Ludwig Prandtl A Life for Fluid

Mechanics and Aeronautical Research

Michael Eckert
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Springer Biographies

Ludwig Prandtl
A Life for Fluid Mechanics
and Aeronautical Research

MICHAEL ECKERT
Springer Biographies
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13617
Michael Eckert

Ludwig Prandtl
A Life for Fluid Mechanics and Aeronautical
Research
Translated by David A. Tigwell

123
Michael Eckert
Deutsches Museum
Munich, Bayern, Germany

ISSN 2365-0613 ISSN 2365-0621 (electronic)

Springer Biographies
ISBN 978-3-030-05662-9 ISBN 978-3-030-05663-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05663-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018966436

Translation from the German language edition: Ludwig Prandtl: Strömungsforscher und Wessenschafts-
manager by Michael Eckert, © Springer-Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg 2017. All Rights Reserved.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
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Preface to the English Edition

For the community of aeronautical engineers and fluid dynamicists, Ludwig Prandtl
is a celebrity—not only in Germany. Yet the story of his life has found little
attention as the subject of scientific biography. The response to the German edition
shows that this neglect was undeserved.
Part of the delayed interest in Prandtl’s life is related to what has been named in
German “Vergangenheitsbewältigung”, mastering the past. In earlier accounts,
Prandtl’s scientific merits outshone his performance in the political arena. Exposing
his less laudable activities as an advisor for Göring’s Air Ministry still evokes
mixed feelings amongst some of his German admirers. Similar sensitivities may be
observed in the case of other German scientists whose Nazi past prevents their
unobstructed reverence. Prandtl’s political performance is all the more noteworthy
because he described himself as “non-political”. To unearth evidence for this
apparent contradiction has been one of the major challenges for Prandtl’s
biography.
Of course, the portrayal of political activities is not meant to detract from merits
in other areas. Prandtl’s international reputation as a pioneer of aeronautical
research and fluid mechanics is beyond dispute. In this regard, it is of particular
interest to observe the juxtaposition of science and technology which pervades
Prandtl’s professional life—from his affiliation with aeronautics to his nomination
for the Nobel Prize. As this dichotomy is shaped by national traditions and con-
ventions in different ways, Prandtl’s characterisation as “scientific engineer” should
be interpreted by readers of this English edition as a peculiar German feature.
Finally, I would like to extend my thanks from the preface to the German edition
to the translator, David Alan Tigwell, and Andreas Dillmann from the DLR for
providing the financial support. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the close interest of
Prandtl’s scientific heirs at Göttingen in this biography.

Munich, Germany Michael Eckert

November 2018

v
Preface to the German Edition

Ludwig Prandtl (1875–1953), as the “father of modern aerodynamics”, is respected

by a worldwide community of aeronautical engineers. His scientific achievements
are not simply limited to the field of aircraft aerodynamics, but also encompass the
entire spectrum of fluid mechanics. Ludwig Prandtl, ein Führer in der
Strömungslehre was the title of a book published to celebrate his 125th birthday, in
which leading researchers in the field of fluid mechanics honoured the work of their
master.1 The title made reference to Prandtl’s legendary “Führer durch die
Strömungslehre” (Essentials of Fluid Mechanics), which has been repeatedly
published, in many editions, and which, even today, still counts amongst the
standard works on fluid mechanics.2
Prandtl was highly respected by his contemporaries. It was his model student
Theodore von Kármán who gave him the name of “father of aerodynamics“.3
Nomenclature such as the “Prandtl number”, “Prandtl’s boundary layer”, “Prandtl’s
mixing length” and other specialist terms associated with his name serve as a
reminder, even today, of how, through his scientific endeavours, he has left a lasting
mark on various branches of science. However, until now, there has not been a
biography that has fulfilled the requirements of a modern history of science and
technology, but also provided a summary of Prandtl’s life and work which is
accessible to non-experts, as well.
This does not mean that Prandtl’s achievements have disappeared into obscurity.
His daughter has written a “Lebensbild” (biographical sketch) which provides a
portrait of Prandtl as a private person and father, drawing on numerous documents
passed down from the family.4 There are also historical accounts available from the
Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt (Aerodynamic Research Establishment) and the
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Strömungsforschung (Kaiser Wilheim Institute for

1
Meier (2000).
2
Oertel (2008), Oertel (2010).
3
von Kármán and Edson (1968, p. 97).
4
Vogel-Prandtl (2005).

vii
viii Preface to the German Edition

Fluid Mechanics), in which Prandtl served as director during his time in Göttingen.5
Prandtl acted locally as the founder of the Göttingen Aeronautical and Fluid
Mechanics Research Facilities and nationally as an advisor to government min-
istries and internationally as a representative of German research. For this reason,
therefore, this biography is not concerned so much with a “forgotten pioneer” of
fluid dynamics, but instead offers an account of the life of a researcher and rep-
resentative of science who, at many levels, has had an ever-unfolding influence,
right through to today.
There is no ideal biographical approach to individuals such as Prandtl, who
made technology and science their purpose in life but who, beyond that, have also
played a decisive role as experts in politics and industry. Their careers and pro-
fessional associations are too different. So also are their personal idiosyncrasies and
their relationships within their families, to society and to politics which, in the
course of time, give an orientation to the life of an individual and allow the
biographer to subordinate the totality to a rigid schema. Despite the number of
comprehensive biographies that are available and a wide discussion about the role
of biography in science and technology,6 no methodology has been identified for
best bridging the divide between “life” and “work”. All too easily, biographies of
scientists split into chapters with generally understandable descriptions of the cir-
cumstances surrounding the scientist’s life and those with technical scientific
accounts that are difficult to follow. Finding a continuous account that integrates
both the subject’s life and work is one of the most challenging tasks of scientific
biography. Fortunately, in the case of Prandtl, there is a very extensive legacy of
letters, manuscripts and other historical documentation, so that the biography could
be created, to a large extent, from authentic sources that often integrate his life and
work in a natural way. Therefore, above all, the material gleaned from letters has a
great value from the methodological perspective. In his correspondence with
political authorities, it is apparent that Prandtl’s science—fluid mechanics—played
such an important role in relation to war and peace that political developments must
also be an integral part of this biography.
Figures such as Prandtl are always an inspiration for the close interdependence
of science and politics. When considering the role of experts who offered their
knowledge and expertise to the Nazi regime, “self-enforced conformity”,
“self-mobilisation” and “collaborative relationships” are expressions which are
frequently employed.7 Across disconnects in the political system—from the
German Empire via the Weimar Republic through to the NS state—there has been,
in the course of the twentieth century “a deep and far-reaching change taking place
regarding what politics and science are or could be”. This was the way in which a
new social–historical study of science and politics addressed the interaction of the
two spheres. “Even when one speaks of two fundamentally separate spheres and,
for various reasons, a certain practical value can be claimed, in the meantime, they

5
Rotta (1990a), Tollmien (1998).
6
Shortland and Yeo (1996), Füssl and Ittner (1998), Klein (2009).
7
Mehrtens (1986), Mehrtens (1994), Trischler (1994).
Preface to the German Edition ix

have become so strongly intertwined that one cannot get by without the other”.8 At
the same time, science and politics appear as “resources for one another”,9 whereby
the term “resources” must be understood not only in the economic sense. “The
resources referred to here can be cognitive-conceptual, instrument-based-
institutional, financial or also of a rhetorical nature”.10 This is readily apparent
taking Prandtl as an example. Included in the category cognitive–conceptual
resources are “epistemic techniques”,11 such as the boundary layer theory or the
airfoil theory, with which Prandtl’s science gained a particular interest for practical
application and consequently for politics. The instrument-based institutional
resources came to be used in the form of wind tunnels and other experimental
facilities. Resources of a rhetorical nature are represented by Prandtl’s submissions
and memoranda to specifically targeted politicians. Nonetheless, throughout his life,
Prandtl considered himself to be non-political. In 1946, he addressed a memoran-
dum to the British Military Authority with the heading “Thoughts of a non-political
German on denazification”. This self-assessment was in line with that of a Nazi
henchman who described Prandtl as being “completely uninterested” in politics.
But, Prandtl’s contact with politics, from the “Deutsche Forschungsrat für
Luftfahrt” (German Research Council for Aeronautics) in the late 1920s through to
the “Forschungsführung” (Research Executive Committee) under Hermann Göring,
during the Second World War, gives a different picture. The resources concept, with
which the diverse relationships with politics show up, reveals the incongruity
between the self-assessment made by Prandtl as being a “non-political German”
and his actual political role.
However, Prandtl was first and foremost a scientist and engineer. Therefore, the
biography must—if it is to remain generally understood—dispense with some
things that experts would consider to be of value. Dispensing with mathematical
deliberations is, in the case of applied mathematics and mechanics, as Prandtl’s
scientific discipline was known from the 1920s, particularly agonising. In order to
provide readers with a preparatory mathematical background (but not, however,
necessarily expert knowledge in specific sub-specialities), whilst giving a better
insight into Prandtl’s way of thinking, at appropriate points in the text, boxes have
been inserted that contain background information which elucidate the subject
matter discussed in the main text. In these boxes, the core of the relevant research
work (e.g. the derivation of the law of the wall, in the case of turbulent pipe friction)
is exemplified. More comprehensive accounts can be found in the specialist
literature.
Without the help and assistance of many individuals and institutes, it would not
have been possible to gain an overview and adequately represent Prandtl’s life and
work with all the diverse connections with science, technology and politics during

8
Ash (2010, p. 11).
9
Ash (2002).
10
Ash (2010, p. 16).
11
Please refer to Moritz Epple’s expansion of the Rheinberger term “epistemic things” in Epple
(2002b).
x Preface to the German Edition

the turbulent times in which he lived. First and foremost, I would like to thank the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) for the financial
support they have provided over the years and the Research Institute of the
Deutsches Museum in Munich, which provided an ideal environment for research
in the history of science and technology and which also made available the
infrastructure of the Deutsches Museum—from archives through to library facilities
and departmental collections (in particular, those related to aviation). I would also
like to thank, at this juncture, the numerous archives that allowed me to access
relevant source material, above all, the archive of the Deutsche Zentrum für Luft-
und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Centre) in Göttingen and the Archiv zur
Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Historical Archive of the Max Planck
Society) in Berlin. I would certainly not have been able to have written this
biography if I had not had access to the letters exchanged with Prandtl. I owe a
special word of thanks to the Vogel family, who gave me access to Prandtl’s private
collection of manuscripts, notes and memoranda left behind after his death. Florian
Schmaltz gave me access to several chapters of the rough version of his unpub-
lished monograph about the Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt (Aerodynamics
Research Institute), in which he shed much light on the institutional context of
Prandtl’s working. I also owe him a special word of thanks for his critical com-
ments on the preliminary version of this biography. I would like to thank Cordula
Tollmien for providing access to the collection of material she assembled in the
1980s for her article on the history of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Strömungs-
forschung during the time of National Socialism,12 also for the information about
her father, the pupil of Prandtl, Walter Tollmien. Last, but not least, I would like to
express my thanks to my colleagues at the Deutsches Museum, especially Silke
Berdux, Ulf Hashagen, Jürgen Teichmann, Helmuth Trischler and Stefan Wolff
who, for many years now, have accompanied my research about Ludwig Prandtl.

Munich, Germany Michael Eckert

December 2015

12
Tollmien (1998).
Contents

1 Childhood, Youth and University Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 Early Influences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 University Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Graduation Between Technical University and University . . . . . 11
2 A Professor with Industrial Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1 Engineer at MAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2 Appointment to the Technical University in Hanover . . . . . . . . 24
2.3 The Beginnings of the Boundary Layer Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.4 The Third International Mathematicians Congress in
Heidelberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........ 38
2.5 Appointment to the University of Göttingen . . . . . . . ........ 40
3 A New Start in Göttingen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.1 The Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics . . . . . . . . 46
3.2 Industrial Sponsors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.3 Prandtl’s First Pupils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.4 Scientific Aeronautics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.5 Newly Married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.6 Ambitious Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.7 Expert in Flight Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.8 Memories of Prandtl’s Brother-in-Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4 The First World War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.1 A New Model Research Institute “for Army and Navy” . . . . . . 88
4.2 The Aerodynamics of Bombs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4.3 “... at Present Exclusively in the Interest of the Army” . . . . . . . 95
4.4 Profile Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.5 The Wing Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.6 Plans for a Supersonic Wind Tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
4.7 Cavitation Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

xi
xii Contents

5 A New Mission in Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

5.1 From War to Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.2 American Ties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.3 Test Case: Gliders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5.4 Göttingen or Munich? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.5 Technical Mechanics in the Focus of National and
International Endeavours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.6 From Hydraulics to Turbulence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5.7 Back to Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
6 Experts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
6.1 A Lecture in England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
6.2 The Mixing Length Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6.3 Disagreement Amongst Experts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
6.4 The German Research Council for Aeronautics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.5 Experts Travelling Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.6 Prandtl’s Reich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.7 Advances in Turbulence Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
6.8 Rivalry with Kármán . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.9 Consolidation of a Research Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
6.10 Crisis Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7 “Prof. Prandtl Is Totally Uninterested in Politics ...” . . . . . . . . . . . 187
7.1 Resignation as Head of the University Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7.2 Political Quarrels at the KWI for Fluid Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . 192
7.3 Mittelberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
7.4 In the Wake of the National Socialist Build-up of Arms . . . . . . 201
7.5 High Velocity Aerodynamics and Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
7.6 Nomination for the Nobel Prize and an Honorary Doctorate . . . 216
7.7 Preparations for a Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
7.8 The Turbulence Symposium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
7.9 German-American Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
7.10 Closeness to Power: The Case of Heisenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
7.11 Propaganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
8 The Second World War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
8.1 New Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
8.2 “... Life Goes on and so Does Our Work” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
8.3 Trip to Rumania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
8.4 Petitions and Memoranda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
8.5 The “Research Executive Committee” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
8.6 On the Way to the “Hoped for Final Victory” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
8.7 Turbulence Research for the War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Contents xiii

8.8 Turbulence Research Despite the War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

8.9 Preparation for Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
9 The Final Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
9.1 Victors and Vanquished . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
9.2 Göttingen Monographs and FIAT Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
9.3 From the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute to the Max Planck Institute
for Fluid Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
9.4 Denazification and Coming to Terms with the Past . . . . . . . . . . 287
9.5 A Suitable Occupation During Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
9.6 Meteorological Flow Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
9.7 “Führer durch die Strömungslehre” (Essentials of Fluid
Mechanics) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
9.8 The Remaining Years of Prandtl’s Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
10 Prandtl’s Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
10.1 The Prandtl Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
10.2 Models of Turbulence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
10.3 The Asymptotic Boundary Layer Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
10.4 Prandtl’s Pitot Tube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
10.5 Wind Tunnels with the “Göttingen Design” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
10.6 The Institutional Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
10.7 The Responsibility of the Scientist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
10.8 Symbolic Capital and Preserving Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Directory of Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Abbreviations

AMPG Archiv der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin-Dahlem

APK Artillerie-Prüfungskommission, Berlin
ASWB Arnold Sommerfeld. Wissenschaftlicher Briefwechsel. Band I:
1892–1918; Band II: 1919–1951. Herausgegeben von Michael
Eckert und Karl Märker. München, Berlin, Diepholz: Deutsches
Museum und GNT-Verlag, 2000 und 2004
AVA Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt, Göttingen
BA-MA Bundesarchiv–Militärarchiv, Freiburg
CalTech California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
DFS Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug, Ainring
DFVLR Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt
DGLR Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V.
DLR Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Göttingen
DMA Deutsches Museum, Archiv, München
DVL Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt, Berlin-Adlershof
FFO Flugfunk-Forschungsinstitut, Oberpfaffenhofen
FIAT Field Intelligence Agency, Technical
Flz Flugzeugmeisterei der Inspektion der Fliegertruppen,
Berlin-Adlershof
GALCIT Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory, California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena
GAMM Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik
GOAR Archiv des DLR, Göttingen
GStAPK Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin
HATUM Historisches Archiv der Technischen Universität, München
ISK Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampf-Bund
IUTAM International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
KWG Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft
KWI Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut

xv
xvi Abbreviations

LFA Luftfahrtforschungsanstalt Hermann Göring,

Braunschweig-Völkenrode
LFM Luftfahrtforschungsanstalt München
LMU Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München
LPGA Ludwig Prandtls Gesammelte Abhandlungen. 3 Bände.
Herausgegeben von Walter Tollmien, Hermann Schlichting und
Henry Görtler. Berlin: Springer, 1961
LUSTY LUftwaffe Secret Technology
MAN-HA Historisches Archiv der Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG,
Augsburg
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
MPG Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
MPI Max-Planck-Institut
MVA Modell-Versuchsanstalt, Göttingen
NACA National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
NACP National Archives, College Park
NASARCH National Air and Space Museum, Archives, Washington, DC.
NSBO Nationalsozialistische Betriebszellenorganisation
REM Reichserziehungsministerium
RLM Reichsluftfahrtministerium
SUB Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Göttingen
TB Technische Berichte
TKC Theodore von Kármán Collection, CalTech-Archive, Pasadena
TUM Technische Universität, München
UAG Universitätsarchiv, Göttingen
UAH Universitätsarchiv, Hannover
UAM Universitätsarchiv der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München
VDI Verein Deutscher Ingenieure
WAF Wissenschaftliche Auskunftei für Flugwesen, Berlin-Adlershof
WGF Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Flugtechnik
WGL Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Luftfahrt
ZAMM Zeitschrift für angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik
ZFM Zeitschrift für Flugtechnik und Motorluftschifffahrt
ZWB Zentrale für Wissenschaftliches Berichtswesen
Chapter 1
Childhood, Youth and University Studies

Ludwig Prandtl was born on the 4th February 1875 in Freising near Munich. Four
years earlier, the formation of the German Reich had, on paper, declared the mosaic
of German Grand Duchies and kingdoms to be the German Empire, but that had little
effect, however, on the diverse customs and traditions found in the German states.
Bavaria, which was very much under the influence of Catholicism, remained a state,
with Munich as its capital and Ludwig II as its “fairy tale king” and was a state that
insisted on retaining its independence. Above all, with protestant Prussia in mind,
with the imperial capital in Berlin, one still found the view confirmed in many aspects
—cultural, political and mental—that, in Bavaria, they did things differently.
Still more traditions could be found in Freising. The provincial town before the
gates of Munich was not a conventional suburb of Munich. As a cathedral city,
Freising was for many centuries a stronghold of Catholicism and a centre for the
spiritual and earthly dominion of prince bishops. Also, following secularisation in
Bavaria, which resulted in 1802 in monastic property being nationalised, Freising
remained a centre of catholic spirituality. In the residencies of the prince bishops
on the Domberg, a seminary was established. Agriculture came to Catholicism.
When the Weihenstephan monastery located in the vicinity of the Domberg was
dissolved following secularisation, an agricultural college was accommodated in
the empty buildings. Later, from this the Königlich-Bayerische Landwirtschaftliche
Zentralschule Weihenstephan arose.

1.1 Early Influences

Ludwig Prandtl was confronted by these traditions from childhood onwards

(Fig. 1.1). The Prandtls were, on their father’s side, who can be traced back to the car-
penter Bartholomäus Präntl, from the Bavarian alpine upland around the Tegernsee,
resident in Munich since the 18th century. Ludwig’s father, Alexander Prandtl, com-
pleted his education there as a “cultural engineer” at the Polytechnische Schule, as
the Technical University in Munich was called before 1877, and then made a career
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1
M. Eckert, Ludwig Prandtl, Springer Biographies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05663-6_1
2 1 Childhood, Youth and University Studies

Fig. 1.1 Ludwig Prandtl at the age of 10. Credit Vogel family

as a professor at the Landwirtschaftliche Zentralschule Weihenstephan in Freising.

On his mother’s side, his family history stretches back to the year 1760, when a busi-
nessman from Austria by the name of Ludwig Ostermann settled down in Freising
and opened a colonial goods shop at the city gate. Ludwig Prandtl’s mother Mag-
dalena Ostermann also grew up in this house in very modest circumstances. She
had a very strict catholic upbringing in a Freising convent school. When Alexander
Prandtl became engaged to her, she was just 16 years old. Two years later, in March
1874, they were married. When Ludwig was born, his mother was 19 and his father
35 years old. The age difference between the parents and the strict catholic upbring-
1.1 Early Influences 3

ing of the mother which, for his father, went too far, quickly resulted in tensions. He
was, up until a short time before, a “strict catholic”, Ludwig Prandtl remembered
in 1909, as he himself was about to marry, and this was “to be sure, inherited from
my pious mother”. “I recognise in the marriage of my parents—apart from the later
straining brought about by distressing illnesses—a paradigm of a marriage that was
concluded with mutual love, but was later not a happy one as a result of a lack of
understanding of the married couple”.1
Little is known about Prandtl’s childhood. “Ludwig is certainly thin, but he looks
healthy. He wants to be a physical education instructor”, his father noted in a family
chronicle for the year 1881. In that year, aged 6, Prandtl began his school career. “Lud-
wig is the first amongst 82 pupils”, his father remarked for the year 1882 (Fig. 1.2).2
Three years later, he transferred to the grammar school on the Domberg. Apart from
his scholastic achievements, there was little joyful in Ludwig’s childhood. Two of
his siblings, who were born in 1877 and 1879, died a few weeks after being born.
“Magdalena Prandtl went alone in summer to Altötting, in order to find comfort
there in prayer. In 1881, she gave birth to a six-month-old dead child and the same
misfortune occurred again in 1883. She had two further miscarriages, then she lost
all of her strength”, wrote Prandtl’s daughter regarding the suffering of her grand-
mother. Then she suffered a “heart spasm” and an “emotional upset”. Even her stay
in a psychiatric hospital brought about no improvement in her condition. In the end,
she had to be admitted to a care home where she died in 1898 at the age of 42 years.3
His father became all the more the person of reference for the developing Ludwig.
As a professor at the Landwirtschaftlichen Zentralschule Weihenstephan, in contrast
to his mother, Alexander Prandtl believed more in the blessings from technology
than those from heaven. For example, he constructed a centrifuge for skimming
milk in the laboratory of the Weihenstephan dairy research establishment which was
later exhibited as a milestone in the history of dairying in the Deutsches Museum
(German Museum) (Fig. 1.3).4 It is therefore hardly surprising that Prandtl’s father
tried to encourage interest in his son in technical matters and scientific ideas which
he encountered in everyday life. And Ludwig was fully open to investigations of
the world of technology, as can be seen from some of the accounts of his family.
For example, Prandtl’s daughter told how Ludwig once went with his father to the
Freising railway station in order to pick up relatives. “The expected encounter took
place, the relatives greeted each other warmly and then they all tried to make their way
to the ticket barrier amid the stream of people. But, Ludwig’s father then noticed that
his son was no longer beside him and was nowhere to be seen. Somewhat worried,
he walked down the platform. There was Ludwig lying with his stomach on the
kerbstone directly in front of the train, observing attentively from below”.5

