion were charge of the machinery of destroyers, escort vessels .or other small ships, while others were deputising for Comman- dors, (E) or Engineer Com- mandors in the engine-rooms of bigger vessels, such as bat- ticships, battlo cruisers, air- craft carriors or cruisors.
to
then
It came into the news last year, Rugby radio station, and thence when we read that Alexander Korda, either by long-wave wireless sitting in his New York apartment, Houlton (Maine) or by short wave to was connected with his American Netcong (New Jersey). It another representative (sitting in
passes again over land lines to New New York apartment), Mr. Irving York and on to San Francisco Asher (at his home near Windsor), and anouler executive at Hampstent: and the four had as long and in-
BOUND FOR HONGKONG
Cecil Wilson
Was This Your Verdict?
The PROBLEM OF HANS.-Ifans Lindl was not exempted from millt-
Conjecture On Dostina-ary service,
tion Of Mauretania
Honolulu, Apr. 8.
The liner Mauretania salled today for an undisclosed destination after taking on 3,000 tons of fuel oil.
One bigh source said the vessel had clearance papers for Hongkong
Judge Davies told him: "Ever since Hitler's rise to power, and especially since the Munich crisis, you have seen the constant possibility of war between Germany and Britain, and all the time you have enjoyed the benefits of living here."
Hana preferred democracy. So he must defend it. Do you agree?
and was apparently, prepared to go to preparations were being made for
accommodallon of troops
either the Antipodes or Hongkong. A the member of the crew disclosed that United Press.
Or moro
In the latter caso the offi- car so employed is invariably known on board at "Tho Bonior angineer," briefly still, as "the senior," implying that ho senior to the officer in chargo of the machinery.
noxt
85
(E)
On the retired list at the same data there word Lieutenant-Commandors and 231 Engincor Lieutenant- CommandorE.
Lay, Supreme Court,
HIS MASTER'S VOICE
presents
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Scherezade, Carnaval Swan lake, clo,
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Funtcall. Funicula
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Cavatina. (Raff)
1. But, 5ỷ 1. Pas, Diliman rinis versed
"I told him 90 per cont of my money goes for clothes and I just couldn't live on starvation wages any longer!"
PRINTERS' and other 'Howlers'
UTHORS must, think, feci much admiration for the-gentle- men who set up the type of their books and articles. Even if they do not try their patience by the atrocious handwriting which some bookmen are not ashamed to cul- tivate, they must be grateful for the small amount of work which imposes upon proof-correcting
them.
I was once editing a book of essays, and one of my collabora tors had his essay returned with apologies. The publisher said such a thing had never happened to his Arm since he brought out Dean Stanley's books. I could not read it myself. A man owes it to his neighbours to wrile legibly.
But we are none of us Infalli- ble. Fowler, in his excellent book on Modern English usage, gives a list of "misprints to be guarded de- against"-e.g., deprecate for preciate, Inculcate for inoculate, principal for principle. This is alí very well; but when a reviewer calls attention to what he politely a misprint, he knows that it calls is probably the author who has made a howler in spelling or
grammar.
*
one
- Even Thomas Hardy confuses predict and predicate, and might make a long list of sole- cisms by famous authors, includ- ing Byron's "there let him lay."
Mr. Punch week by weeke makes great fun of the typographical blunders of provincial and colonial
Some of them newspapers. almost too good to be true. Here are a few that I have collected my selt
of them misprints, Bome of the misreportings:
others
arc
In praising the pulpit style of a deceased divine, the speaker sald that he spoke with the weight of a Barrow, and the elegance of a Jeremy Taylor. The report as- cribed to him the weight of a bar- row, and the elegance of a journey- man tailor..
geologist described a valley as:
blocks." This crratle oppeared as "crotic blacks," sug→ stesting one of the scenes in the "Arabian Nights" which are with- the drawn from the perusal of.
young,
of
aut
Other gems of misreporting are, "Those terrible old Greek god- desses the humanities (the Eum- enides). "We have broken breeches (bridges), we have burnt our boots (boate); honour, no less than other conalderations, forbids. us to retreat." "A little learning dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the aperient (Pierlan) spring."
IR
A well-known misprint described how "Sir Robert Peel and a party of Ads had good sport shooting pensanta on Sir Robert's estate." "The engine dashed against the cow, ond llterally cut it into two calves."
When
the Oxford prayer-books were being printed, some mis- chlevous, undergraduates changed as long as ye bath shall live" In the marringe service into "os long
8 yo both shall like."
By the Very Rev. W.R.INGE,
D.D.
Not long ago,
in a report of
a
sermon by
the late Bishop Burgs, I Was surprised to read:
Perhaps my God, though He be
far before,
May burn and bake me by the
hand...
He no doubt said. "turn" "take."
and
There is a very queer example in Chaucer. He speaks of "ship- pes hoppesteres." What could he mean by dancing ships? His Latin model spoke of "naves bellatrices" -war ships; the poet'read "baile- trices, ballet ships Instead battic sups,
of
A few years ago a distinguished general was opening a show of some kind at a proviricial town. The local paper meant to describe him as a "battic-scarred warrior." Unfortunately It
hatile-scored war Peared as
#n
"a
The editor did his best. We greatly regret the mistake; but no one could sup pose that we meant to impugn the courage of this gallant officer, of course, we meant to say "a bottle- scarred warrior." After this, it was better to let it alone,
Some young men were starting a new magazine, of which fearless outspokenness was to be a feature. "We intend to call a spade n spade. In the form "We intend to call a spade a spape," it was tess impressive.
Before the days of printing mis- takes were, of course, much more numerous. Textual criticism of manuscripts is a fine art. When the
words were not divided, it Was easy moke All kinds of mistakes, like those which in English have altered some familiar words. Beyg are now laught at school that an
ought to be
to be "a nndder." "a w" "an evt." "an orange" " A rather source of error is the marginal note, which the next scribe incor- porated in the text.
.
common
odd ex-
Sometimes it is obvious, as when theological discussion is start- you ingly broken by "You Ife, heretic!" Sometimes it is more doubtful. There amples of these "glosses," as they are called, in the New Testament. When the Church grEW more ascetle, four references to "fast- Ing." which seem not to be part of the original text, got in.
A rather obvious gloss is tho verse about the "whale's belly" in Matthew. As Christ had just re- futed
to give a "sign," it is not likely that He would offer one of precisely the same kind that He had refused to give. The parallel pausages made it clear that Jonah's preaching was the "sign."
Two miaurints have created new ought words: The Grampiana" to be "the Group'ans," and the word "eelt" for a fint kalfe has no authority except a mistake in the text of the Vulgate of Job xix., 24. "Derring-do," for desperate cotir- ake, is Wardour. Street English; this time' Edmund Spenser seems to be the culprit, misunderstanding. Chaucer,
Procession of the. Sirdar;
Midsummer nighis dream. Overture..Boston Symphony Orch.
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Solemn Melody."
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