00:23Hello out there. Peabody here. Today, Sherman and I are going back to the year 1900.
00:28What was happening then, Mr. Peabody?
00:30Oh, quite a number of things, Sherman, but we shall concentrate on a gentleman named John Holland, who invented one
00:35of the first submarines.
00:36We entered the wayback machine and were immediately transported to a dock just off Long Island Sound.
00:42At the end of the pier floated an ungainly looking object. As we neared it, a hatch suddenly popped open
00:47and up came John Holland.
00:49If you're from the Navy Department, you may as well go home. My submarine is a failure.
00:56What do you mean a failure? Won't it run?
00:57Oh, it runs all right, but not like a submarine. Watch.
01:02Reaching below, Holland started the engine, then pulled the lever which caused the submarine to dive underwater.
01:06However, this submarine did just the opposite.
01:09Golly, Mr. Peabody, he's got a helicopter.
01:12Turning off the power, Holland returned to the surface.
01:15That's my problem. I'm supposed to test this ship for the Navy, but they'll never buy it if it won't
01:20go underwater.
01:21What time is the Navy supposed to be here?
01:22Two.
01:23Then we haven't much time. Quickly, we'll search for rocks.
01:26Rocks?
01:26Ballast, Mr. Holland. If we can get enough weight into your helicopter.
01:31Submarine.
01:31Oh, sorry. Why, then it will descend.
01:34Thanks to the rock-bound Atlantic coast, we procured all the ballast we needed.
01:37The submarine went under.
01:39And so did the pier, and so did Sherman and I.
01:42Heavy rocks they have in these parts.
01:44Holland surfaced his craft, took us aboard, and drove into shore.
01:47And who should be standing there but two admirals from the Navy Department.
01:51Ahoy there, Holland. Get ready for a trial run.
01:55Keep underwater for exactly one hour, and we'll buy your ship.
01:59John Holland insisted that Sherman and I go with him, and we agreed, knowing, of course, it could make a
02:03better story.
02:04I'm all set to pull the descent lever.
02:06Hope she goes down and not up.
02:09She will.
02:10And she did.
02:11We reached 30 fathoms in nothing flat.
02:13Oh, Mr. Holland, is your sub always as wet as this?
02:16Oh, gracious me. I must have left the tub running.
02:19What he really did was leave the hatch open.
02:21By the time I closed it, we were practically waterlogged.
02:24Never fear. I'll have this water out of here in a jiffy.
02:27With that, Holland rushed to the nearest porthole, opened it, and began bailing at a breakneck pace.
02:32Mr. Holland, sir, I think more water's coming in than out.
02:35Sherman was right. It was up to me to solve the problem.
02:38In the sub's galley, I came across 14 old tea kettles.
02:40I didn't bother to question their value, but instead set them to curtain on the stove.
02:45Are we having tea, Mr. Peabody?
02:47No, we're having steam.
02:49Inside of 30 minutes, I had boiled away every drop of ocean in the sub.
02:53It's getting late. We better surface, or else we'll miss the Navy's deadline.
02:56Sherman and I both agreed, but the submarine didn't. It wouldn't budge.
03:00I'm giving her all she's got. You'd think that something was sitting on us.
03:05A most accurate assumption. Something was using us for a chair.
03:08The largest and most ferocious-looking octopus I'd ever seen.
03:12Let's face it, we're trapped.
03:14Don't you worry, Mr. Holland. Mr. Peabody will get rid of that octopus.
03:18What do you think I am, Sherman? Marine land?
03:20I puzzled over the problem for what must have been a good three seconds,
03:24and then acted without hesitation.
03:26I need a fishbowl and a fountain pen.
03:28The fishbowl, I can understand. But a fountain pen?
03:32You're going to write underwater?
03:33Something like that. I inverted the fishbowl, wore it over my head like a diver's helmet.
03:38Then, with the fountain pen in hand, I opened the hatch, climbed out, and marched forward to meet my adversary.
03:43Be careful, Mr. Peabody!
03:45Yes, that's the only pen I've got!
03:48The octopus glowered and came at me.
03:50Then, instead of attacking, he produced eight tennis balls and proceeded to juggle.
03:54I knew that in order for us to get away, I must prove myself superior to him in every way.
04:00I borrowed the tennis balls, added three clams and the lobster, and juggled right back at him.
04:05Needless to say, he became quite infuriated.
04:07Now, an infuriated octopus invariably blinds his victims with an inky fluid.
04:12Then, he attacks.
04:13Before he could do so, I aimed my fountain pen and let him have a one-week supply of indelible
04:17ink right between the eyes.
04:19I had beaten him to the draw.
04:22Congratulations, Mr. Holland.
04:23You surfaced at exactly the prescribed time.
04:26The Navy will buy your submarine.
04:29And so, as Sherman and I watched from the shore, the admirals sailed the submarine away.
04:33As for John Holland, he wasted no time in moving to a beach in New Jersey where he constructed a
04:37submarine 9,000 feet long.
04:409,000 feet long? He must have sunk.
04:42It did.
04:43And so, he merely cut off both ends and made a tunnel out of it.
04:47Really, Mr. Peabody?
04:48Well, of course. You've heard of the Holland Tunnel, haven't you?
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