Joplin High School - Joplimo Yearbook (Joplin, MO)

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In 1910 Captain R. E. Scott set sail from England with the Terra Nova. His purpose was to make extensive scientific investigations. He was quite surprised to find a Norwegian party sailing around in the Antarctic Ocean under the direction of Captain Roald Amundsen. Amundsen had been sent on a trip to the north pole, but had decided to trythe south, and managed to get there without being discovered. Scott reached the pole, but was bitterly disappointed to find that Amundsen had preceded him and set up a tent there to let him know that he had been there. Scott and the men who went into the interior with him perished there on the return trip. The latest explorer to sail to the Antarctic is Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. who is now there for the second time. On his first trip he took the steel ship Eleanor Bolling and his flagship, the City of New York. The latter ship is old, and has been battered by ice and gales that would have demolished any other ship. It carried Roald Amundsen on one of its first voyages into the north, on a Greenland sealing trip. This ship is excellent for Antarctic work because its bottom is built to lift the boat should it be caught in a freeze. The sides are three and one-third feet thick, and the ribs are only a few inches apart. A ship of lesser strength than this could not have withstood the ice and gales of the Antarctic. On his second trip Byrd again took it for these very reasons. Had there been no ship like this, the men would probably never have returned from Little America, for one gale loaded it with two hundred tons of ice. a load which would have sunk another, and yet it pulled through to bring the men back to civilization. Thus, ships have been used throughout history in the expansion and enlightenment of the inhabitants of the World. ' SUBMARINES Submarines were known and used as long ago as the American Revolution- ary War. The first submarine, a wooden ship, was invented by David Bush- nell and was used by Sergeant Lee to go under the bow of the British ship Eagle and attach a magazine of explosives to its hull. A little later than this Robert Fulton built a submarine and offered it to Napoleon to aid him in his invasion of England. However, submarines were not yet efficient enough to become as valuable as they are today. Experi- ments have been made continuously to improve them, and shortly after the Civil War valuable improvements were made by John P. Holland and Simon Lake. The submarines were then a much more effective weapon of war. By means of oil engines the vessels can maintain a high speed on the sur- face of the ocean. However, because of fumes from the oil, the submarines use the less powerful electric motors to propel them under the surface at an average speed of twelve miles an hour. For this reason they dive only when necessary. The electric motors are practically noiseless and heatless, and in addition leave no bubbles to warn the enemy. The boats have, besides the ordinary rudder, two rudders placed horizon- tally to help make them go up or down. However, the greatest force for vertical motion is the weight of the ocean water, which is let in through valves Sixteen

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many of them United States citizens. Some of the passengers had received tele- phone calls, and notices had been printed in the newspapers warning them not to sail. A few took this advice and canceled their reservations. The ship entered, on the seventh of May, the danger zone created around the British Isles by Germany. Captain Turner ordered the life-boats lowered to deck-rail level for use in emergency. She had sufficient lifeboats for 2,000 persons Without crowding. A tenseness which did not lessen with the passing hours, gripped those on board. Then, without any warning whatsoever, the ship was struck. A second torpedo struck the boat, making a hole large enough for a railroad train. Immediately a third torpedo appeared, but missed its mark entirely. Double-quick order for the lowering of the lifeboats was given, and the women and children soon filled them. The ship then fell on one side, making most of the lifeboats useless. In twenty minutes she had sunk and 1,198 lives had gone with her. The Wireless was no good after the first five minutes, because the dynamos were flooded. Nearly twelve hun- dred people were drowned in twenty minutes without warning! The Germans tried to excuse themselves with sieve-like excuses. Our relations were strained with Germany so near the breaking point that they could not last for long. Soon we severed them entirely, and Germany, instead of impressing the World with her greatness, as she had hoped to do by sinking the Lusitania, found that her murderous acts on the sea eventually cost her nearly everything she possessed. ANTARCTIC SAILING The Iirst two ships to cross the Antarctic circle were the Resolution and the Adventure, vessels averaging four hundred tons each, under the command of James Cook, who was sent out by the British Admiralty. Cook did not discover any land, but he aroused an interest in it that set other people on their way. Second in importance to Cook's voyage was an expidition sent out by the Russian government with Bellingshausen in charge, with two five-hun- dred-ton ships for the trip. After a great deal of trouble, he reached a small island now named Peter I, the first land ever seen inside the Antarctic circle. The next week he saw at a distance of forty miles the larger island of Alexander I, but was unable to reach it. The United States sent its first expedition under Lieutenant Charles Wilkes in four small vessels that tried to sail south of the point reached by Cook, but adverse weather conditions kept them back. They reported seeing land in various places dimly, but were unable to reach it. Captain Rose was sent out by the British government for the purpose of scientific surveys. He had two small ships of about three hundred fifty tons, the Erebus and the Terror. He made several important discoveries, to be confirmed by explorers of the next century. H. M. S. Challenger was the first steamship to cross the Antarctic circle. Sir .Iohn Murray of this ship made some discoveries as to land composition. Fiflccn

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until the required depth is reached. When this water is forced out, the sub- marines rise to the surface again, Compressed air is used for two different things in submarine warfare. It is used to maintain fresh air in the interior while underwater, thus enabling the occupants to remain below the surface for several hours, and it is used to force the torpedoes out of the guns. The invention of the periscope has greatly reduced the danger of sub- marine sailing. One of the principal dangers it has almost done away with, is that of running into, or being run into by, a surface ship. This accident is always fatal because the ships are so lightly constructed that the very touch of a ship's hull will tear open their shells and send them to the bottom. SAUCY TUG Saucy tug, you ought to be A model of humility. Have you ever traveled far? Did you ever win a war? Have you any claim to fame? Does anyone recall your name? Tiny tug, I want to know Why you always come and go With that impious air of pride. What pert secret do you hide? Is it proper, now, to mock The bigger, better boats at dock? Saucy tug, is it because Gigantic liners always pause And let you guide them in and out And nose their helpless hulks about? You have conquered and defied The great. Of course you're satisfied. -Margaret Calbeck, '34. Second place in poetry contest. Seucnre n