1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:20,920 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and How Stuff Works and a lot 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: of all things tech and over on Twitter, a listener 6 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 1: named Steve sent me a message asking me to do 7 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:34,480 Speaker 1: an episode about submarines, and I was sure I had 8 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:38,160 Speaker 1: done a full episode about submarines before, But then after 9 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: I searched the archives, the best I could find was 10 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: an episode I did with Scott Benjamin about personal submarines 11 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: that was more about the expensive and frankly dangerous toys 12 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: of people who have way more money than they have 13 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 1: self preservation instincts. So in this episode, I'm really going 14 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: to cover the history of submarines and how they work. Actually, 15 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: this is the first of a couple of episodes because 16 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 1: the history is pretty long, and while I could have 17 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: summarized the early history of submarines, I find that that 18 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: development is really fascinating. I mean, you think about what 19 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: it would take to risk everything by building a contraption 20 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: that can travel under the water where and you may 21 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: not know this, people can't normally breathe so we're gonna 22 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: look at the early history of submarines, not even getting 23 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: into the twentieth century in this episode. Spoiler alert. So 24 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: part of what makes this a fun topic to research 25 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,039 Speaker 1: is that you really get to see when humans first 26 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: began to suss out why stuff floats or sinks. Archimedes 27 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: or Archie as I like to call him, wrote down 28 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: the earliest account of why this is at least the 29 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: earliest that we know of. There may have been earlier accounts, 30 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 1: but this is the one that we know about. He 31 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: described a force of a body partially submerged in a 32 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: fluid that would then push that body upward. And the 33 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: story goes that he figured this out while taking a bath, 34 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: that he figured out that this force that would hold 35 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: a body up in water. Uh, was something that came 36 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: to him while he was he himself was actually in water. 37 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: And one of the principles that describes this force, it's 38 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 1: called bullyancy. Essentially, it's saying that the amount of force 39 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: that is exerted on the submerged object is equal to 40 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: the weight of the water that the object is displacing. Now, 41 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: as a kid, I remember being a bit confused about 42 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: this concept because you take a look at stuff around you, 43 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: and you see what floats or sinks, and it it's 44 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: not always you know, uh, intuitive to a child, or, 45 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: if I'm going to be honest, to a young adult. 46 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: It took me a while to grasp this thing because 47 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,080 Speaker 1: you know, like rocks sing in the water, right, rock sinks. 48 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: But then you have giant ships, like enormous, huge ships 49 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 1: that are clearly much heavier than rocks are, and those float. Now, 50 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: in my kid brain, I couldn't reconcile this. I mean, 51 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: clearly it had to be the weight of stuff that 52 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,519 Speaker 1: determined whether or not it sank. Right, obviously, now that's 53 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: not correct, But it took a while before my brain 54 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: could wrap itself around the reasons why. So, the reason 55 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 1: is all about displacement water displacement. If the object displaces 56 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: enough water so that the weight of the water it 57 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: displaces is greater than the weight of the object, then 58 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: the object will float. If the object displaces too little 59 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: water so that the displaced water weighs less than the 60 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: weight of the object, then it will sink. And really 61 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: it comes down to density, not so much weight, but 62 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: really density. So if the density of the object is 63 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: less than that of water, it will float. If it 64 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: is greater than water, it will sink. And density and 65 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: mass are pretty easy to confuse. For goofballs like me. 66 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: Mass is how much stuff an object has. You know 67 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: how much stuff is to that particular thing. A chair 68 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: has a certain mass, but that's just part of an 69 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,039 Speaker 1: object's physical features. You also have to take into account 70 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: the density, which is what you can think of as 71 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 1: the distribution of mass within an object. So a dense 72 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: object is going to have its mass packed in more 73 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: tightly than a less dense object of the same size. 74 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: So you have to think about the size, shape, and 75 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 1: mass of a thing before you'll know whether it will 76 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: displace enough water to keep it afloat. Our comedees actually 77 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,160 Speaker 1: used water displacement to determine density as well. So the 78 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: basic formula for density is you take an objects mass 79 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 1: and you divide it by the objects volume, And you 80 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: would use scales to determine an object's mass, right, you 81 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: would have weights that you knew equalled out to a 82 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: specific amount of mass, like a kilogram weight, for example, 83 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: and you would weigh an object against that. But unless 84 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: the object is of a standard sort of shape, like 85 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 1: you know, a box, you might not have a neat 86 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,520 Speaker 1: and nifty formula you could use to describe its volume. 