"It was in these Holland boats that the famous white mice were kept in cages. White mice are far more sensitive than man to the ill-effects of (carbon monoxide) gas, and their behaviour in the submarine (excited squeaking) gave warning to the crew of its presence. If a mouse actually died, it was high time to come to the surface, open up everything, and blow the boat through with the fans. The presence of petrol vapour or battery gases, which were also dangerous, could be detected in good time by smell".
Left to their own devices
Out in the Bay, Lieut Arnold-Forster and his crew were gradually taught the rudiments of submarining before being left to their own devices. The Holland had space for 'a crew of 8 and two passengers' so the British crew went to sea in groups until each had received his very basic training.
On returning to America, Captain Cable took with him drawings of Bacon's periscope; very soon, all American submarines had these fitted.
Lt Arnold-Forster determined that he could manage to operate his boat with a seven man crew and that became operating policy.
When the second Holland boat had been completed at Barrow, Lieut Arnold-Forster decided to take the first two boats away from the fatherly stewardship of Messrs Vickers down to Portsmouth so that the crew could proceed with their own refinements by experiment, experience, trial and error.
Improved periscopes
The later Holland boats 3-5 received a more sophisticated periscope from the Dublin optician Howard Grub, based on Bacon's optical tube but which had prisms to enable the operator to view adequately all round without the image rotating as well! This was the first real periscope, but could not be patented because a similar medical device had been patented for viewing the bowel!
Achievements of the crew
Of the original crew of Holland 1, the captain Lieut Arnold-Forster rose to the rank of Rear-Admiral, Lieut Bowles-Evans became a Commander, Lieut Moreton became a Captain, and Robert Spence became an Engineer Captain and engineer inspector of later boats built at Barrow.
A proud safety record
It must be said in conclusion that, despite several mishaps in the early pioneering days, the Holland Class remained in Royal Navy service for around 10 years, during which time not one life was lost from any cause.
Further reading
If you are interested in learning more about the pioneering days of RN submarines, the source of quotations repeated herein is Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon's authoritative book "From 1900 Onwards" published by Hutchinson & Co in 1940.
For further reference, an excellent account of trials in Holland Number Three written by Rear-Admiral C G Brodie is unexpectedly contained in the chapter entitled 'Early Days in 'A' Boats' in the book "The Submariners - Life in British Submarines 1901-1999" by John Winton, published by Constable & Co, London in 1999 [ISBN 0094:788:103]
