John Philip Holland (1841-1914)

Holland, an Irish-American inventor, musician and schoolteacher living in Paterson, New Jersey, has been working on a series of submarines as the ‘Salt Water Enterprise’ for the Skirmishing Fund of the Fenian Brotherhood. His workshops in New York City are theoretically secret, but his ‘wrecking boat’ is pretty well known due to the lack of organization and secrecy in the supposedly-secret Fenian organization. An experimental steam-and-hand-crank prototype of 2-1/2 tons mass has been puttering around New York Harbor, the subject of much comment in the press. Swedish, Russian, Italian, German and Turkish naval representatives have visited his shops at West 13th Street in Manhattan to watch construction of the new Fenian Ram, a petrol-powered vessel of 19 tons mass built of 3/4 inch flange iron, and costing $18,000 (or about £3700) -- not including about $6,000 spent on the un-named prototype and various experiments. The Fenian Ram is to be fitted with a pneumatic gun. Of all the world’s submarine experimenters, Mr. Holland has the best grasp of the method of trimming and directing a submerged vessel.

The Confederates

During the recent American Civil War (or War Between the States, if you incline towards the South), a few attempts were made to use semi-submersible steam-powered "Davids", hand-cranked submarines (such as the New Orleans privateer Pioneer and the naval Hunley) and Alstitt’s impressive but ineffective steam-electric submarine against the Federal blockade fleets. Not much came of this: the Confederate Navy, Army and Secret Service Corps had some ingenious men and women, but little in the way of industrial facilities or training.

Other American efforts

In the United States, inventors were not idle during (and after) the War. A French-American, Brutus de Villeroi, produced a hand-cranked submarine for the Navy, the Alligator, of no practical use. Another inventor, Oliver Halstead, built the Intelligent Whale for the Federal government; it killed several sets of crews during trials, and was abandoned.

More recently, a charming red-haired Brooklyn teenager named Simon Lake (1860-1945) was inspired by the sight of Holland’s submarine, and has built a small hand-cranked two man submarine, the Argonaut -- for $15. A number of prominent and wealthy New York citizens have set up a company to fund Lake in building a larger submarine (at a noticeably higher cost); amazingly enough, Russian naval officers have been taking an interest in his plans.

A Texan, Mr. Jake Hollister, has described a fantastic sort of walking-submarine of his invention, powered by electric accumulators; however, he has apparently disappeared near the Azores while testing this or a similar invention, and his claims cannot be verified.

Rev. George William Garrett (1852-1902)

A British clergyman, scientist, engineer and artist from Manchester, the Rev. Garrett has invented a fairly practical submarine, the hand-cranked Resurgam of 4-1/2 tons mass, and a sort of self-contained diving suit with its own chemically-produced oxygen supply. His "Garrett Submarine Navigation and Pneumatophore Co. Ltd." of 56 Deansgate, Manchester is building another submarine -- the latent steam-powered Resurgam II -- of 30 tons mass, for £1500. The new submarine will have fittings to carry two of Robert Whitehead's new 'locomotive torpedoes' on outside collars for firing at ships. The Swedish inventor Thorsten Nordenfelt (1842-1920) has expressed an interest in purchasing the rights to the Rev. Garrett’s design; he wants to begin building 'large' submarines for sale if his negotiations with Garrett are successful.

Other British efforts

Mr. A. A. Olivier has invented a fish-shaped submarine, with folding wings for directional control, an armored glass conning tower, and propelled by a gun-cotton jet or rocket! Few other people have permitted themselves the dubious pleasure of riding in his tiny (two person) vessel, which has made some truly spectacular -- and uncontrolled -- leaps from the water.

Mr. F. W. Poole of West Tidbury has invented and demonstrated a small (three person) submarine whose ballast tank doubles as a balloon for aerial flight when desired. The submarine is powered by a paraffin motor.

A tiny (one person) prototype submarine has been demonstrated by Mr. H. Middleton; his design if for a gunpowder-engine powered vessel, propelling itself with bird-like wings. His submarine also can use the pressure generated by gunpowder gas to blow its ballast tanks at 'extreme' depths.

France

The French Navy remembers with interest a submarine demonstration by Robert Fulton (of steamboat fame) back in 1800. The Jeune Ecole of naval theorists, led by Admiral Aube (Minister of the Navy) and the journalist Gabriel Charmes, have pushed a strategy of commerce-raiding and coastal defence (to counter Britain's commanding lead in heavy sea-power); submarines, submersibles, and torpedo boats fit nicely in this program. Much support has been given to French submarine inventors, with some success.