1 Citedin Vogel-Prandtl (2005, p. 7).

2 Citedin Vogel-Prandtl (2005, p. 10).
3 Vogel-Prandtl (2005, pp. 10–13).
4 Matschoss (1925, p. 299).
5 Vogel-Prandtl (2005, p. 8).
4 1 Childhood, Youth and University Studies

Fig. 1.2 The school report for entry from primary to secondary education to the Freising Gymna-
sium (Freising Grammar School) attested the ten-year-old Ludwig in almost all subjects studied in
the primary school (“Werktags-Schule”) the highest grade of “very good”. Only for handwriting
did he receive the grade “good”. In the note referred to above, the comments “very high intellectual
ability”, “very diligent” and “very commendable conduct” were certified. Credit Vogel family
1.1 Early Influences 5

Fig. 1.3 The “milk

separator” constructed by
Alexander was exhibited in
the Deutsches Museum as
the “the most fruitful
discovery in the field of
dairying”. Credit DMA, BN
1533

Perhaps the uncle, Alexander’s two year younger brother Antonin Prandtl, exer-
cised some influence over Ludwig. The invention of the milk separator by centrifug-
ing can be traced back to Antonin and the young Ludwig may soon have experienced
a feeling of fascination for technological invention from the conversations between
his father and his uncle. Antonin was a brewer by profession. His son Wilhelm, who
was born in 1878, was a chemist. He later memorialised his father as the inventor
of the centrifugal technique for milk separation.6 Even if it is not known whether
Ludwig often met with his cousin Wilhelm (Antonin’s family lived at the time of
Wilhelm’s birth in Hamburg), who was three years younger, the common interests
of father and uncle may have exercised a similar influence on the children.
Ludwig’s counting ability was well remembered in the collective memory of his
family. During one Easter celebration, his father lengthened the time Ludwig searched
for hidden Easter eggs by secretly hiding the eggs which had been found again, but
this soon did not escape the notice of the young Ludwig. “So he started to check and
to count them and, to the astonishment of his parents, he had remembered exactly
how many eggs of each kind he had collected and this number did not precisely
correspond with the number now to be found in his basket”.7
Even if these memories about the awakening of abilities and talents are overlaid
by knowledge of Prandtl’s later career and are somewhat anecdotal, they nevertheless
reveal much about the great influence of the father. He inspired in Ludwig not only

6 Prandtl (1938).
7 Vogel-Prandtl (2005, p. 8).
6 1 Childhood, Youth and University Studies

an interest in technology and science. As an enthusiastic horn player and pianist, he

also wanted at an early age to encourage in his son a potentially already existing
musical talent and so he ensured that Ludwig, even as a child, received regular
piano lessons. He may also have ensured that the Catholicism of his mother was
not transmitted to his son. Around 1886, when Ludwig was about 11 years old and
his mother, following several miscarriages, suffered increasingly from physical and
mental ailments, his father drew the consequence from his anti-religious attitude
and announced his withdrawal from the Catholic Church. In 1888, Ludwig went to
the Munich Ludwigsgymnasium, one of the most traditional humanistic grammar
schools in Munich, where he also lived in the affiliated boarding school. “My father
sometimes said of this time that it must have been very difficult for him”, Prandtl’s
daughter remembered many years later. “He had a dismal experience living together
with other pupils, as he was much picked on and dominated by stronger, more cunning
comrades. Inwardly, he was defenceless against all of this boorishness: he suffered
all that he was confronted with in silence. As the schoolyear came to an end, his father
brought him back to Freising as, in the meantime, the state of health of his mother had
improved. But, as already mentioned, this was only a temporary improvement. Her
afflictions soon worsened once more. Ludwig now spent two years at the Freising
grammar school. But when his mother had to completely withdraw from family life,
the boy was once again sent to the Munich grammar school”.8 To the distress of the
mother, her husband suffered cardiac insufficiency who then, in 1892, at the age of
52, gave up his position at the Weihenstephaner and moved to his sister in Dingolfing,
where he died in 1896.

1.2 University Studies

In July 1894, together with 35 other pupils, Prandtl completed his studies at the Lud-
wigsgymnasium. Only five of the high-school graduates wanted, like Prandtl, to turn
to “technical subjects”.9 In Prandtl’s case, the advice and example of his father may
have played a significant role in his decision. He enrolled for the next winter semester
at the Technical University Munich but, unlike his father, he wanted to be a mechan-
ical engineer and not an agricultural engineer. Prandtl successfully completed the
practical training required of engineering students in the summer of 1894 at the Klett
and Comp. iron foundry and machine factory in Nuremberg, a traditional company
which, in 1898, amalgamated with the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg to become the
Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG (MAN). As, in the summer of 1894, the
newly qualified high-school graduate gained his first industrial experience, above all
in this company specialised in the construction of railway wagons, he had no idea yet
that he would make his name there, a few years, later as an inventor and moderniser

8 Vogel-Prandtl (2005, p. 12).

9 Annual Report of the Königliche Ludwigs-Gymnasium and the Königliche Erziehungs-Institut for

students in Munich for the academic year 1893/94. Munich (1894, p. 63).
1.2 University Studies 7

of outdated industrial equipment. But, already as a student apprentice, he had left

behind a good impression, as on completion of his studies he was personally invited
by the general director of the company Anton Rieppel to work for the company.10
With the start of his university studies, a new period of life began for Prandtl. His
increasing independence is also apparent in the fact that he no longer lived in the
boarding school or in the house of his parents, but instead rented a student apartment at
one or another address in Munich.11 Following the death of his father, he was himself
obliged to be responsible for his living costs. “The dutiful undersigned had on the
17th March this year lost his father following his death; his mother suffers from an
incurable mental illness (she is resident in the Munich district asylum). Consequently,
a trustee has been appointed for her and her share of the total retention (about which
the files have not yet been closed) will be administered by the court, so that the
dutiful undersigned will for the meantime, only be apportioned the assignment for
beneficial use his share of the deceased estate amounting to 5800 M, the interest on
which amounting to 203 M will only cover a small proportion of the cost of living”.
On this basis, in August 1896, Prandtl applied for a “state scholarship”, which would
enable him, despite his “invidious circumstances”, to continue his studies.12
Following the death of his father, Prandtl did not just immerse himself in his
studies. He joined the Akademische Gesangverein München (Munich Academic
Choral Society) which, as a non-duelling and non-denominational student society
distinguished it markedly from other student associations, but which nevertheless
provided its members the customary conviviality for student fraternities.13 “My father
had a beautiful bass voice and he very much enjoyed singing in a polyphonic choir”,
remembered his daughter. Just like his father before him, he took up playing a
brass instrument. His fellow students therefore called him “Prandtl the trumpeter”,
although his favourite musical instrument was the piano. “He played sonatas by
Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart. He also sang lieder by Schubert and accompanied
himself on the piano”. When taking part in excursions in the surrounding area of
Munich, he would take the opportunity to sit at the organ in village churches. “He
had a particular liking for this versatile instrument”.14
As an engineering student at the technical university, Prandtl was confronted by
new challenges for which he was only inadequately prepared by the humanistic edu-
cation he had received at the grammar school. The course regulations for machine
engineers required that students must undertake a preliminary examination after at
least four semesters for which three pieces of study work had to be submitted in
descriptive geometry, mechanical drawing and machine design. The written prelim-

10 Please refer to Chap. 2.

11 Frühlingsstr. 17 (WS 1894/95 and SS 1896), Schwindstr. 11 (WS 1895/96), Am Einlass 4 (from
WS 1896/97). Personalstand der Königlich Bayerischen Technischen Hochschule zu München,
1891–1902. Munich.
12 Prandtl to the K. Ministerium des Innern für Kirchen- und Schulangelegenheiten, 14th August

1896. SUB, Cod. Ms. L. Prandtl, 22.

13 Invitations and Programmes, 1893–1898. SUB, Cod. Ms. L. Prandtl, 21. Akademischer

Gesangsverein München (1986).

14 Vogel-Prandtl (2005, p. 14f.).
8 1 Childhood, Youth and University Studies

inary examination covered the areas of higher mathematics, descriptive geometry

and technical mechanics. In addition, in the oral examination, the course subjects
physics, chemistry, design and kinematics were assessed. It was possible to enrol
for the main examination, at the earliest, after studying for eight semesters. The
study assignment for this included engineering designs for various machines (hoist-
ing devices, steam machines, water-powered machines), a practical assessment in
the theory of machines, as well as work from fifteen optional subjects (for example,
the theory of refrigerators, electrical engineering or surveying). The main written
examination comprised four and the oral examination three compulsory subjects, as
well as the subsidiary subjects chosen by the candidate. The compulsory subjects
were “(1) Mechanical technology: metal and wood processing. (2) Design of hoist-
ing devices. (3) Mechanical theory of heat. (4) Theoretical practical mechanics: (a)
crank drives and regulation. (b) Theory of thermal-powered machines. (5) Design of
steam machines. (6) Theory and construction of water-powered machines”.15
In order to prepare for these examinations, the students were able to choose from
the wide range of lectures offered. In the first two semesters, Prandtl attended lectures
on experimental physics given by Leonhard Sohncke, but, in the second semester, he
concentrated on technical mechanics which was taught by August Föppl, in a cycle
of four lectures. “The lectures were divided into four parts of which the first was
an introduction to mechanics, while the other three were concerned with graphical
statics, the mechanics of materials and dynamics”, as Föppl described the sequence
of lectures, which he published as a textbook in 1897. “The first part was assigned
to the second semester and the two following parts, next to one another, in the third
semester and, finally, the last part in the fourth semester”.16 Prandtl completed the
cycle in this sequence from the summer semester of 1895 until the summer semester
of 1896. In addition, he attended lectures given by Moritz Schröter on mechanical
heat theory, lectures by Ernst Voit about the basics of electrical engineering and by
August Föppl on the Maxwellian theory of electricity. In the academic year 1895/96,
he passed the preliminary examination and in the academic year 1897/98 the main
examination, the ‘absolutorial’ examination.17 For both the preliminary examination
and the main examination, his academic report certified, in the overall average, the
best grade of “very good”. Also in the grades for his subsidiary subjects he achieved
no grade below “good”.18
Of all his professors, August Föppl made the greatest impression. In 1894, Föppl
was appointed to a position in Munich. He took up his post in the same semester
as Prandtl began his studies. Before this, he had worked as a teacher at a vocational

15 Diplom-Prüfungsordnung der Maschineningenieur-Abteilung der K. Technischen Hochschule

zu München. München 1906. HATUM 5432. Regarding the history of mechanical engineering in
Germany, please refer to Mauersberger 1987; and—with regard to mechanical engineering studies
in Munich—Dienel 1993.
16 Föppl (1897, Foreword).
17 Bericht über die Königliche Technische Hochschule zu München für das Studienjahr 1895/96

und 1897/98.
18 Absolutorium der mechanisch-technischen Abteilung der Königlichen Technischen Hochschule

zu München, 9th August 1898. SUB, Cod. Ms. L. Prandtl, 23.

