Bushnell's Turtle

In 1775 an Irishman named David Bushnell, who had much hatred toward the British, began designing and building a submarine in Saybrook, Connecticut. Saybrook is only 25 miles away from where Electric Boat, the US Navy's largest builder and designer of submarines, is located. He had graduated the same year from Yale.

Bushnell's submarine was peach shaped and 7 ft. long by 4 ft. wide. The inside of the boat was made of wood that glowed in the dark. He called his submarine the American Turtle. Governor Trumbull of Connecticut and General George Washington supported Bushnell's project. Washington also funded him with money and said on September 26, 1776, "Bushnell is a man of great mechanical powers, fertile in invention and a master of execution." Washington once wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson about the future uses of submarines.

On the night of July 7, 1776 Bushnell put his submarine to work in New York harbor against British Admiral Howe's flagship, HMS Eagle. David's brother Ezra, who had knew how to use the Turtle almost better than David, died. David went and recruited some men and showed them how to use the Turtle. Bushnell picked the strongest, however, not brightest, of the men, Ezra Lee. Sergeant Ezra Lee manned the Turtle. It was armed with one gunpowder torpedo, which could be attached to the hull of a ship using a drill.

Even though there was a change in the tide Lee maneuvered up to the Eagle successfully and undetected. The gunpowder torpedo did not attach correctly and only disturbed the Eagle. However, most of the British ships left New York harbor and decided not to investigate what occurred.

Bushnell took the Turtle up to Fort Lee, where Washington's army was quartered. There, Bushnell's Turtle made another unsuccessful attempt to sink a British frigate. Another boat spotted the Turtle. The torpedo was released and exploded scarring the boat away. Washington encouraged Bushnell to use the Turtle again, but he decided not to.

George Washington gave him a commission in the US Army Corps of Engineers. He then became a captain and took command of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Bushnell then went on to design sea mines. Later he studied medicine and became a country doctor in Georgia. Even though he never sunk a ship his submarine was the first to be used for military purposes. Maybe if more people had learned to operate the submarine more attempts would have been made to sink British boats using the Turtle.