87 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: You know, if it's an irregular shape, it's tricky. How 88 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: do you figure out the volume of an irregularly shaped object. Well, 89 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: you could use water, and that's because we know that 90 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: water behaves with displacement in a very consistent way under 91 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: specific conditions. So one millilet of water will occupy one 92 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: cubic centimeter of space. And this is specifically when water 93 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: is at standard conditions, which a standard temperature is zero 94 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: degrees celsius and standard pressure would be at one atmosphere. 95 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: And that's because we want to make sure we're using 96 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,719 Speaker 1: standard conditions because you know, obviously water molecules will move 97 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,359 Speaker 1: apart as you heat them up, so you'll get some 98 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: expansion and more air pressure adds compressive elements. Although to 99 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: be fair, water is extremely difficult to compress and that 100 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: would change the measurements slightly. So under standard conditions we 101 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: have this idea that water occupies one million leader or 102 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,039 Speaker 1: one million eader of water. Rather we'll occupy one cubic 103 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: centimeter space. So an object completely submerged in water displaces 104 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: or offsets a volume of water equal to the volume 105 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: of the object. So if you put an object in 106 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: water at standard conditions and you have a little you know, 107 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,119 Speaker 1: measuring stick there that lets you read how much water 108 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: has been displaced, and you see that the water has 109 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,240 Speaker 1: been displaced by a hundred millilaters, that would mean that 110 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: the object you put in the water has a volume 111 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: of one hundred cubic centimeters. One million leader equals one 112 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: cubic centimeter. So then you would take the objects mass, 113 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: you would divide it by that one dred cubic center meters, 114 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:04,599 Speaker 1: and that would tell you what the object's density is. Now, 115 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 1: water's density at twenty degrees celsius is one gram per 116 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: cubic centimeter, So if the object's density is less than that, 117 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: it will float. If it's greater than that, it'll sink. 118 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: This is why giant warships made out of metal can 119 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: cruise along the waves, and while they weigh a lot, 120 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 1: the water they displace has much greater density, so the 121 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 1: boats will stay afloat. But what if you designed a 122 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: vessel that could travel under the water, or better yet, 123 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: you designed the vessel that could have some sort of 124 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: control mechanism to allow it to either float or dive 125 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: under the water. On top of that, there's another pesky 126 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: problem to work out besides figuring out how to get 127 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,640 Speaker 1: a vessel to go above or below the waves. Assuming 128 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: this vessel is also meant to hold people, there has 129 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:57,680 Speaker 1: to be some sort of method for getting air to 130 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: the people inside, as we don't tend to funk action 131 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: too well if we can't breathe, So that also was 132 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: a problem that had to be solved now. Since ancient times, 133 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 1: we knew we could bring air down with us under water, 134 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: but that air would only last a short while before 135 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: the oxygen levels were too low to be useful and 136 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: we would asphyxiate. We didn't have a grasp on oxygen 137 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: and carbon dioxide just yet, but we did know that 138 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: you couldn't just keep breathing the same air indefinitely. Eventually 139 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: you would have exhausted all the breathable air and you 140 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 1: would need to resurface. Aristotle wrote about diving bells, which 141 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: are containers that could be lowered with the open side 142 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: of the container facing the floor of the ocean or 143 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,719 Speaker 1: the lake or river or whatever, and they could be 144 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: dense enough to sink even with the added buoyancy of 145 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: the captured air inside the container, and water pressure would 146 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: keep the air from escaping the container, and he wrote, quote, 147 00:08:56,280 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: they enable the divers to respire equally well by letting 148 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 1: down a cauldron, for this does not fill with water, 149 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: but retains the air in the quote, So essentially a 150 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: diving bell. And that was way back in the fourth 151 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 1: century b c. But that was also before we had 152 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:15,440 Speaker 1: susced out a way to replenish the air in the 153 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: diving bell. So while you could use it to go underwater, 154 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 1: you couldn't hang out for very long before you had 155 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: consumed all the breathable air and you needed to resurface. 