The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-05
Old Descendant of David Bush nell, Tells of .sThe Amer
 ican Turtle.''
OLD BOAT WAS SEEN BY
 FRANKLIN AND FULTON
Was In Actual Warfare Against British Fleet During
 Revolution.

fare IS qhx111 enough For aAyo71es anu rather indicative of warIlke tenden- cies to come from such early aasooia- ton. But David Bushnell Of Essex. Conn. has had the unique distinction of having played during his chi1dheod with the model of the first submarine torpedo boat eber launched. the
 American tuxftle,s 2 as it was called in the days Of the Revolution. Little did he know at the time, for MT Bushnell played with the turtle some seventy years ago, what a. revo- ! Iut1on that invention of his grand uncle, pr. David Bushnell, of West frook, had wrought in the develop 1nenf of sea-fight1ng
 Tn spite of the warlike play thing of his youth in the attic of the old Bushnell home at Westbrook, now torn down. the present David Bush nell the Last male descendant in the direct line of the revolutionary inven- tor, is as peaceabIe a man as could be inaag1neds continues a writer in the Hartford T7neA Born in 1885, and therefore 26 YearB~old at the outbreak or the Cfvf1 War. he showed not the slightest disposition to enlist in the navy and rnuch less in the land forces ss1f the union He exhibited no con cern over the sikna1 failure of the submarine torpedo boat in the war of the rebellion, when attempts to sub merge craft gen 1xal1y resulted in the drowning of the crew, but remained at home as he has all Of his seventy nine years, in the immediate neigh borhood ef Essex and Westbrook, working now and then at some minor rnechanical trade, and farming be- tween times. A present he is living. at his little house on Little Point street. In Eessex taking care of his small garden for exercise and recrea- ton
 r1s fe el.s Ss fz, fe4l- sf !, ;.. ancestor. but unfortunately rernena- bers very little of the turtle the model Of which is now broken up and dlstt5buted among any number of the fatni1y connection and among souven-4 IF hrxkern He remembers only that 1t was composed of two overlying ~shelzss Of copper and that a large number of inex plicable pulIeys and lnenhanfcal attachments accom- panied it. tI guess we cFI1dren had as much as anybody to do with the disnQ ant Ing Of 1k,s he said, ruefully; when ask cd IF he could describe stl1ss model We mauied it around in great shape And then the old Bushnell prop erty changed hands, and some Gernial1s took over the place, and knew notlr- ing at all Of the value Of tn e InssaeiI There .are stin a few pieces left among 4l1e members Of the family, Ezlf these pieces are mainly of the wooden parts of the model
 From other sources it is learned tlaat the turtle was a tublike sort of a. craft, with an opening between the two zheEIs sufffci ent to admit the operator. and covered with a brass head much like the head of a turtle ip appearance. This head was fitted with eight glasses to allow the opera tor to look about him. and with two a9FHss tubes to admit air when 1eces- The primitive submarine could qntF remain under water for about haaf an hour and to bring the machine into perfect equilIbrfum with the wa ter was a device to admit a certain amount of water, and a forcing pump bs which the craft couI be raised and lowered under water. This much is evident from the correspondence of Dr. Benjanin Gale, always a friend aof the original David Bushnell, and as tradition goes, the man who pFought Ben nJamin Franklin and Gov eFzfor Jona&han Tru1nsoull to inspect the invention at it's first secret try out 5n t11e Cnnecticnt river
 1n writing Of the destroying pro pBnsitfes of the new submarine con ance to his friend Silas Deane, pr. Gale says: The magazine for DOW def Is carried on the hinder part of th8 machine Cboat), without board, and so contrfved that when he 6thea operator) comes under the side of < he comes to the keel. and a hole so fixed as that when it touches the keel i raises a. spring which frees the ma s4xine from the machine and fas4ens
 fo the side of the ship; at the same ttxne 1t draws a pin, which sets the lime, springs the lock and the esz- plpEion occurs. z A far cry indeed to the modern torpedo boats. which are able to shoot their deadly missiles through the water at incredible speed without having to burrow underneath thir antagonists
 Do you remember any traditions about your grandunc1e '' MT: Bush nell was asked.
 sOn1y this,'' he replied, that he was a very peculiar mana dreamer and very ezcftable- He is said to- all through his college course at Yale. and to have put together parts of his model in his room on the Yale cam p1s- At any rate it is pretty certain that he had it well under way by 1775. when he was graduated. and that the energetie patriots like Franklin heard 94 sl1fs invention and urged him to keep it secret until actual war came hetween England and the colonies
 tLater in his life some one ibrougT1 Robert Fulton to see my granduncIe al work in his barn in Westbrook. Els received him with no more cour- Iesy than he would accord to the cas- ua1 visitor to his sl1op-whi&h was seant enough. fancy-but when he f0und out who Fulton was, after he had gone he flew into a terrible rage at the person who had brouE11t his seiiow inventor there. and forbade hi m to eomes within his sight again. There is anethef story about his capture mile serving u1tder; an assumed name in the Continental army, and his being drought aboard British warship He seized an axe from one Of the ships carpenters near by and began to hack at sthe rigging with 1t. When they asked him why he did that he said he was accustomed to clean up the 1tnd every spring and it was about f--l1ea