The French have seemed to find an extraordinary fascination in submarine navigation. It was very great before Jules Verne published his fascinating romance, “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” and became even more enthusiastic than ever. Of the early French experiments it is not necessary to say much. One of the first of the reliable French submarines was the _Goubet_, 10 feet in length, 6 feet high and 3 feet wide. This vessel was succeeded in the estimation of the French naval authorities by the _Gymnote_, which proved as remarkable a forerunner of a type as the _Dreadnought_ did of the new type of battleships, and, like the _Dreadnought_, she has been steadily superseded by improvements upon her design. The _Gymnote_ was designed by M. Gustave Zédé, although the credit of suggesting her in the first instance is sometimes ascribed to M. Dupuy de Lôme. She was launched in September, 1888, and was cigar-shaped. She displaced about 50 tons with dimensions of 59 feet in length, 6 feet in depth, and 5 feet 7 inches in breadth, and her electrical motor was supplied with the necessary power from a large installation of accumulators. Her conning tower was telescopic, and she had a periscope to enable her commander to take observations without coming to the surface; she was one of the first vessels, if not the first, to be fitted with a periscope or optical tube, the principle of which is that a mirror placed at a certain angle above the tube has its reflection reproduced by another mirror placed entirely parallel to it at the bottom of the tube. She carried two Whitehead torpedoes. M. Zédé planned another submarine which was launched in June, 1893, and its electrical installation nearly poisoned its crew owing to the fumes given off. Another _Goubet_ followed, but was so slow that the Government rejected her. Since then, especially in the last few years, the French Government has gone in for a singular variety of these vessels. Some of them have undergone marvellous tests with conspicuous success. But none have attempted such a feat as two British submarines have accomplished, viz., from England to Hong Kong. They were towed part of the way, and escorted all of it, but their own power was not allowed to be idle. [Illustration: THE “TRANSPORTER.” _Photograph supplied by Messrs. Vickers, Ltd._] [Illustration: U.S. GUNBOAT “PADUCAH.” _Photograph supplied by the Gas Engine and Power Co._] It is now attempted to propel French submarines by Diesel engines for surface work, and by electric motors for underwater work; the result of the experiment is not known at the time of writing.