156 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 1: So another problem is that water pressure that I just 157 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:29,960 Speaker 1: talked about. It would compress the air inside a diving bell, 158 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:32,680 Speaker 1: so the air would take up less space inside the bell, 159 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: and the bottom of the bell, assuming you're looking at 160 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:38,840 Speaker 1: it with the bottom being the open side, would fill 161 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: a little bit with water. The water would come up 162 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: a little bit along the inside of the container, which 163 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 1: means you have a reduced work area as well a 164 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 1: reduced amount of useful area where you, as a person 165 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: could inhabit and still breathe. One way to fix that 166 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: would be to have a supply of pressurized air continue 167 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: to come down into the bell. But it would take 168 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: centuries to get that point. If you just included, say 169 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: a breathing tube from the bell to the surface, well 170 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:10,560 Speaker 1: that wouldn't do any good at all. The water would 171 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: just go right up the bell and up the tube 172 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: a great deal. It's like if you put a straw 173 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: inside a glass of liquid. You know, unless you cap 174 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 1: the end of the straw, the liquid goes up the straw. 175 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: You don't have any way of pressurizing it to keep 176 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: the water from coming in. So you would have to 177 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: have this pressurized system and it would take hundreds of 178 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,800 Speaker 1: years to get to that point. So when it comes 179 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:42,239 Speaker 1: to getting really great details about the origin of submarines, 180 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:47,520 Speaker 1: we hit some pretty big snags. There are reports about them, 181 00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 1: but they aren't necessarily the most reliable. A lot of 182 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 1: them are second or third hand reports, and they don't 183 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,480 Speaker 1: tend to have a whole lot of information about what 184 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:59,959 Speaker 1: exactly happened or how it happened. But the general can 185 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:03,440 Speaker 1: census is that a design for what would be the 186 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 1: first submarine that we have on record came from a 187 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: guy named William Bourne born was an English mathematician way 188 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: back in the sixteenth century, and the record of his 189 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:19,079 Speaker 1: design dates to fifteen seventy eight, so just to give 190 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: you a little bit of context, at that time, England 191 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: was ruled by Queen Elizabeth the First and Shakespeare was 192 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:30,200 Speaker 1: just fourteen years old. Born's design called for a totally 193 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 1: enclosed wooden boat, and then covering this wooden boat would 194 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: be oiled or greased leather that would help keep the 195 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: vessel water tight in order to reduce buoyancy. Borne's proposal 196 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: was to have hand cranked vices that connected to the 197 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: interior of the boat's hull. Now, in some descriptions that 198 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,200 Speaker 1: I've read, it said that Borne intended to use the 199 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:57,560 Speaker 1: vices to pull the sides in a little bit like 200 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,680 Speaker 1: you're you're squeezing the boat from the in side, pulling 201 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:05,080 Speaker 1: the inner walls inward and reducing the overall volume of 202 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:09,680 Speaker 1: the boat, thus increasing your density. An illustration seems to 203 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:12,480 Speaker 1: indicate that the idea was actually to have an inner 204 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: chamber inside this vessel, and that uh the inner chamber, 205 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: the innermost chamber where a person would be, would be waterproofed, 206 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: and then you would have space between this inner chamber 207 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,559 Speaker 1: and these the hull or the outer sides of the boat, 208 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,240 Speaker 1: So you would have this secondary chamber on either side 209 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,960 Speaker 1: of the place where the operator would sit, and so 210 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:42,959 Speaker 1: the visas would actually pull the boat's sections of whole 211 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 1: inward and allow those parts of the boat to be 212 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,840 Speaker 1: flooded with water. So you're essentially pulling open almost like 213 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: a trap door. You're pulling in sides of the hull 214 00:12:55,679 --> 00:13:00,680 Speaker 1: of the boat. Water rushes in into a watertight section 215 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:05,080 Speaker 1: that it surrounds the inner chamber where the operator sits, 216 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 1: and that would increase the density of the overall vessel. 217 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: That's what would allow you to sink beneath the waves. 218 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:17,959 Speaker 1: If that's the case, I'm not sure what the plan 219 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,880 Speaker 1: was to return buoyancy to the boat, because you would 220 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: need to have some way to purge the water out 221 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:28,200 Speaker 1: of the space between the whole and the inner chamber 222 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 1: while sealing the boat closed. Again, you have to have 223 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: some way to force the water back out, otherwise you're 224 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: not gonna You're not going to decrease the density and 225 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 1: thus increase the buoyancy and be able to rise back 226 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:42,720 Speaker 1: up above the waves. And maybe that's why Bourne never 227 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 1: made the darn thing as far as we can tell. Instead, 228 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 1: his design would remain an intriguing thought experiment for the 229 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: time being. Skip ahead of Monarch to the time of 230 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,960 Speaker 1: James the First of England, and we do get to 231 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,440 Speaker 1: what most people consider to be the first submarine. A 232 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 1: Dutch inventor named Cornelius van Drebble reportedly built a submarine, 233 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:09,079 Speaker 1: which he called a diving boat in the early sixteen twenties. 234 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:14,080 Speaker 1: Like Bourns proposed craft, Drebble's submarine was made of wood 235 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:18,120 Speaker 1: and coated with greased leather. Propulsion came from ores that 236 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: extended out the sides of the vessel. These oars, you know, 237 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: the parts where the ore extended out from inside the boat. 238 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 1: Those had to be coated with flaps of leather to 239 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: create a waterproof seal, because otherwise they're going to get 240 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: water coming into your submarine. That's bad business. According to accounts, 241 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:40,400 Speaker 1: it could dip as far as twelve or even fifteen 242 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: feet beneath the surface of the water, and Drebble demonstrate 243 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:48,120 Speaker 1: the craft along the Thames River in London. Supposedly, even 244 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: Jimmy the King took a ride at one point. Now, 245 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: if Drebble made any detailed records of how this boat 246 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: actually worked, they have long since been lost. To time, 247 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,080 Speaker 1: we're not entire really certain what mechanism he relied upon 248 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 1: to get the boat to go underwater. Some people have 249 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: suggested that the boat had some form of ballast barrels 250 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,800 Speaker 1: or bladders that could be opened which would allow water 251 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 1: to come inside of them, increasing the overall density of 252 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: the boat, and this causing it to sink beneath the waves, 253 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: though I've not seen any description of how the vessel 254 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: would then expel the water to regain buoyancy. Uh. In 255 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:29,640 Speaker 1: my just jettison the ballast, in which case then it 256 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: would rise up it's buoyancy would be returned. The earliest 257 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: records I can find of any kind of ballast system 258 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: actually comes two hundred years after this particular example. Others 259 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 1: suggest that perhaps the sloped shape of the bow that's 260 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: the front part of the boat acted as a sort 261 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: of reverse airplane wing, that when the boat began to 262 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:55,880 Speaker 1: move forward, the slope would cause the water to flow 263 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 1: over the top of the boat, and that would push 264 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: the boat downward into the wall watter uh, And that 265 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: maybe with a system of weights could have added a 266 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: bit more downward force. I find that particular idea, the 267 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: idea of forward motion creating the downward force to allow 268 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: the boat to dive to be a little unlikely, simply 269 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 1: because I don't think you'd be able to go very 270 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: fast with oars. I don't think you could row fast 271 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:28,600 Speaker 1: enough to make that downward motion, uh strong enough to 272 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: keep the boat underwater. You might bob a bit in 273 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: the Thames, but I don't think you would be able 274 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:37,480 Speaker 1: to go twelve to fifteen feet beneath the surface. That's 275 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: just my own gut feeling there, because I don't think 276 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: you could get up the speed necessary to maintain that. 277 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: But we just don't really know for sure what the 278 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,800 Speaker 1: mechanism was. Drebble made sure that the vessel had a 279 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: study supply of air by attaching to air hoses to 280 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: the boat, and the other ends of the hoses were 281 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: attached to floats that would drift on the surface of 282 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 1: the Thames above the boat. Now, I'm assuming that there 283 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: must have been some method of pumping the air down 284 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:09,920 Speaker 1: into the boat, because otherwise you would have a problem. See, 285 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:14,080 Speaker 1: carbon dioxide is denser than air, which means you need 286 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: a way to force breathable air down the hose to 287 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 1: the interior of the submarine. Otherwise it would become saturated 288 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 1: with C O two and you would eventually suffocate. This 289 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:29,800 Speaker 1: was something an inventor named de Lorena, an Italian inventor, 290 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 1: had figured out way back in fift thirty five. He 291 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: made a diving bell with an apparatus that would replenish pressurized, 292 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:41,440 Speaker 1: breathable air into the bell. Though he took the secret 293 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: of that invention to the grave. One other person reportedly 294 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,440 Speaker 1: understood how it worked, but had sworn an oath never 295 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: to reveal it. So we don't know the precise methodology 296 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,680 Speaker 1: used in that case either. Now, I'm