What is clear is that Bushnell eventually got in touch with other revolutionary sympathizers, including local clockmaker Isaac Doolittle, who made some of the precision instruments needed for his new machine.Īnd what a machine it was: Bushnell envisioned a barrel-like vessel that would fit one operator, enclosing him in two shell-like halves that earned the device its name, the Turtle. Bushnell likely drew on accounts of Dutch inventors like Cornelis Drebbel, who had created the first functional submarine in 1620. It is unclear how much of Bushnell’s idea was unique and how much was derived from earlier European innovations in naval warfare. ( How the Declaration of Independence wooed Americans away from Britain.) To that end, he began constructing an experimental craft that could dive beneath the water and stay there, allowing its operator to bomb other watercraft with a timed explosive. But Bushnell wanted to fight British ships in a new way: from beneath the water. Bushnell had a restless mind and had tinkered with a variety of inventions to help the colonists’ cause.īushnell believed that naval warfare would be key to the Revolution-after all, the British Crown imported its legions of redcoats by ship and was already using its naval prowess to blockade the unruly colonists and force them to surrender. While studying at what is now Yale University in 1775, a farmer’s son named David Bushnell watched the progress of the revolt’s early days and imagined what warfare would be like if it were possible to conduct it underwater. ( Bob Ballard and James Cameron on what we can learn from the Titan tragedy.) Bushnell invents the Turtle
Both sides made inventions of necessity during the war: Invisible ink allowed American spies to bypass British censors without raising suspicion, while the breech-loaded rifle enabled the British to experiment with more efficient arms.īut no one seems to have seen submarine warfare coming-except the rebellious colonists.
The Continental Army was scrappy and determined, often reliant on guerrilla tactics against the more traditional British army. In fact, one of the earliest submersibles dates to the 18 th century and the American Revolutionary War. But the idea is much older than you might think. Submersibles are associated with today’s most modern scientific- and touristic-endeavors.
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