The Traitor's Stain (wattys 2019)

Chapter Ten: Norwalk, Connecticut

"Here it is," Jacob said as he lead Ben to his tent, where he'd been working on the redesign for the Turtle since Washington had given him the go-ahead. Which had been about... God, almost a full day, ago. And Ben was fairly confident that Jacob hadn't slept a wink, judging by the dark circles under his eyes. "Now, I only want honest opinions, alright? Don't tell me it looks good if it doesn't even look seaworthy to you."

"Wait: it might not even be seaworthy-"

Before Ben could even finish his sentence, Jacob ripped away the tent flap like some sort of magician.

"Ta-da," a sweaty, dirtier-than-usual Caleb said, holding a hand out to the new Turtle.

The first thing Ben noticed was the size: it was far larger than the first Turtle, big enough to fit two men instead of one. And, judging by the bulbous windows, it was built to do just that. The rudder in the back was now accompanied by a small engine with a propeller, and a mechanical arm stretched out from beneath the second window, on the bottom of the craft. It kind of looked like an odd combination between a claw and a drill. Certainly far more technologically advanced than the original Turtle, but...

"Are you confident that this won't just sink to the bottom of the ocean?" Ben asked, looking back at Jacob.

"Of course," Jacob said. "Tell me: how familiar are you with ship design?"

Enough to know that really heavy things tend to not float. Or bob back up to the surface. "Not much."

"Alright," Jacob said. "Well, at the bottom of most modern vessels, there's something called a ballast, which serves to steady the craft. These ballasts are made of a variety of materials, but the most advanced of them have ballast tanks full of water, which can be emptied out so you can anchor closer to shore."

"I'm going to assume that this works on some sort of ballast system," Ben said.

"Correct," Jacob said. "This new model of Turtle has a double hull, which also serves as a balast. Water can be let in through two switches, and can be pumped out using a set of handheld bellows. Both the sailor at the helm and the sailor working the arm have access to them."

"And how do they breathe while they're down there?"

"This Turtle has a set of gills on the top hatch, away from the ballasts," Jacob explained. "I found plans for an air filtration system among my father's things, and they work: the sailors operating this submersible can stay in the water as long as they want!"

"Pretty neat, eh?" Caleb said with a grin, playfully elbowing Ben in the arm. "I'll take your apologyfor doubting myself and Jacob here. Right now, if you would."

"Hang on," Ben said as he walked around the Turtle, inspecting it further. "The biggest problem with the original Turtle was the fact that there wasn't a way to attach the explosives to the hulls of ships. How did you solve that?"

"I think a little demonstration might serve best," Jacob said. He looked over at Caleb. "Can you go man arm controls? Knock on the hull when you're ready."

"Aye aye, captain," Caleb said with a mock salute.

Jacob pulled of the bit from the end of the arm as Caleb climbed into the Turtle, revealing that, in essence, the bit was a giant screw. "All explosives rigged with the Turtle will have one of these attached to them, which are attached to the Turtle like so." He put the screw back and fastened it to the arm with what appeared to be a set of special clamps. "The man manning the arm can now fasten the charges to the hull of the ship right where he wants it."