1.2 University Studies 9

school in Leipzig. In the beginning, in Munich, he was “somewhat worryingly dis-

posed”, when he saw in front of him “more than 200 students”, he wrote in his
biography. In Leipzig, he had about only 50 students in front of him.19 Perhaps the
stage fright shown by the professor to his students resulted in technical mechanics
not appearing to them as being a hermetically sealed subject, but instead subject
matter transformed, one way or another, by the hands of their professor. As a result
of a reform in the teaching mathematics at the technical university in 1890, this sub-
ject underwent an upward revaluation and Föppl’s lectures show, in an exemplary
manner, how, at the same time, mathematics and technology came closer together.
In 1894, Föppl offered his students, as the first professor to do so at the technical
university, an introduction to vector analysis. Soon after, he took up the cudgels for
the application of complex analysis in technical mechanics.20
Prandtl’s time at university coincided with a period in which there was fierce dis-
agreement between mathematicians and engineering professors regarding the educa-
tion of engineers. At the centre of this controversy was Felix Klein, a mathematician
at the University of Göttingen who, like Föppl, would soon play a decisive role in
Prandtl’s career. Klein wanted to find a place for engineering as a subject of study at
the University of Göttingen which the technical universities tried to prevent with all
their power, as they were fighting at that time for equal status with the universities.21
In addition, many engineering professors feared that the university mathematicians
would use professorships of mathematics at the technical universities simply as job
openings, in order to pursue mathematics without taking into account the particular
needs of engineers. The spokesperson for an “anti-mathematics movement” wanted
to give mathematics the status of only an ancillary science. For lectures in mathemat-
ics at technical universities, only those professors should be called upon who were
able to prove that they themselves had completed a study in a specialist engineering
department of a technical university. Mechanics, which was often taught by uni-
versity mathematicians was for them a particular concern. “Teaching of all aspects
of mechanics may only be carried out by engineers”, demanded 57 representatives
of all technical disciplines in a reply to the declaration by 33 mathematicians who
wished to see their specialist field recognised as being a fully valued scientific disci-
pline.22 The controversy proceeded very differently in the various federal states and
at different technical universities. In Munich, where Walther Dyck, a former student
of Klein, exerted considerable influence on teaching mathematics to engineers, the
anti-mathematics movement was confronted with its own reform concept which, in
any case, did not apply any ideologically motivated fetters to mathematics teaching
at the technical university.23
If Prandtl became aware of this controversy at all, then this most likely would have
been indirect, communicated in the lectures on higher mathematics by Sebastian

19 Föppl(1925, pp. 139–141).

20 Hensel (1989, pp. 83–95).
21 Manegold (1970).
22 Hensel (1989, pp. 55–82) and Enclosures 11 und 12.
23 Hashagen (2003, pp. 214–225).
10 1 Childhood, Youth and University Studies

Finsterwalder and Walther Dyck, whom he must have heard in the first semester
for his intermediate examination studies. These lectures may have differed only to a
small degree from the beginners’ course of lectures at the universities. Towards the
end of his studies, he still also attended Dyck’s lectures on differential equations for
mathematical physics and Finsterwalder’s lectures on selected areas of mechanics.24
In the lectures given by Föppl, he learnt about mechanics as a “part of physics” and
as an engineering discipline. This is the way Föppl introduced his lecture cycle. He
described it as being a “guide” which he had “taken into account as a standard in
the compilation of the complete work”.25 During Prandtl’s time as a student, a new
course for technical physics was established at the technical university. The initiative
for this came from Dyck who, as the extended arm of Klein, endeavoured, as did
Klein in Göttingen, to ensure the convergence of theory and practice—but, with an
opposite leading sign. Klein wanted to establish a new field at the university and
to attract the “general staff officers” of engineering; Dyck wanted the same in that
he gave specialist engineering subject areas a better scientific basis at the technical
university.26 Föppl’s technical mechanics and Dyck’s technical physics therefore
offered not only scientific-technical knowledge, but also included a commitment
to a version of science in step with actual practice. The introduction to Föppl’s
first volume of lectures finished with the sentence, “Those, however, who first
comprehend the correct theory for a process will be able, provided an inroad is at
all possible, to direct this process at will, and therefore science is the most powerful
weapon available to man and society”.27
The mechanical-technical laboratory of Föppl’s predecessor Johann Bauschinger,
established in 1870 at the Munich Polytechnic, also stood for being in step with cur-
rent practice. It became a nucleus for the state material testing laboratories.28 Above
all, it was used for testing the strength of construction materials. “My predecessor
used to invite his audience once a year to visit the laboratory”, Föppl reminisced
about the somewhat infrequent use of this facility for teaching in technical mechan-
ics. “The students listened to the commentary and observed the experiments without
themselves becoming actively involved. I myself carried on in this manner, in the
same way, for a few years. It was only later, when I was assigned an assistant,
whom it was intended should support me in the newly introduced laboratory courses
associated with my lecture subjects, that I also established formal tutorials in the
laboratory”.29 There was indeed a laboratory assistant in the laboratory, but he was
appointed to carry out only the routine strength experiments. Föppl wanted to appoint
a second assistant who could also assist him with teaching. This second assistant was
Prandtl. “With the start of the new academic year in the autumn, practical classes
have been arranged under my direction in the mechanical-technical laboratory at the

24 Doctorate file for Ludwig Prandtl, UAM, OC-I-26p.

25 Föppl (1898b, Foreword).
26 Hashagen (2003, pp. 310–316).
27 Föppl (1898a, p. 11).
28 Piersig (2009).
29 Föppl (1925, p. 137).
1.2 University Studies 11

Royal Technical University, for which an additional assistant has to be appointed”,

Föppl wrote on the 8th July 1898 to the military authority, and “Mr Ludwig Prandtl
is particularly well suited for this post, but he will be leaving the technical university
at the end of the semester and will then be liable to be called up for military service”.
The reason why Föppl approached the military authority with this petition was that
Prandtl would actually have been liable for military service on conclusion of his
studies. “If it is permitted, an ideal solution would be to defer his military service by
one year. I would therefore like to ask the commander of the Royal Pioneer Detach-
ment to kindly grant the deferment of Mr Prandtl’s military service by one year. In
this way, you will be doing a great service to teaching at the Royal Technical Uni-
versity”.30 The military accepted this request. Föppl preached to the converted to the
university administration with his plan to incorporate the laboratory more robustly
in the education of engineers. “With the greatest resolution, on the 4th September
1898, the appointment of a supplementary assistant for technical mechanics was
approved with, at the same time, the endorsement of this function to the certified
machine engineer Ludwig Prandtl of Freising”, it was recorded in the annual report
of the Technical University.31 From the winter semester of 1898/99, the course of
study offered to prospective machine engineers in Munich also included a two-hour
weekly “practical course in the technical mechanical laboratory (in groups)”.32
Around this time, Prandtl also became more closely acquainted with the Föppl
family. Prandtl was often invited to lunch on Sundays, remembered the then 11-year-
old Ludwig Föppl on his first encounter with the 12-year-older assistant of his father.
His mother had “a motherly affection” for Prandtl. “This practically inclined woman,
with her kind heart, had the feeling that she should take this young man, who was so
alone and exposed to the world, under her wing, every now and again”.33

1.3 Graduation Between Technical University

and University

Föppl’s plans for the mechanical technical laboratory were not diminished by greater
interfacing of it, with Prandtl’s help, with his teaching programme. He also left no
doubt that the work carried out in the laboratory would be greatly oriented to the
work of his predecessor. He was, as he wrote in 1896 in the Communications of
the Mechanical-technical Laboratory, “guided by the aim either to test the results
of theoretical investigations on the basis of observed data or instead first to obtain

30 Citedin Vogel-Prandtl (2005, p. 15f.).

31 Berichtüber die Königliche Technische Hochschule zu München für das Studienjahr 1898/99.
32 Programm der Königlich-Bayerischen Technischen Hochschule in München für das Studienjahr

1898/99.
33 Ludwig Föppl: Erinnerungen an Ludwig Prandtl, undated typescript [sent to Johanna Vogel-

Prandtl on the 11th December 1958]. In the private possession of the Vogel family. Also cited in
Vogel-Prandtl (2005, p. 17).
12 1 Childhood, Youth and University Studies

Fig. 1.4 When a bar is fixed at one end and the other is subjected to a load, the bar is hardly bent
downwards, but instead tilts—depending on the load applied—to the side. Credit Michael Eckert

from experimentation the necessary foundation for a correct version of these con-
structions”.34 His only regret was that, in so doing, science would get a rough deal.35
Therefore, he allowed Prandtl only too willingly the freedom necessary to carry out
his own research. He should view the operation of the laboratory not only with the
eyes of a machine engineer, but also pose questions about the theoretical explana-
tion of the experimental results coming from one or other investigation of strength.
Accordingly, Prandtl also confronted the problem that would become the subject of
his doctoral studies; namely, the lateral displacement of a bar when a load is applied
(Fig. 1.4).
The experiment can easily be conducted using a T-square, as can be found in any
design office, but there was no theory with which the load limit at which the bar would
tilt laterally could be determined. “My search for a theory for this phenomenon in
various books of relevance remained unsuccessful, so it occurred to me that I should
investigate the subject myself. Soon, in the middle of October 1896, the theory of
buckling of a cantilever was presented to me in its simplest form. The start of the
new semester soon forced my work to be left behind in the background and only
in February 1899, when I was an assistant in the mechanical-technical laboratory in
Munich, was I able to pick up the work again. In the meantime, I had assured myself
that there was no theory of the phenomenon to be found yet”. This was how Prandtl
described the circumstances that led him to his doctoral research.36

34 Mitteilungen des mechanisch-technischen Laboratoriums der K. Technischen Hochschule

München. New sequel. Published by August Föppl. Munich (1896, Foreword).
35 Föppl (1925, p. 138).
36 Prandtl (1899, Foreword).
1.3 Graduation Between Technical University and University 13

As a first step, Prandtl proposed a differential equation in which the dependence of

the angle at which the bar profile turned relative to the direction of the force striking
could be described by the other parameters pertinent to this problem. Prandtl had
become familiar with the most important concepts and definitions (bending stiffness,
torsional stiffness) in this context in the winter semester of 1895/96 during Föppl’s
lecture on the strength of materials,37 but it required great effort in order to distil
from the material presented in the lecture those aspects that could play a decisive role
in the lateral buckling of a bar. The equation found by Prandtl for the torsion angle
was known in mathematics as Riccati’s differential equation. The solution function
can be expressed, as Prandtl later found out, by Bessel functions with the index ± 41
but, for a practical evaluation, this function would have had to have been tabulated,
so that this knowledge would not have been of any use to him. Instead, Prandtl
solved the differential equation by approximation with a power series approach and
arranged the calculated values in tables for various parameters. In this process, used
“extensively a slide rule and a calculator”, he emphasised in his elaboration, “the
slide rule is the log table for the engineer which is used universally wherever an all
too high a degree of precision is not necessary; i.e., in the calculation of strength,
weight and energy etc.”. He also stated that the calculator he used was one made by
Thomas de Colmar in Paris, which was the “property of the mechanical-technical
laboratory” and which enabled him to “fully multiply out two six-figured numbers
and, conversely, to carry out corresponding divisions”.38
Next, Prandtl investigated other buckling phenomena in which the bar was
clamped on both sides and the load was applied in a different way. The aim of
the calculations was always the determination of the buckling load at which, for a
particular configuration, there was a lateral displacement. In order to test the theory
experimentally, Prandtl also set up experiments in the mechanical-technical labora-
tory to investigate the case of a bar with a load on one side. For this purpose, he used
a steel bar with a rectangular cross-section of 40 × 3 mm that was subjected to a
load, with different weights, at the free end in the middle of the cross-section. Both
the hanging of the scale pan with the weights and the recording of the position of the
bar with increasing distortion required a great deal of care.

