The Turtle

 

 

 

 

     The inventor of the first submarine deployed in combat was a Connecticut Yankee: David Bushnell. The submarine was nick-named the Turtle because of its shape and features.
     On the night of September 6, 1776, this one-man craft with attached mine slipped into the Hudson River near Washington Heights. It was piloted by Continental Army Sgt. Ezra Lee. His orders were to attack the British ship HMS Eagle which was anchored near Governor's Island. Floating on the outgoing tide, Sgt. Lee maneuvered the submarine on the surface of the Hudson until he sighted the British ship, a 64-gun ship-of-the-line.
     Sgt. Lee submerged the Turtle but miscalculated the distance to the British ship and his own speed. He surfaced downstream from the HMS Eagle. He waited more than two hours for the tide to reverse before approaching the warship. Riding a high bicycle seat within the submarine, with foot pedals that were attached to shaft and propeller, he made his way in darkness to the side of the British warship and then he submerged the Turtle. He attempted to place a mine onto the hull of the warship by use of a large drill. He was unsuccessful; the warship was a copper-clad ship. 
     Afraid of discovery by the ship's watch, he surfaced, separated from the HMS Eagle, and made for shore. Despite the darkness, he was spotted and the crew of the warship lowered boats to chase him. He submerged again. Due to the limited air space within the submarine, he could only stay underwater half an hour. When he resurfaced, British sailors saw his craft and hailed him from their boats. Sgt. Lee and his submarine were passing the Battery and entering the East River. He detached the mine, which had a timer. The British long boats were drawing closer to him now, as he pedaled his submarine toward shore.
     When the mine exploded, a spectacular geyser rose from the Hudson. On shore, the Continental Army cheered and fired musket balls into the early morning air. The British boatmen, fearful of additional mine explosions and gunfire from shore, returned to their ship.
     The British fleet raised anchors and sailed for the lower bay.
     The Turtle was a sophisticated craft made of rudimentary materials. It was made of oak, fastened with iron bands and covered with pitch for waterproofing. The pilot used foxfire, a moss that glows in the dark, to see the water depth gauge and compass. The submarine was 7 1/2 feet tall and 6 feet wide at the center. It had a special leak-proof intake valve to obtain fresh air when the craft was on the water's surface. Water was used as ballast for submerging and raising the submarine.
     David Bushnell invented the submarine while he was a student at Yale. He also experimented with gunpowder and underwater mines, and discovered that the density of water increases the effectiveness of explosions.
     David Bushnell was born on a farm near Saybrook, Connecticut. The year of his birth is in dispute (1740 or 1742). After the Revolutionary War, he moved to Georgia and established himself as a teacher and later as a medical doctor. He died in 1824.

References:

1) Navy Department Library
2) MIT--Inventor of the Week
3) Military.com--Sgt. Ezra Lee