alongside, and from that moment on, I was the guest of the vessel,
recipient of a hospitality and courtesy for which I here make grateful
acknowledgment to my friends and hosts.

[Sidenote: The ship is most skillfully handled.]

The mother-ship of the submarines was a combination of flagship,
supply-station, repair-shop, and hotel. The officers of the submarines
had rooms aboard her, which they occupied when off patrol, and the crews
off duty slung their hammocks 'tween decks. The boat was pretty well
crowded, having more submarines to look after than she had been built to
care for; but thanks to the skill of her officers, everything was going
as smoothly as could be. The vessel had, so to speak, a submarine
atmosphere. Everybody aboard lived, worked, and would have died for the
submarine. They believed in the submarine, believed in it with an
enthusiasm which rested on pillars of practical fact.

[Sidenote: The heroism of the men who tried the first submarine.]

The chief of staff was the youngest captain in our navy; a man of hard
energy and keen insight; one to whom our submarine service owes a very
genuine debt. His officers were specialists: the surgeon of the vessel
had been for years engaged in studying the hygiene of submarines, and
was constantly working to free the atmosphere of the vessels from
deleterious gases and to improve the living conditions of the crews. I
remember listening one night to a history of the submarine, told by one
of the officers of the staff; and for the first time in my life I came
to appreciate at its full value the heroism of the men who risked their
lives in the first cranky, clumsy, uncertain little vessels, and the
imagination and the faith of the men who believed in the type. Ten years