Box 1.1: The lateral buckling of a bar

The buckling of a vertical bar subjected to a load from above had already been
solved theoretically by Leonhard Euler. In a similar way, the case considered by
Prandtl dealt with the lateral buckling of a bar that is fixed horizontally to a wall
and is subjected to a load at the free end (Fig. 1.4). It is an instability problem.
Below a critical load, the bar remains unchanged in form. When this threshold

37 Föppl (1897, Sect. 3 und 9).

38 Prandtl (1899, p. 23f.). The “arithmometer” invented by Thomas de Colmar in 1820 was the first
commercially manufactured mechanical calculating machine. It was, however, only in the second
half of the 19th century that it found further dissemination. Johnston (1997).
14 1 Childhood, Youth and University Studies

value is exceeded, the bar is bent. The deformation can be calculated using
a differential equation which can be obtained from the equilibrium of forces
between the load applied and the bending moment and torsional moments.
The critical moment is the eigenvalue for the so-formulated boundary value
problem.39
The bar (length l) is fixed at the end to a wall in such a way that the longer
side of the cross-section coincides with the vertical. Compared with a vertical
displacement at the free end, the bending strength is then greater than that com-
pared with a lateral displacement. The relevant bending and torsion moments
of the bar are given by

B dϑ
MB  MT  C ,
ρ dx

in which Prandtl placed the origin in the free end of the bar and the x-axis
coincided with original orientation of the bar. x  l corresponds to the end of
the bar on the wall; B is the bending stiffness referred to the lateral displacement,
ρ the associated radius of curvature, ϑ describes the torsion around the x-axis
and C is the associated torsional stiffness.

With the assumption that the bar will turn through only a small angle ϑ,
the following differential equation is produced from the equilibrium of forces
of the components of the bending moment and the torsional moment with the
given load P40 :

d 2ϑ P2 2
+ x ϑ  0.
d x 2 BC
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upon him, and his breath grew short while heavy beads of
perspiration stood out on his brow.
“Cleaned out!” he muttered. “Cleaned out, just as I was cleaned out
by Dan Market! Oh, what a fool I’ve been!” And tears of rage filled
his eyes, while he pounded his fist on the top of a barrel. Then he
leaped up and shook the fist in the air.
“But he shan’t get the best of me! I’ll make him square up if I have to
go to the police and tell everybody! He shan’t get the best of me!”
His hat had rolled to the floor, and putting it on he hurried to the
warehouse door, which was unlocked. Beyond was a dock extending
to the waterfront and close at hand was a road leading to the city,
four miles away. A cart was passing and he hailed the driver. By
signs and a few words of broken Spanish he let the cart driver know
he wanted to get to Ponce as soon as possible and the native made
room for him on the rough seat.
The drive in the early morning air did Hockley good, and by the time
the cart rattled along on the uneven pavements of the city the lank
youth felt somewhat like himself. At a public fountain he left the
native and got a drink. Possibly the native expected pay for his
service, but if so he was disappointed, and he drove on looking as if
such were his feeling.
Now that he felt a little better Hockley sat down in one of the city
parks to review the situation. It was all well enough to go after J.
Rutherford Brown and have him arrested, but what would Professor
Strong say to the whole proceedings?
“Hang the professor!” he exclaimed, and gave the park bench a
savage kick with his foot. “I’m going to have satisfaction. I’m going to
catch that fellow and make him give up my money and things if I die
for it!”
Leaving the park he espied an American, and from this man received
directions which speedily took him to the café where he had first met
J. Rutherford Brown. Going inside, he asked for the man.
“Haven’t seen him this morning,” replied the keeper of the resort.
“Do you know where he lives?” went on Hockley. “It’s a matter of
importance to him,” he went on, shrewdly.
“He has a room at the Snug Corner, I believe.”
“Where is that?”
“Three squares up the street, on the corner.”
Waiting to hear no more, Hockley strode out and up the street in the
direction indicated. It was now ten o’clock, and he had had no
breakfast, but just then he had no thought of eating.
Walking into the corridor of the hotel he glanced around. Only a few
people were present. Then he glanced into the smoking and reading
room.
His heart gave a bound. J. Rutherford Brown was there, smoking
contentedly. He had his feet cocked up on a table and was reading a
newspaper.
Going up to the man from Montana, Hockley tore the newspaper
from his grasp.
“You villain, you!” he cried, wrathfully. “You swindled me!”
 CHAPTER XXIII
THE BULLY IS HUMBLED

Many a man would have been startled by such a direct accusation,

but J. Rutherford Brown had been in a similar position before and
was not to be scared thus easily. He turned slowly, put his feet on the
floor and gazed coldly at Hockley.
“Young man, you are mistaken,” he said. “And if you dare to repeat
your words you will be sorry.”
“But I say—” went on the youth, and then the look in the eyes of the
man made him pause. It was a merciless, crafty face that peered into
his own and it made Hockley shiver in spite of himself.
“We had several fair and square games of cards,” went on the man
from Montana. “And you lost your money. Don’t be a calf to cry over
it. If you are in hard luck say so, and I’ll—well, I’ll lend you ten
dollars.”
As he concluded J. Rutherford Brown calmly took from his hip pocket
a big roll of bills—a large portion of them Hockley’s bills—and drew
forth one of the denomination mentioned.
“Do you want this?” he asked, extending the bill between the tips of
his fingers.
“Ye—yes,” stammered the youth, and took it. “But—but——”
“I don’t want to talk over the affair of yesterday,” interrupted the man.
“If you will remember, I lost something before the luck turned. If you
had quit the game then, I should not have squealed. Besides that, I
took you away, so that you would not get into trouble while you slept.
I spent ten dollars for carriage fare, but we will let that pass.”
Having thus delivered himself, J. Rutherford Brown hoisted his feet
to the table once more and resumed the reading of his newspaper.
Hockley looked at him in amazement not unmixed with
consternation. He had never before met such a fellow as this. He did
not know how to proceed, and walked away revolving the situation in
his mind.
The more he thought it over, the more Hockley became convinced
that he could do little or nothing. Of course, if it came to the pinch, J.
Rutherford Brown would deny everything, and as there were no
witnesses to what had occurred, legal proof would be hard to obtain.
“I’ve been a chump,” he muttered as he walked out of the hotel. “A
downright chump.”
As there seemed nothing else to do, he turned his footsteps in the
direction of the hotel at which the professor and the other boys were
stopping. His heart felt like lead in his bosom and he could not for
the life of him conjure up what to say. He knew that excuses would
be unavailing, that Professor Strong would insist upon making a rigid
investigation.
As he turned a corner leading to the hotel he came face to face with
Professor Strong, who was walking with another man, a native hired
to show the party the sights.
“Jacob Hockley,” cried the professor. “Where have you been? We
have been hunting everywhere for you.”
“It’s a long story, sir,” answered Hockley, meekly. “And if you please,
I’d like to get breakfast before I tell it.”
“So you have had nothing to eat? Then come to the hotel by all
means. But where have you been?”
“Out of town, a good many miles, I guess.”
“Out of town?”
“Yes, sir. And I’ve lost the most of my money,” went on the lank
youth, desperately.
“How did you lose that?” And now Professor Strong’s face grew
stern.
Hockley felt a certain quaking within him. It would never do to say
that he had been playing cards—worse, that he had been gambling.
Professor Strong had read the young travelers more than one lecture
on evils of this sort.
“I—I got in a crowd and somehow I either lost the money or it was
taken from me,” stammered the bully. “But please don’t tell the
others,” he went on. “They’ll only have the laugh on me.”
“Just give me the details,” said Professor Strong, briefly, and then
Hockley had to invent a long tale of how he had gone carriage riding
down to the seashore and how, while he was getting a lunch at a
restaurant, there had been a horse runaway and he had gone out to
see the excitement.
“There was more of a crowd than I thought,” he continued. “I was
shoved around by a policeman and a number of natives. I had been
counting my money and when the excitement began I rammed it in
my hip pocket. When I went back to the eating place the money was
gone.”
“And what made you remain away all night?”
“It was growing dark when the runaway happened and I thought I
could find the money this morning. But I didn’t find anything.”
“Humph! How about your watch and that ring you are in the habit of
wearing?”
Hockley felt a certain cold chill steal over him. In his haste to smooth
matters over he had forgotten about the watch and the ring.
“They—er—they got lost too,” he said, lamely, his face growing very
red.
“Quite likely,” was Professor Strong’s comment. “Come with me. We
will get to the bottom of this later on—after you have had something
to eat.”
Hockley was hungry, but eating breakfast came very hard to him that
morning. As soon as he had finished Professor Strong plied him with
questions, and at last he broke down and confessed all—how he had
received the money order from home and how he had started out to
have a little quiet fun, as he called it. And then, when the professor
insisted that he take him to the spot where the runaway had
occurred, he had to admit that there had been no runaway but that
he had fallen into the hands of a sharper, and that the sharper now
had all the money excepting ten dollars and the amount spent for the
dinner.
“I am sure he drugged me,” said Hockley, weakly. “He wouldn’t have
gotten the money from me if he hadn’t.”
“I will see the man,” returned Professor Strong, shortly, and insisted
that the youth show the way to where J. Rutherford Brown might be
found.
The man from Montana stood upon the hotel steps, just preparatory
to going on a hunt for another victim. He was smoking a black-
looking cigar. He felt particularly elated, for between Hockley and a
victim picked up two days before he had come into the possession of
over three hundred dollars. To be sure, this was no fortune,
especially to one supposed to own valuable gold mines in the West,
but to J. Rutherford Brown, who had often had less than a dollar in
his pockets, it was a considerable sum.
“Don’t think I’ll stay here much longer,” he mused, as he puffed away.
“That boy or that man from Philadelphia may turn up and make
trouble. Guess I’ll go back to San Juan.”
“There is the fellow!” cried Hockley, to Professor Strong. “The man
with the checked suit, who is smoking.”
The professor took a good look and then he smiled grimly to himself.
“I fancy we are in luck,” he said, briefly. “I know this fellow.”
“You do?” ejaculated Hockley. “Who is he?”
Professor Strong did not answer, but going up to the man from
Montana clapped him on the arm.
“So we meet again, Henry Umbler,” he said.
The man who had called himself J. Rutherford Brown gave a start
and his face changed color. Then he recovered and endeavored to
put on a bold front.
“You are mistaken, sir. My name is not Umbler,” he said.
“We won’t argue the point, Umbler. I want you to pay back to this
young man the money you took from him.”
“Don’t know him, sir. You are making a mistake.”
“Are you sure of this fellow?” questioned Professor Strong of
Hockley.
“Yes, sir,” was the prompt answer.
“Then, Umbler, you must give up the money, every cent of it. Please
to remember that you are in United States territory now—not in
Brazil, where you were when last we met. I fancy some stockholders
of the International Star Rubber Company would be glad to get their
hands on Henry Umbler, one of the promoters of that get-rich-quick
concern.”
“I tell you I am not Henry Umbler,” insisted the man from Montana.
“Very well then. We’ll go to police headquarters and settle this affair.”
“What do you want?”
“I want this young man’s money, his watch and his ring returned to
him.”
“What is he to you?”
“I brought him down here to see the sights,—and I am bound to see
that he is not swindled. Give him back his money and other things
and I will not prosecute you, but if you refuse, I’ll see to it that he not
only gets his money but that you go back to the West, where you
belong.”
At this plain talk the face of the swindler became a study. At last he
turned and faced Hockley.
“We had a fair game,” he growled. “You’re a baby to squeal, nothing
but a baby. But if you want the money you can have it.”
He brought a roll of bills out of his pocket, and began to count out a
sum equal to that the youth had possessed. With this, and the watch
and ring, in his hand he looked again at Professor Strong.
“If I give him this does that close the whole affair?” he asked.
“Yes, so far is I am concerned,” answered Amos Strong.
“Then here you are, baby,” went on the man from Montana, and
thrust the money and other things into Hockley’s willing hand. “Don’t
ever try to be a sport again. You’re only fit to be let loose in a
kindergarten.” And then he walked away, puffing at his black cigar
more furiously than ever.
“Who is he?” questioned Hockley, as he put the money away, after
counting it.
“He is a Western sharp,” replied the professor. “Years ago he was
mixed up in a stock company that proved to be little better than a
swindle. I had some shares in it but managed to get my money back.
I tried to help others in the company, but they wouldn’t listen to my
plan and went ahead on their own account and lost. I met Umbler in
Brazil once and tried to get more money out of him, for the other
stockholders, but he laughed at me, for at that time it would have
been a hard matter to have a man transported from Brazil to the
United States on such a charge as I could make.”
“I—I am much obliged for getting the money back, sir.”
“It was rare good luck, Jacob, nothing else, and now you have it
again I want you to turn it over to me.”
“But, sir——.”
“I will not argue the matter.” Professor Strong’s voice grew stern
once more. “You can either give the money to me, or pack your trunk
and go home. And if you get into any more such scrapes I shall notify
your father and send you home anyway. I want no more gambling
and no more ‘seeing the sights’ on your own account. You have got
to turn over a new leaf.”
For half an hour Amos Strong “laid down the law” to Hockley and at
the end of that time the bully felt very humble indeed. He did not
wish to be sent home, and he promised faithfully to do better in the
future; and there the affair was dropped.
 CHAPTER XXIV
SOMETHING ABOUT EARTHQUAKES AND
VOLCANOES

