The record-union., 1897-09-26
NEW YORK WAS SAVED.
VENTURE OF AN OLD HERO UN-
DER WATER.

Over One Hundred Years Ago
Put the British to Flight and
Prevented Bombardment of the
City of New York.
While all the scientific world is anx-
iously awaiting the results of the new
| tests to which the submarine boat Hol-
| land IS being put and are lost in ad-
miration of the marvellous technical
perfection to which this strange craft
has apparently been brought, how
many persons know that more than a
hundred years ago New York was
saved from destruction by British
fleet through the maneuvers of a sub
marine torpedo boat?
The use of boats beneath the water is
nothing new in naval warfare. For
more than two centuries such boats
have been in use. The torpedo boat,
a submarine craft, by means of which
gunpowder was exploded under water,
| is really the invention of an American,
| David Bushnell, who built and expert
mented with a boat called the Ameri-
can Turtle during the Revolution, and
| by means of which strange boat, man
ned by an intrepid Sergeant, New York
was saved from bombardment by the
British.
The history of David Bushnell and
his torpedo boat is the thrilling story
of Yankee ingenuity and pluck over
a hundred years ago, when the coun
try and the Republic were still in their
infancy.
DAVID BUSHNELL.
That the idea of submarine warfare
originated in the brain of David Bush
nell. as well as the fact that he in
vented and built the first torpedo boat
for that use is conceded by every au-
thoIity on the subject What is es-
pecially remarkable is the perfection
Of details of this boat, when previous
ly there had been nothing to suggest
or guide in any way. Robert Fulton
caught the notion from Bushnell, and
a few years later built a torpedo boat
called the Nautilus, which was no i'm
proyement on BushnelPs boat, except
| that by the use of compressed air he
/ was enabled to stay under water a
longer time. Fulton afterWard sought
out Bushnell in Paris, and by accident
/ 1OuIl1 II1ui DIT WOIh Ill oil ODSCAlt Pal
of the city under an assumed name.
David Bushnell was born in the old
town of Saybrook about 1742. His par
ents We're engaged in agricultural pur-
suits, and were in moderate circum-
stances. When David was about p
| years old his parents died and he re-
moved to another part of the town. In
! 1771 he entered Yale College.
Just when he first conceived the. idea
of submarine navigation is uncertain,
but it must have been during the early
part of his college course, for at the
time of his graduation in 1115 the plan
was natured in his mind.
The object of his first experiment
was to prove that gunpowder would
explode under water, and in the dem
onstratfon of this proposition two
ounces of the explosive We're used. In
| the next trial a quantity of the eX-
| plosive was placed in a wooden bottle
and fastened under a hogshead, from
which it was separated by two-inch
plank The hogshead was loaded with
stones so long as it would float: pipe
of wood extended through the lower
end and also through the plank into
the powder below. The priming was
| fired, and the explosion was SO great
that mass of debris stones and water
was violently projected many feet
above the surface of the pond.
Other experiments were subsequently
made with satisfactory results, and fin
ally a torpedo ship was constructed
which was known as the American
Turtle.
The machine has been described as
follows: when finished the external
appearance of the Turtle bore some re-
semblance to two upper tortoise shells
of equal size, placed in contact, IeaY-
! ing at that part which represents the
head of the animal a fiue or opening
sufficiently capacious to contain the
operator and air to support him thirty
minutes. At the bottom opposite the
entrance was placed a quantity OF lead
for ballast. There was rudder for
steering. The operator sat upright and
moved his boat forward and backward
| by means of a screw propeller moved
by hand There was like screw on
the top by which he could govern his
ascent to the surface. An aperture at
the bottom with it's valve admitted
! water for the purpose of descending,
and two brass forcing pumps served
to eject the water within when neces-
sary fof ascending. The vessel was
made completely alright, furnished
with glass windows for the admission
| of light, with ventilatOrs and air pipes,
| and was so ballasted with lead fixed
at the bottom as to render it solid and
obviate all danger of overturning.
Above the rudder was d place for
carrying powder magazine; this was
made of two pieces of oak TIMBER
large enough when followed out 70 con-
tain $50 pounds of powder and Sc
cured in it's place by a screw turned
by the operator Within the maga-
zine was an apparatus constructed to
run any proposed period under twelve
hours: when it had run out its turn
it opened a strong lock resembling a
gun lock, which gave fire to the pow
der.
With this machine the operator
could sail within a short distance of
a. vessel without danger of being de-
tected He could sink quickly and stay
for a considerable time under water,
rowing in any direction he pleased
SERGEANT LEES DESCENT.
A copy of the New York Commercial
Advertiser of November 10, 1921,
gives the following account of the first
descent made in the American Turtle,
under the heading of an obituary no.
tice: