Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 253, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1910 — Shooting Sharks With Water. [ARTICLE]

Shooting Sharks With Water.

When he is working in water infested by sharks and other sea monsters likely to do him harm, the diver has at present to rely for his safety on the use of the knife, or, failing that, on a quick return to the surface. Now comes the invention of Capt. Grobl, a German diving instructor, who has constructed a rifle which can be fired under water, and is designed for the better arming of the diver. The most remarkable thing about this is that it fires, not bullets, but water, which is propelled with such force that it has an extraordinary power of penetration. Indeed, the inventor himself has pierced armor plate of medium thickness with the water jet from his weapon. The rifle has a stout barrel and is loaded with a cartridge cased in india rubber. It is worth recalling, perhaps, that experiments were made in the sixties with a submarine rifle firing small explosive projectiles by means of compressed air, but the inventor never got beyond the experimental stage and no details of it are to be had.