For four days the boys traveled around Ponce with the professor,
taking in all the sights. They also took a trip on the railroad to
Guayanilla and Yauco, and likewise down to several small villages
along the seacoast. They were particularly interested in the
American government of the island, and spent several hours at the
various departments. Here the professor met two officials whom he
knew, and all were made to feel thoroughly at home.
In those trips Hockley had little to say, and the other boys noticed the
change in his manner.
“Something went wrong, that’s certain,” observed Darry. But what it
had been they could not imagine, for neither Hockley nor the
professor said anything, and they did not dare to make inquiries.
At the close of the fourth day a French steamer came into the Port of
Ponce, bound from Hayti to St. Pierre, Martinique. The steamer was
one upon which Amos Strong had sailed once before and he knew
Captain Danvier fairly well. He at once communicated this fact to the
boys.
“If we are to go down to Martinique we cannot do better than sail with
Captain Danvier,” he said. “His steamer, the Vendee, is a
comfortable craft, and we shall be certain of good food and pleasant
company.”
“Then let us sail by all means,” said Mark, who was anxious to get to
St. Pierre and see his father, and Frank said the same. Sam and
Darry were likewise willing, and so, for a wonder was Hockley. As a
matter of fact the tall youth had wished to get away from Ponce long
before, being fearful that the other boys might learn something about
J. Rutherford Brown, alias Henry Umbler, and of the loss of money
by gambling.
The matter of accommodations on board of the Vendee was easily
arranged with Captain Danvier, who was delighted to meet Professor
Strong again, and twenty-four hours later the party bid farewell to the
Port of Ponce and sailed for the island which was destined so soon
to become the center of one of the largest catastrophes known to
history.
“I guess we have quite a sail before us,” said Sam, after land had
become hidden in the distance.
“We have, Samuel,” answered the professor. “Roughly speaking, the
distance from Ponce to St. Pierre is a little over four hundred miles.
We shall sail directly to the south-east, and make no stops on the
way. The Vendee is not a fast steamer, but Captain Danvier
calculates to cover the distance in five days.”
“I have been looking up a map of the Leeward Islands,” put in Mark.
“What a lot of them there are and all in a row, like the tops of a
mountain range.”
“And that is just what they are, Mark, and the tops of a very high
range of mountains at that, only the water covers the larger part of
the range. Between some of these islands and to the east and west
the water is five and six thousand feet deep. If the sea was swept
away some of these peaks would be two miles high.”
“They must have had some terrible earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions to produce such mountains,” said Darry, who had joined
the group.
“They have had, Dartworth, and these eruptions have extended not
alone through the Leeward Islands, but through the whole of the
West Indies and also through Central and South America and parts
of Mexico.”
“Do you know, I have never read much about earthquakes and
volcanoes,” observed Mark. “But it seems to me it ought to prove
interesting reading.”
“It is interesting—more so than any novel you ever read.
Earthquakes alone have enlisted the attention of scientists for years,
and they have to-day the record of over seven thousand which
proved more or less disastrous.”
“Seven thousand!” cried Darry. “Then old Mother Earth isn’t as fixed
as I thought her!”
“No, Mother Earth is not fixed, but continually changing, both inside
and out. There are tremendous fires on the interior and these often
crack open the dirt and rock, letting in large quantities of sea-water.
Then comes an explosion, just as you may have at home if you
throw cold water into a red-hot kitchen range. The steam and gases
don’t know where to go, and consequently there is a volcanic
eruption, or else something breaks loose underground and an
earthquake follows. If this happens close to the sea, or under the
sea, there is a tidal wave, the water going down and up with the
movements of the ocean bed.”
“Do all earthquakes come from volcanic fires?” asked Sam.
“We cannot answer that, Samuel. Some earthquakes seem not to
have any connection with volcanoes, as for instance the earthquake
at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1886. There was no fire there, and
but little gas, and what caused the quaking, with its tremendous
damage to property and human life, is a mystery.”
“What was the very worst earthquake known?” came from Frank.
“That at Lisbon, Portugal, in 1755. It happened late in the year, and
before it occurred there were numerous small earthquakes and
volcanic outbursts throughout Europe. When the big earthquake
came there were three shocks in quick succession and the very
bottom of the harbor dropped out. After many ships were engulfed,
the bottom of the harbor came up again and there was a fierce
onrush of water. What was left standing of the city took fire, and fully
fifty thousand people lost their lives.”
“Isn’t Vesuvius the largest of all known volcanoes?” asked Darry.
“It is certainly the most destructive of volcanoes, having destroyed
Pompeii by covering it with a fine dust, until it was completely buried
from sight, and having covered Herculaneum with a shower of mud,
so that hardly a soul escaped from a territory miles in extent. But the
largest volcano in the world is probably Krakatua, situated between
the islands of Sumatra and Java, in the East Indies. This volcano
was first heard of in 1860, but its greatest outbreak occurred in 1883.
At first there was a tremendous column of vapor over the island,
which, fortunately, was uninhabited. This increased, and explosion
after explosion was heard, each growing louder than the others.
These explosions finally got so terrific that they were heard
thousands of miles away, and the inhabitants of Java, Sumatra, and
other islands in that vicinity were filled with terror. At last, late in
August, came one grand explosion in the morning, and about eight
square miles of dirt and rock were hurled into the air, to fall into the
hissing and boiling sea. The gas, dust, and noxious vapors traveled
for miles and obscured the sun like an eclipse, and the tidal waves
rose to a height of sixty to ninety feet, causing the loss of much
shipping and probably forty thousand lives. Had Krakatua been on
the mainland instead of on an island there would probably have been
such a catastrophe as is unknown to modern history.”
“I’m glad I wasn’t there,” put in Hockley, who had lounged up during
the talk, and felt that he must say something. “I’m willing enough to
stay where there are no earthquakes and volcanoes.”
“What about the volcanoes down here?” asked Mark. “You said
something about Mont Pelee, on the island of Martinique.”
“That is now supposed to be an extinct volcano. It was in eruption in
1813, 1817, 1823, 1839 and 1851. The eruption of 1839 was the
worst and this nearly destroyed Fort de France, the capital of the
island. The volcano is forty-two hundred feet in height and several
miles in circumference. The last time I stopped at St. Pierre there
was an excursion formed to visit the crater of the mountain, which
now forms a beautiful lake of unknown depth. We spent a day in
looking around and took dinner at a fine hotel at the foot of Pelee.”
“Are there any other volcanoes on the island?”
“There is Mount Carbet, near the center of the island, and Mount
Vauclin near the south-east extremity, but they are of small
importance.”
“We must visit all the volcanoes!” cried Frank. “I want to see what
they look like on the inside.”
“I thought there was a big volcano on the Hawaiian Islands,” put in
Hockley.
“There is, Jacob, Kilauea, which is nine miles in circumference, and
one of the largest in the world. But this has never shown the activity
of Vesuvius or of some others. There is also a volcano on the island
of St. Vincent, due south of Martinique, which is well worth visiting.”
“Oh, I don’t care to see them—at least, not if there is any danger of
their shooting off,” added the tall youth, hastily, and in such a manner
that the others could scarcely keep from laughing.
“We will try to avoid all eruptions,” replied the professor, smiling, for
even he did not dream of what was so close at hand.
The boys found Captain Danvier just as sociable as Amos Strong
had pictured him, and the worthy commander of the Vendee gave
them permission to roam over the steamer at will. He could speak
English fairly well and took a delight in explaining his nautical
instruments and other things to them.
“’Tis verra nice for you to do ze traveling around,” he said. “And wid
such a learned gentlemans as ze professair it is von double
pleasure. He is ze fine gentlemans, I know heem well.”
“And so do we know him,” answered Darry. “He’s O. K.”
“O. K. Vot you means by zat?”
“Oh, I mean he is just the cheese,” said Darry, bound to have his fun.
The French captain looked more bewildered than ever. “De cheese?
Ha, you mean de cheese to eat—de caise. But you no mean to eat
him, no.”
“No, I mean he is just the ticket.”
“De ticket, vot is dat? De carte, eh? How is de professair de carte?”
“I didn’t say the professor was a card—or a bill of fare either. I mean
he is just all right.”
“All right? Ha, I see—oui, oui! Surely he is all right, de professair is
nevair wrong. But while he is right how can he be de ticket and de
cheese, and de O. K.? Dat Englis as she is spoke by de American is
von verra funny language, yes!” And the French captain shrugged
his shoulders, while Darry and the other boys had to turn away to
keep from laughing in the good-hearted man’s face. But when Darry
and Mark tried to air the little French they knew before Captain
Danvier he laughed as heartily as they did.
 CHAPTER XXV
A COLLISION AT SEA

