Like Mr. Holland, I also had difficulty on our first submergence in always knowing where we were going. Our compass was first installed in the boat itself, where it was surrounded by steel. The compass adjuster had searched for and found what he considered the most _neutral_ place in the ship to install the compass, and had adjusted it by magnets in the usual manner, but it was too "loggy" for correct navigation and we were forced finally to install it in a bronze binnacle directly over the conning tower, where it could be viewed by mirrors from the steersman's station. This cut out most of the adjusting magnets, and the compass was nearly accurate on all courses. Submarine navigation thus became reliable. On the completion of these changes the _Argonaut_ was taken down the Chesapeake Bay to Hampton Roads, where several months were spent in examining the bottom conditions in the bay and out on the ocean, and in locating and picking up cables and in examining wrecks. The Spanish-American War was on at this time, and an effort was made to interest the government officials in charge of the mines at Fortress Monroe. I tried to get some of the officers to go down in the _Argonaut_ and see how easily observation mine cables could be located and cut if desired, as I was making almost daily submerged runs in their vicinity. Finally I received peremptory orders not to submerge within a mile of the mine fields, as I might accidentally sever one of the cables, and then, as the officer in charge said, "There would be the devil to pay in Washington." It was about this time that Admiral Sampson's fleet was holding at great expense its long vigil outside of Santiago, waiting for Cervera's fleet to come out. Our fleet was kept outside the harbor for fear of the mines, while here in Hampton Roads all this time was a vessel capable of clearing away the mine fields, but which was not given serious consideration, as it was thought that the submarine was impracticable. Experiments were also made showing the possibility of establishing submarine telephone stations at known locations on the bottom of the ocean. In January, 1898, while the _Argonaut_ was submerged, telephonic conversation was held from submerged stations with Baltimore, Washington, and New York. In 1898, also, the _Argonaut_ made the trip from Norfolk to New York under her own power and unescorted. In her original form she was a cigar-shaped craft, with only a small percentage of reserve buoyancy in her surface cruising condition. We were caught out in the severe November northeast storm of 1898 in which over two hundred vessels were lost, and we did not succeed in reaching a harbor in the "horseshoe" back of Sandy Hook until three o'clock in the morning. The seas were so rough, and broke over her conning tower in such masses, that I was obliged to lash myself fast to prevent being swept overboard. It was freezing weather, and I was soaked and covered with ice on reaching harbor.