Nearly one hundred years after Cornelius Debrell's experiments an Englishman by the name of Day built a small wooden submarine and descended in it under the water. This experiment gave him sufficient confidence to undertake the construction of a large vessel, and he proposed to make a profit from its use by making wagers that he could descend to a depth of one hundred yards and remain there for a period of twenty-four hours. He built the vessel, placed his wagers, and descended. He won his wagers but never returned to the surface to claim them.
BUSHNELL'S SUBMARINE, THE "AMERICAN TURTLE"
During the Revolutionary War Dr. David Bushnell, a resident of Saybrook, Connecticut, devised a submarine vessel called the American Turtle. He aimed to destroy the British fleet anchored off New York during its occupation by General Washington and the Continental Army. Thatcher's Military Journal gives an account of an attempt to sink a British frigate, the Eagle, of sixty-four guns, by attaching a torpedo to the bottom of the ship by means of a screw manipulated from the interior of this submarine boat. A sergeant who operated the Turtle succeeded in getting under the British vessel, but the screw which was to hold the torpedo in place came in contact with an iron strap, refused to enter, and the implement of destruction floated down stream, where its clockwork mechanism finally caused it to explode, throwing a column of water high in the air and creating consternation among the shipping in the harbor. Skippers were so badly frightened that they slipped their cables and went down to Sandy Hook. General Washington complimented Doctor Bushnell on having so nearly accomplished the destruction of the frigate.
If the performance of Bushnell's Turtle was as successful as this, it seems strange that our new government did not immediately take up his ideas and make an appropriation for further experiments in the same line. When the attack was made on the Eagle, Doctor Bushnell's brother, who was to have manned the craft, was sick, and a sergeant who undertook the task was not sufficiently acquainted with the operation to succeed in attaching the torpedo to the bottom of the frigate. Had he succeeded, the Eagle would undoubtedly have been destroyed, and the event would have added the name of another hero to history and might have changed even the entire method of naval warfare. Bushnell's plans did not receive any encouragement, however, and were bitterly opposed by the naval authorities. His treatment was such as to compel him to leave the country, but, after some years of wandering, under an assumed name he settled in Georgia, where he spent his remaining days practising his profession.
Doctor Bushnell was also the inventor of the submarine mine, with which he blew up a schooner anchored off New London, Connecticut, and attempted to sink some British men-of-war in the Delaware River off Philadelphia by setting them adrift with the tide, expecting them to float down, strike against the sides of the ship, and then explode. Fortunately for the ships, none of them happened to strike, but the fact becoming known that torpedoes were being set adrift in the river caused great consternation among the British shipping people. When some wag set a lot of kegs adrift, which floated down the river, it caused tremendous excitement, the English crews firing at the kegs as they came floating down the river. This has been recorded in that humorous poem called "The Battle of the Kegs," by Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Fulton's Attempt.—Robert Fulton, the man whose genius made steam navigation a success, was the next to turn his attention to submarine boats, and submarine warfare by submerged mines. A large part of his life was devoted to the solution of this problem. He went to France with his project and interested Napoleon Bonaparte, who became his patron and who was the means of securing sufficient funds for him to build a boat which was called the Nautilus. With this vessel Fulton made numerous descents, and it is reported that he covered fifty yards in a submerged run of seven minutes.
In the spring of 1801 he took the Nautilus to Brest, and experimented with her for some time. He and three companions descended in the harbor to a depth of twenty-five feet and remained one hour, but he found the hull would not stand the pressure of a greater depth. They were in total darkness during the whole time, but afterward he fitted his craft with a glass window, one and a half inches in diameter, through which he could see to count the minutes on his watch. He also discovered during his trials that the mariner's compass pointed equally as true under water as above it. His experiments led him to believe that he could build a submarine vessel with which he could swim under the surface and destroy any man-of-war afloat. When he came before the French Admiralty, however, he was met with blunt refusal, one bluff old French admiral saying, "Thank God, France still fights her battles on the surface, not beneath it!"—a sentiment which apparently has changed since those days, as France now has a large fleet of submarines.
ROBERT FULTON'S SUBMARINE