On the second day on shipboard Professor Strong produced a map

of the Leeward Islands, and told the boys something more
concerning the island they were to visit.
“As you will see by the map,” he said, “Martinique is irregular in
shape. Roughly speaking it is forty miles long by from ten to fifteen
miles wide. The area is less than four hundred square miles, and a
good portion of this is rocky and unfit for cultivation.”
“I see Mont Pelee, in the north,” said Mark, studying the map.
“The principal cities are Fort de France, the capital, located on the
bay of the same name, and St. Pierre and Lamentin. These three
cities are, as you see, located on the western coast of the island. On
the eastern coast is François, a town which has quite a respectable
shipping. The total population of the island is about two hundred
thousand, mostly negroes, half-castes, and French.”
“What do they raise there?” came from Sam.
“Sugar mostly, although there is also some tobacco and also a few
cattle. On an island so narrow, the streams, of course, cannot be of
much importance. The place was discovered by Columbus in 1502
and was first settled by the French, and it is a French colony to-day. I
have been at both Fort de France and St. Pierre and found them
progressive in their way. Each contains from twenty-five to thirty
thousand inhabitants and boasts of a number of fine parks and
public buildings. Just outside of St. Pierre is a suburb in which the
wealthy French population have some beautiful residences. The
drive to this district is delightful.”
“And how far is Mont Pelee from the city?” asked Sam.
“The volcano is five miles north of St. Pierre. The country is very hilly,
but there are several routes by which the crater of the volcano can
be reached with ease. There are a few small rivers to cross but
these are all bridged. Just north of St. Pierre is a large sugar refinery.
The city itself lies right along the waterfront, with high hills directly
behind it.”
After this the talk became general and the professor told them of his
former visits to Martinique, and also to the islands of Guadeloupe,
Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada, others of the group.
He told them there might be little or no hunting in store for them, but
a good deal of mountain climbing, and volcano exploring if they
desired it. And they said they did, all but Hockley, who, as usual
hung back for something else, he could not tell what.
For two days the weather remained fine and the time passed swiftly
enough, but on the morning of the third day the sky clouded up and
by noon it was raining in torrents. Then the wind came up and the
little steamer had all she could do to keep to her course.
The first effect of the storm was to drive everybody to the cabin.
Windows and doors were bolted and ports secured, and the
passengers kept their feet with difficulty as they moved around.
Eating at the table was almost impossible, and the professor had a
dish of peas upset in his lap, while Hockley nearly choked himself
with a cup of coffee which went up his nose and into his eyes. Mark
was also unfortunate. He was trying to eat a bit of steak but it slipped
from his plate to his knee and then the whole length of the dining
room floor. A waiter stepped on it and went headlong, bringing down
an armful of dishes with a mighty crash.
“Say! but this is a storm and no mistake!” gasped Mark, after the
laughing had subsided. “And such a nice piece of beefsteak, too.”
“We’re lucky if we don’t all go to the bottom!” sighed Hockley. And
then he made a rush from the room to his stateroom. He had been
taken seasick and was perfectly miserable from that time until the
storm cleared away.
Toward evening the rain let up a bit, and as it was very close and
stuffy in the cabin, the boys begged Professor Strong to let them go
on deck. He finally consented, but warned them to take good care
and not fall overboard.
“This is a treacherous sea,” he said. “The waves sometimes run very
high when least expected. Hold on tight, no matter where you
happen to be standing.”
“All right, we’ll be careful,” said Sam.
They went on deck and secured a position close by the wheelhouse,
where a number of life-lines had been stretched. Captain Danvier
was present and also warned them to be on guard.
“Ze waves run verra high,” he said. “You must hold on hard, oui,
verra hard.”
An hour went by, and the storm seemed on the point of subsiding
altogether. Feeling they could now walk around a little, the boys
moved from one end of the steamer to the other with caution. The
deck was still slippery and it was now dark.
Important events sometimes happen with alarming swiftness and
such proved to be the case in the present instance. It had looked as
if the storm was about at an end, but without warning there came
another blow, which sent the spray flying in all directions. The
lookouts were drenched and for the moment could see nothing. Then
as the spray cleared away for an instant, one of them gave a mad
yell in French:
“A ship! A ship dead ahead!”
The cry had hardly pierced the air when there came a tremendous
shock which shook the Vendee from stem to stern and caused the
steamer to list well over to port. Sam and Darry, who had started
back for the cabin, to change their wet jackets, were pitched
headlong and bumped into each other close to a post.
“Oh!” groaned Sam.
“Are you hurt, Beans?” questioned Darry, catching his chum by the
shoulder.
“A little. What was that struck us?”
“I don’t know.”
Another cry now came out of the darkness. But it was in French and
they could not understand it. Then some sailors rushed past them
with a large square of canvas and some ropes.
“We have been struck and they are going to cover the hole with
sailcloth,” explained another passenger, who could speak both
French and English. “What we struck nobody knows excepting that it
was some kind of vessel.”
With difficulty the two boys gained their feet and ran for the cabin. At
the doorway both halted and each gazed at the other in
consternation.
“Mark and Frank!” burst out Darry. “Where are they?”
“I’m sure I don’t know,” responded Sam, in equal dismay. He raised
his voice: “Frank! Mark! Are you safe?” he called out.
No answer came back, and now Professor Strong rushed up, fully as
alarmed as anybody.
“Are you all right?” he questioned. “Where are Mark and Frank?”
“We don’t know, sir,” answered Sam.
“They were on deck with you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Pray heaven they haven’t gone overboard,” gasped Amos Strong,
and greatly agitated, he ran out into the darkness of the deck. Then
they heard him call back: “Remain in the cabin until I return.”
A dozen cries now resounded on every side, and bells were jangling
almost as wildly. The Vendee had been struck on the starboard side,
just aft of the bow, and the captain was ordering some of the cargo
to be shifted to the stern, that the bow might come up as far as
possible out of the water. In the meantime the ship’s carpenter had
got out the sailcloth and he and his men were lowering it over the
hole, to keep out the rush of water. Below, the pump had been
connected with the engine and this was already battling bravely to
free the hold of the briny element that threatened to send the gallant
steamer to the bottom.
In the midst of the excitement Hockley appeared. He saw that this
was no “fake” sinking, and his face was pale with terror as he clung
first to Sam and then to Darry.
“It’s awful!” he wailed. “What shall we do? Where are the life
preservers? Where is the professor? Why don’t he order out a boat
to save us? How far do you suppose we are from land? Oh, I know I
can’t swim in such a sea!” And he shook like a leaf.
“We are not going down yet, Jake,” answered Sam. “The professor is
looking for Mark and Frank. I’m afraid they’ve been washed
overboard.”
“There is a signal of distress!” interrupted Darry, pointing out through
the darkness. A rocket had flared through the air, and now another
followed. Then a strong Bengal light lit up the scene.
“I’m going out to look for Frank and Mark,” said Darry, recklessly, and
left the cabin. Sam came close behind him. Hockley did not wish to
go, but to remain alone seemed even worse and he also followed,
but more slowly.
The Vendee had been backed and was now coming up alongside of
the ship with which it had been in collision. The strong Bengal light
showed her to be a three masted schooner, piled high with lumber. A
good part of the lumber on the forward deck had been unshipped by
the collision and was floating in the angry sea.
“Do you see anything of Mark and Frank?” asked Sam, hoarsely, as
he and Darry slipped up beside the professor.
“Not a sign,” was the sad answer. “If they were washed overboard I
fear they were drowned.”
“Oh, don’t say that!” gasped Darry. “Drowned! It’s horrible!”
“Can’t they put out a small boat?” asked Sam.
“No small boat would live in such a sea as this, and besides with so
much loose lumber floating around it would be doubly dangerous to
try going out.”
“But what are we going to do?” demanded Hockley. “I—I don’t want
to drown just yet.”
“I don’t imagine this steamer is going down, Jacob. We received a
heavy blow, it is true, but she is built in a number of compartments.
My whole anxiety, is for Mark and Frank. If they went overboard they
must be lost.”
“Well, it was their business to take care of themselves,” grumbled the
tall youth, unfeelingly.
“And it is your business to look out for yourself,” retorted Darry. “But
don’t let us quarrel; this thing is far too serious,” he added.
The Bengal light had now burnt itself out and no more were lit for the
reason that the storm was again coming up and the crew of each
vessel had to bestow their entire attention to the question of saving
the craft from going down. This was comparatively an easy matter on
board of the Vendee and soon under officers were sent around to
assure the passengers that there was no immediate cause for alarm,
that the hole had been patched up temporarily, and that it would be
thoroughly repaired as soon as the wind abated.
Captain Danvier was extremely sorry to hear that two of the boys
were missing and at once did what he could toward finding them. But
in such a storm, which was again increasing, his first duty was to his
ship, and he said, as had Professor Strong, that to risk a small boat
in such a sea would be foolhardy.
“We must wait until daylight,” he said, in French. “I can do nothing
now.”
Slowly the night wore away. Nobody slept, and at the first streak of
dawn all went on deck. The storm had passed, but the sky was still
dark. The captain had thought best to lay to, thinking the lumber
schooner might need assistance. The other craft was not far away
and soon they came within hailing distance of each other. The
lumber boat flew the Dutch flag and proved to be bound from Saba
to Curaçao.
“I have lost a large quantity of lumber!” roared the Dutch skipper,
wrathfully. “I shall hold you responsible in law for it!”
“Have you seen anything of two boys?” questioned Captain Danvier.
“We have lost them.”
“No, I have seen no boys. Have you seen a man? We lost one of our
sailors in that smash.”
“No, we have seen nobody,” answered the French captain.
“It was your fault we had that smash,” the Dutch skipper continued.
“Remember, I shall hold you for it in law, the first chance I get!”
“Do as you please about that,” returned Captain Danvier, coolly. “You
are as much to blame as myself. But if you see anything of those
boys treat them well and you’ll lose nothing by it.”
“I’ll treat them well enough,” growled the Dutch skipper.
As the Dutchman could speak neither French nor English the
conversation had to be carried on in his native tongue and it was
hard for Captain Danvier to make himself understood. Only a few
words more passed, and then the two vessels separated, and the
lumber schooner proceeded on her way, with every sail set.
“It ees certainly verra sad,” said the French captain, to the professor
and the boys. “I vill do what I can for ze boys—but what is zare to do,
tell me zat?”
“I wish you would remain in this vicinity for a day or so,” answered
Professor Strong. “They may be floating around, and if so I hope to
pick them up.”
The captain agreed readily, and not one day but two were spent in
the vicinity. In the meantime the hole in the bow was repaired, so
that danger from that source became a thing of the past.
The loss of Mark and Frank made Sam, Darry and Professor Strong
feel much downcast and even Hockley went around looking very
sober.
“I never dreamed that such a dreadful thing would happen,” said
Darry, and there were tears in his eyes. “I declare, if they don’t turn
up I’m going right back home.”
“And I am with you,” answered Sam. “To go sight-seeing without
them would make me sick.”
“And think of their fathers being at St. Pierre ready to welcome
them,” went on Darry. “That makes it ten times worse.”
And Sam agreed that it did. The loss of their chums cast a gloom
over them impossible to dispel.
 CHAPTER XXVI
THE LUMBER RAFT

Let us go back and find out what really did become of Mark and
Frank at the time the Vendee was struck in the darkness of the storm
by the Dutch lumber vessel.
As the French steamer listed to port the chums caught at the railing
before them. But this was wet and slippery and in an instant Frank
found himself over the side.
“Help!” he screamed, but the cry was drowned out in the roar of the
elements around him. Mark made a clutch at him, but he, too, was
carried overboard.
With clasped hands the two boys struck the water and went down
and down, they knew not whither. The accident had occurred so
quickly that both were completely bewildered, and it was purely by
instinct that each closed his mouth to keep out the briny element.
The waves leaped and foamed all around them, and Mark felt
something scrape his shoulder, he could not tell what, although long
after he concluded it must have been the side of the steamer.
Just what occurred during the five minutes that followed it would be
hard to describe. The boys clung to each other, bound to live or die
together. Even in that awful moment the thought of separating was
still more terrifying. Occasionally they saw a light, but soon these
were lost to view, and they found themselves in the blackness of the
night, alone.
“Frank, are you—you alive?” Such were the first words spoken
between the pair.
“Ye—yes,” came with a gasp. “Ho—how are we going to get back to
the—the steamer?”
“I don’t know. I can’t see the vessel anywhere, can you?”
As the waves carried them upward they gazed around eagerly. Not a
light was anywhere.
“The steamer has gone on—we are deserted!” cried Mark, and his
heart sank like a lump of lead in his bosom.
“Oh, don’t say that,” returned Frank. “Surely, they won’t leave us to
drown!”
A period of silence ensued. Then Frank felt something sheer up
alongside of him. He put out a hand and felt a stick of wood—one
washed overboard from the lumber craft.
“A log!” he cried. “Catch hold, Mark!”
Mark was willing enough and they caught hold of the log, to find that
it was fastened with a short chain to a number of other logs. Not
without difficulty they crawled to the top of the crude raft.
“Where did this come from?” queried Frank. “Do you suppose they
threw it overboard for us?”
“Perhaps, although I never saw such a life raft on the Vendee—if it is
a life raft. It looks more to me like some washed-away lumber.
Perhaps we struck another ship—in fact, I am almost sure we did. If
she was a lumber craft, this must be from her.”
Another spell of silence ensued, during which both strained their
eyes to see through the driving storm. Nothing but the waves met
their gaze, carrying them upward at one moment as if to the top of a
high hill, and then letting them sink and sink into a hollow until it
looked as if they should never rise again.
It was a time never to be forgotten, and each boy breathed a silent
prayer that he might be brought through this great peril in safety.
Thus the minutes slipped by, until suddenly Mark gave a cry.
“A light! A sky-rocket!”
He was right, from a great distance they saw the rocket from the
lumber vessel flare out through the storm. Then followed a
brightness lower down, but this Bengal light was not so distinct.
“Can it be the steamer in distress?” they asked each other.
“Looks as if something was on fire,” said Mark. He tried to stand up
on the lumber, Frank in the meantime holding him fast by the ankles.
But now the raft went into a hollow, and when it came up again the
light was gone.
Slowly the hours went by and the storm gradually subsided. The
boys found that the chain was fastened tightly around the lumber
and they clung to this and waited for daybreak. They did not mind
being wet to the skin, for the night was warm, but each was
thoroughly exhausted by his struggles.
At last came the light, low down in the east, and gradually the day
came over the rim of the sea—dull and heavy and bringing little of
cheer. Both stood up and gazed around eagerly.
Not a sail of any kind in sight.
It was a trying moment, and both had hard work to command their
feelings. Here they were, cast away on the broad bosom of the
Caribbean Sea, miles from land, and with no ship to pick them up.
“And nothing to eat or to drink,” said Frank. “Oh, Mark, what shall we
do?”
“I’m sure I don’t know, Frank. All we can do is to remain on this pile
of lumber and trust to luck.”
“We’ll die of hunger and thirst. I’m thirsty already.”
“So am I, but we had better not think of that.”
As the day grew a little brighter they continued to watch for the ship.
Once Mark thought he saw a vessel far to the eastward, but he was
not sure. An hour after this Frank gave a cry.
“Another raft, and somebody is on it!”
Frank was right, close at hand another raft was floating, and on top
of this lay the figure of a man, either dead or asleep.
“Hullo there!” cried Mark. “Hullo! Ahoy!”
At first the figure on the raft did not stir, but as the lumber came
closer the man sat up and gazed around wildly.
On catching sight of the two boys he gave a faint cry in a language
that was strange to them.
“He must be a castaway like ourselves,” said Mark.
“See, he is motioning to us with a rope,” said Frank. “He is going to
throw us one end.”
The end of the rope was thrown not once, but three times before
they could catch it. Then they drew the other raft toward them and
lashed the two heaps of lumber together. Thus united, the piles
made a raft of considerable size.
The man who had thus strangely joined them was evidently a sailor
and he was suffering from an ugly wound on the shoulder. At first he
said but little, but at last they made out that his name was Sven
Orlaff and that he was a Norwegian.
“I be on da Dutch boat, Christiana,” he said, in broken English. “Da
boat strike da steamer an’ I got by da vater in. So you go, too?”
“Yes, we were on the steamer,” answered Mark. “Have you any idea
where the steamer or the Dutch boat is?”
At this question Sven Orlaff shook his head. “Lose da boat—so
dark,” he said. “My shouler much hurt—I sick, fall da vater in and
must swim to da lumber. No see da boat vonce more.”
“We’re in a tough situation,” put in Frank, and heaved a sigh. “Are we
anywhere near to land?”
At this Sven Orlaff shook his head again. “No land near dis blace,”
he said. “No much boats here.”
“No land and very few ships,” said Mark. “Frank, it is certainly a
dismal outlook.”
They saw that the Norwegian’s shoulder needed to be bound up and
went at the work without delay, tearing the sleeves from their shirts
for this purpose. He was thankful, and told them so in his own
peculiar way.
The work had scarcely been accomplished when something odd
happened. Frank had allowed an end of the rope to trail behind the
raft. Now the rope was seized by some kind of a fish who swallowed
the knot. Like a flash the Norwegian sailor pulled in the rope, landed
the fish and smashed its head with his heel.
“Make to eat,” he explained. “I hungry.”
“Why, of course,” cried Mark. “I’m hungry myself. I wonder if we can’t
catch more of them?”
For answer the sailor pulled a stout fishline from his pocket, and also
a knife. With the knife he cut off a portion of the fish’s tail for bait.
“Give it to me, I’ll do the fishing,” said Mark, for he did not want the
hurt man to use his wounded shoulder.
Luckily for them, fish were plentiful in that vicinity, and in a moment
he got a bite and landed another fish, weighing at least two pounds.
Then he tried again and again, and soon had a mess of a dozen.
“We shall not starve to death, that’s sure,” said Frank, who had fixed
a place between the lumber for the catch. “I wish, Mark, you could
catch something else.”
“What’s that?”
“Water.”
“Don’t mention it. I am dry enough without thinking about it.”
All were dry, and as the day wore on their thirst increased until they
could hardly endure it.
There was small danger of the lumber blazing up, with so much salt
water to extinguish a big fire, and so they cut slivers from some
boards and started a little fire on the top of several big timbers, using
a match from Mark’s water-tight safe for that purpose. Soon they had
a fairly good blaze going and over this they cooked their fish, or
rather, half cooked and half burnt it, for the operation proved far from
satisfactory. But even such a meal was better than if the fish had
been raw.
By the time they had eaten their fill it began to cloud up once more
and soon it was raining steadily. They lost no time in spreading their
garments to catch the water and soon each had as much as he
wished to drink. The rain lasted about two hours, then cleared away
quickly, and toward the middle of the afternoon the sun came out.
As the light kept growing Mark stood up and looked around them
once more. Then he gave a cry:
“A ship! A ship!”
 CHAPTER XXVII
STONE DUST AND BOILING WATER

Mark’s cry aroused Frank and the Norwegian sailor, and both
looked eagerly in the direction pointed out.
“I see something,” said Frank, after a searching look. “But if it is a
ship or a small island I cannot tell.”
“Da ship!” cried Sven Orlaff. “Da ship sure!”
“Do you mean your ship?” queried Mark.
“I no can say ’bout dat. Look lak my ship, but no sure.”
For several minutes they watched the vessel in silence. Would it
come toward them?
“Let us raise a signal of distress,” said Frank. “Here, I’ll put my shirt
up on the end of a board.” And this was done without delay.
“We mak big smoke—dat be verra goot,” suggested Sven Orlaff, and
began to kindle a blaze where the former fire had been. Over this he
placed some wet bits of board which soon produced so much smoke
that it nearly choked them.
“They ought to see that,” said Frank.
“You must remember that this raft is much smaller than the ship,
Frank,” answered Mark, who was afraid of raising false hopes.
“When we go down into a hollow of the sea we are completely out of
their sight.”
An anxious quarter of an hour went by, during which the ship
seemed to come a little nearer.
“I believe she will come to us,” said Mark, at last.
Both of the boys looked anxiously at the Norwegian sailor, feeling
that he had more experience in such affairs than themselves.
Sven Orlaff shook his head sadly.
“Da ship go ’round—no will come here,” he said.
“It won’t!” gasped Mark and Frank in a breath.
And again the sailor shook his head. The lads gazed eagerly, with
eyes almost starting from their sockets. Sven Orlaff was right—the
distant object was slowly but surely fading from their vision.
The despair of the boys was now greater than ever, and for some
time neither could trust himself to speak.
“It looks as if we were doomed,” said Frank, at last, in a choking
voice.
Mark did not answer. There seemed really nothing to say.
The sun had come out strong and hot, and it was not long before all
began to feel thirsty once more. A little water remained in the hollow
between the lumber and this they drank up, fearful that it would
otherwise evaporate.
Night came on slowly and now they ate another portion of the fish. It
seemed unusually dry and they choked it down with an effort.
“It’s queer,” observed Frank. “This fish tastes to me as if it was
covered with fine dirt.”
“It must be our mouths,” replied Mark. “Mine feels full of grit, as if I
had been licking a piece of emery paper.”
They looked at Sven Orlaff, and found him rubbing his eyes. He
seemed to be trying to get something out of them.
“My eye, he got da dust in,” said the sailor. “I no lak dat. Where da
dust he come from annahow?” and he rubbed his eyes again.
“Why, the air is full of dust!” came from Frank, as he gazed upward.
“Who ever heard of such a thing, so far out at sea!”