The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-25
FIRST AMERICAN
 SUBMARINE BOAT
Almost Blew U D a British Man.
 of War in l776
WAS A UNIQUE CRAFT
Was the Invention of an American, Daniel Bushnell of Saybrook, Conn.-He Describes His
 First Experiments.

First Experiments.
 From The Navy.
 The first submarine craft which really navigated under serious conditions was the invention of an American, Daniel Bushnel of Saybrook, Conn.
 Bushnell was graduated from Yale in I775 and in that same year completed the submarine vessel on which he had been at work since I'll. He does not seem to have named the boat himself, but it has come to be known as the Turtle, because of it's shape.
 The entrance to the vessel, correspond ed to the opening made by the swells of a turtle shell at it's head. The boat was about seven and a half feet long and six feet deep; large enough to contain the operator and sufficient air to last him half an hour.
 It was balasted chiefly with permanent leau ballast In addition to this a mass of lead, 200 pounds in weight. could be let down 10 50 feet below the vessel. en- abling the operator 10 anchor or to rise quickly to the surface in ease of accident.
 A water gauge, illuminated by means of a cork with phosphorus on it, which foated on the water within the gauge, registered the depth of the Turtle. By means of q compass, also illuminated with phosphorus the operator was able to direct the course of his vessel
 An oar. formed on the principle of an old-fashioned screw was fixed in the for ward part of the Turtle. The operator, by turning it in one direction. could pro- pei the vessel forward, or in the other could proTel t backward.
 Another oar. placed near the top of the Turtle worked on the same principle. By means of the latter the operator, after having established the equilibrium of the vessel, could move 1t either upward or downward A rudder in the afterpart of the Turtle could be used for sculling.
 The entrance 10 the boat was elliptcal and so small as to barely admit one per son It was surrounded by broad clip teal iron band. the lower edge of which was lei into the wood. Above the upper edge of this brass iron band was a crown resembling q hat. II shut watertght upon the iron band, to which il was hung with hinges, turning over sideways when opened.
 In the crown were three round doors one directly in front and one on each side and large enough to put the hand through. These, when opened, admitted fresh air Their shutters were ground perfectly tight and were hung with hinges There were several glass win dows iB the crown for the admission or light and two air pipes.
 A ventilator drew fresh air through one of the. pipes and discharged 1t at the bot tom of the vessel. The impure air escaped through the other pipe These, of course, were used only when the Turtle was float ing on the surface of the water Ihe valves opened automatically when they came out of the water and closed as soon as they entered it.
 When the operator wished to descend he placed his foot on the lever of the valve. by which means he opened large aperture in the bottom Of the vessel thercDy allowing the water to enter the tank. When sufficient quantity had been obtained to cause the vessel to de- sccnd very gradually he closed the valve The aperture under this valve was coy cred by perforated plate.
 The water could be discharged from the tank by the brass force pump. When the vessel leaked, the bilBe could De pumped out by similar pump. Every thing in the Turtle was brought so near the operator that he could find In the dark what he wished and without turn ing either to the right or to the left. firm piece of wood was framed parallel to the short diameter Of the vessel to prevent the sides from yielding. Thls also served as t seat for the operator.
 In the fore part of the brim of the brass crown was a socket with an iron tube passing through it. At the top or the tube was wood screw, nAeu ny means of d red which passed through 4he tnbe When the wood screw had been made fast to some object 1t could be cast off by unscrewing the rod. Be hind the vessel and above the ruuder was attached a maga2zine composed or two blocks of oak wood, holloWed out so as 10 hold 150 pounds Of powder. This VAS fired by percussion device timed by means of closkwork. rope extended from the magazine to the wood screw.
 To destroy d ship the operator was to submerge the Turtle. navigate 1t until 1t was underneath the ship that was to be destroyed, screw the wood screw Into her bottom cast off the magazine ana move away The magazine. being buoy ant, would immediately rise against the bottom of the ship, The clockwork which fired it was started by the east ing ofs of the magazine, and gave the operator time to retire to a sale dls- tance.
 Bushnell made many trials of the Tur- tlp before sending II against biltlSn vessel. He found it very difficult to ob- tain n sklliful operator In respect to this part of his work he wrote as fol- lows:
 Tn the first essay with the submarine vessel | took care to prove it's strength to sustain the great pressure Of the ln- cnn,hent water when sunk deep before trusted any person to descend much haloxz, tho surface; and l never suffered any nerson to go under water without ba,.ing q strong. piece of rigging made fast tc t. until 1 found him well ac- onainted with the operations necessary for his safety.
 After that I made him descend and continue at particular depths, without yieing or sinking. TOW by the compass, annroach a vessel go under her, and nx inc wood screw into her bottom, until l thought him sufficiently expert to put my design into operation.
 .I found. agreeable to my expectations, that it required many trials to make q nerson of common ingenuity skilltul op- era or. the first l employed was very ln- oonions hut was taken sick in the cam naien of 1776 at New York, before he had opportunity to make use Of his SKILL and never recovered his health Sufn- ciently afterwards.
 In the summer of 1776. when Admiral Howe lay with a formidable British heet in Now York bay, little below the Mar rows Bushnell attempted to destroy one of his ships, the Eagle. of GA guns. The onerator whom the inventor selected to
 i.. ,ba avparin,ent was Sergeant Ezra