The small submarine vessel invented in 1870 by Msr. Pierre Lefontaine was electrically powered, and possessed other advanced features; it was unfortunately lost on its tenth dive, crushed by the ocean's pressure, and killing its two-man crew.

The recent, impressive and complicated Génoud-Boucher-Toureau submarine Hyponeon is powered by a hydrogen gas engine; the gas is generated by the action of sulfuric acid on iron filings. Besides a single screw for forward propulsion, this submarine features automatically feathered oars and a tail fin a la poisson at the stern. Telescopes (not periscopes) look forwards, astern, up, and down (to examine the bottom of the sea, no doubt). Powerful spring buffers -- similar to those fitted at the ends of railway carriages -- are affixed to the bow and the keel. A powerful cannon is fitted on the deck upside-down within the casing; it is rotated to a proper upright position by pneumatic power when needed. The inventors plan to add a pair of Whitehead’s automotive torpedoes at some point, carried in external collars. Oxygen for the dozen crew and the engine are extracted from sea water by a secret 'energetic pulverisation' process involving perforated metal plates. The exact cost of this vessel is unknown, but it is over £50,000.

Before the opening of the Dover-Calais Tunnel, Dr. J. Lacomme had suggested to Napoleon III a submarine railway from France to England, using a sort of tram-like electrical power system.

Russia

A Bavarian machinist and inventor, Corporal Wilhelm Bauer, produced a basic steam-powered submarine (Le Diable-Marin) at Saint Petersburg in Russia back in 1858, but his financial arrangements left something to be desired, and he departed before much use could be made of his vessel; it seems to have been scrapped after tentative trials.

The Imperial Russian Navy has just built (at the Kronstadt naval yard) fifty cheap latent-heat midget submarines designed by the engineer Drzewiecki, each barely large enough for one man. These submarines are fitted with drop-collars to carry a pair of Whitehead torpedoes externally, and have a very short range. The Tsarevitch and the Minister for Coast Defence are both great proponents of the French naval system; as a result, Russia is interested in buying more submarines from inventors in other countries (such as Nordenfelt, Holland or Lake). Engineer Drzewiecki has another submarine building, of 20 tons mass and powered entirely by batteries.

Other Places and Ideas

Narcisco Monturiol and Cosmo Garcia, a pair of Barcelona engineers, built El Ictineo in 1862, a steam-powered submarine armed with a tiny cannon. It seems to have been unstable, and almost never dived.

Senor Mirissimo Barbazo de Souza of Pernambuco has built a submarine in three sections, each entirely independent of the others, so that in the event of accidental flooding the damaged portion can be jettisoned like a frightened lizard leaving its tail behind. Its other vehicular properties seem to have suffered somewhat.

Prof. Eduardo Gad, of Switzerland, has demonstrated a pair of two-man submarines powered by latent heat embodied in refractory boiler-bricks. It is understood that he is at work on a larger model, to be fitted with a cannon in the conning-tower.

Dr. Sebastien Lacavalerie, a dentist-inventor in Caracas, Venezuela, has produced a very graceful, large and expensive ramming-submarine, the Teredo, on which the entire outer hull is a revolving spiral propulsion screw. Little else is known about the design of this vessel.

Of course, rumours abound regarding the piratical Nautilus of Captain Nemo, but nothing certain is known of this enormous ram-submarine’s size or design.

Locomotive or Automotive Torpedoes

Self-propelled torpedoes (as opposed to stationary sea mines, or spar-torpedoes on torpedo boats) have been around for about ten years or so, since they were invented by a British engineer, Robert Whitehead. They are propelled by compressed air (or sometimes steam, on steam-propelled vessels), turning a propeller. All have a pathetically short range (up to 600 yards), plus -- with one notable exception -- poor accuracy and depth-keeping. The exception is the current (1875) model of Whitehead torpedo, which incorporates the "Secret": a depth-keeping system of some unknown sort, plus contra-rotating propellers to increase accuracy in azimuth. Only Britain, France, Italy and Germany have come up with the vast sum of money charged by Whitehead for the "Secret." Whitehead's torpedoes come in 14-inch and 18-inch diameters, with warheads of 67 and 100 lbs. respectively, and costing £600 or £1000.

A rival torpedo, the Schwarzkopf, is manufactured in Prussia; it is notably cheaper (cost about £200) and less effective than the Whitehead torpedo.