Robert Fulton and the Nautilus Submarine

Robert Fulton and the Nautilus Submarine

Then came another American, Robert Fulton, who in 1801 successfully built and operated a submarine in France, before turning his inventing talents to the steamboat </library/inventors/blsteamship.htm>.

Robert Fulton - Nautilus Submarine 1801

Robert Fulton's cigar-shaped Nautilus submarine was driven by a hand-cranked propeller when submerged, and had a kite-like sail for surface power. The Nautilus submarine was the first submersible to have separate propulsion systems for surfaced and submerged operations. It also carried flasks of compressed air that permitted the two-man crew to remain submerged for five hours.

William Bauer - 1850

William Bauer, a German, built a submarine in Kiel in 1850, but met with little success. Bauer's first boat sank in 55 feet of water.

As his craft was sinking, he opened the flood valves to equalize the pressure inside the submarine so the escape hatch could be opened. Bauer had to convince two terrified seamen that this was the only means of escape. When the water was at chin level, the men were shot to the surface with a bubble of air that blew the hatch open. Bauer's simple technique was rediscovered years later and employed in modern submarines' escape compartments that operate on the same principle.

Horace Lawson Hunley

During the American Civil War, Confederate inventor Horace Lawson Hunley converted a steam boiler into a submarine.

This Confederate submarine called the could be propelled at four knots by a hand-driven screw. Unfortunately, the submarine sank twice during trials in Charleston, South Carolina. These accidental sinkings in Charleston harbor cost the lives of two crews. In the second accident the submarine was stranded on the bottom and Horace Lawson Hunley himself was asphyxiated with eight other crew members.

The Hunley

Subsequently, the submarine was raised and renamed the Hunley </od/weirdmuseums/ig/Submarine-Photo-Gallery/Horace-Lawson-Hunley.htm>. In 1864, armed with a 90-pound charge of powder on a long pole, the Hunley attacked and sank a new Federal steam sloop, USS Housatonic, at the entrance to Charleston Harbor.

After her successful attack on Housatonic, the Hunley disappeared and her fate remained unknown for 131 years.

In 1995 the wreck of the Hunley was located four miles off Sullivans Island, South Carolina. Even though she sank, the Hunley proved that the submarine could be a valuable weapon in time of war.

Biography - Horace Lawson Hunley 1823-1863

Horace Lawson Hunley was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, on 29 December 1823. As an adult, he served in the Louisiana State Legislature, practiced law in New Orleans and was a generally notable figure in that area.

In 1861, after the start of the American Civil War, Horace Lawson Hunley joined James R. McClintock and Baxter Watson in building the submarine Pioneer, which was scuttled in 1862 to prevent its capture. The three men later constructed two submarines at Mobile, Alabama, the second of which was named H.L. Hunley. This vessel was taken to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1863, where it was to be used to attack blockading Union ships.

During a test dive on 15 October 1863, with Horace Lawson Hunley in charge, the submarine failed to surface. All on board, including Horace Lawson Hunley, lost their lives. On 17 February 1864, after it had been raised, refurbished and given a new crew, H.L. Hunley became the first submarine to successfully attack an enemy warship when she sank USS Housatonic off Charleston.