sure it got 297 00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:00,439 Speaker 1: stuffy and humid inside Drebble's boat, but at least you 298 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 1: could get some air down there, and the crew wouldn't 299 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: automatically just die of asphyxiation. So the submarine as a working, 300 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: though primitive concept, dates back about five years, and I'm 301 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:13,679 Speaker 1: sure it will come as a shock to learn that 302 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:17,320 Speaker 1: since then we've made a few advancements. When we come back, 303 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 1: I'll talk a bit more about some of the earliest 304 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: subs and technology that made them work. But first let's 305 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 1: take a quick break. Okay, So, by the seventeen hundreds, 306 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:40,120 Speaker 1: several inventors had experimented with different designs for submersible vehicles, 307 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: and they weren't really practical craft just yet, though the 308 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 1: potential military applications were immediately apparent. So this was during 309 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 1: the age when countries were imposing their will on others, 310 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: primarily through naval supremacy. Countries like Spain and England in 311 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: particular were known for doing this, and a common tactic 312 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:05,639 Speaker 1: was to create a naval blockade around a port city 313 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,399 Speaker 1: to prevent ships from leaving or arriving at that port city. 314 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: Creating a submersible that could secretly approach a blockade and 315 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: disrupt it, typically through the use of explosives that some 316 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:20,879 Speaker 1: poor submarner would have to try and attach to those 317 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:25,120 Speaker 1: boats was an obvious application for a submarine. It would 318 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: be an incredibly useful war tool. In se we get 319 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: the earliest published account of a ballast bladder, which some 320 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,680 Speaker 1: unknown inventor suggested using bags made out of goat skin 321 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,840 Speaker 1: to take in water so that submarine could dive below 322 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,720 Speaker 1: the waves, and the bags would have a twisting rod 323 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: attached to them that would extend into the interior of 324 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: the submarine itself, so the submarner could grab all of 325 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 1: the rod and give it a good twist, and that 326 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,680 Speaker 1: in turn would twist the ballast bag and that would 327 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,159 Speaker 1: force water out of the ballast bag. It would have 328 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 1: a valve on the end of the bag so that 329 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:06,480 Speaker 1: the water couldn't just come right back in, and that 330 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: would decrease the vessel's density and allow it to surface. 331 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,919 Speaker 1: This was a predecessor for ballast tanks essentially do the 332 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: same thing, though you don't typically have to hand operate 333 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 1: them these days. A few decades later, we have the 334 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: first use of a submarine in war. That was the 335 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:27,879 Speaker 1: American Revolutionary War. There was actually a submarine in the 336 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: American Revolutionary War. The submarine was called the Turtle. And 337 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:36,159 Speaker 1: this was a pretty modest submarine. It's not like the 338 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: Red October or anything like that. It could hold precisely 339 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 1: one person. It was the design of David Bushnell, a 340 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 1: an engineering student who was studying at Yale at the time. 341 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: He and his brother Ezra built the dang Durn thing. 342 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 1: The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the shape of the submarine as 343 00:20:55,320 --> 00:21:00,159 Speaker 1: a quote walnut standing on end end to quote. And 344 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:04,600 Speaker 1: if you see illustrations or the recreations of this particular submarine, 345 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:06,520 Speaker 1: you'll see exactly what they mean. It does kind of 346 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:10,840 Speaker 1: look like a sort of oval shaped submarine, large enough 347 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:14,440 Speaker 1: to hold a single person on the inside. Facing forward 348 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 1: from the submarine, at least from the perspective of the pilot, 349 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: would be the propulsion system, which was a screw propeller 350 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,200 Speaker 1: and it worked on as similar principle as the Archimedes 351 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:28,119 Speaker 1: screw pump, which was used to lift water from areas 352 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:32,080 Speaker 1: of low elevation to areas of high elevation. The submarine 353 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: operator would crank a handle in order to turn this 354 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:40,600 Speaker 1: screw propeller, which would effectively pull the submarine through the water, 355 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: and then with the other hand, the operator would control 356 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: a rudder that is in the back of the vessel 357 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: to provide the steering mechanism. The vessel also had a 358 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:57,359 Speaker 1: secondary screw propeller, one that was oriented vertically, which meant 359 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: it was meant to help the submariner navigate critically through 360 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: the water, So if you were to dive beneath the waves, 361 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 1: you would use the vertical screw propeller to push you 362 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 1: down further into the water or to pull you up 363 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:15,520 Speaker 1: to actually drive. The turtle had a chamber that would 364 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: be flooded with opening a valve, and that would just 365 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,160 Speaker 1: decrease the ship's buoyancy, so it would start to sink 366 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:25,320 Speaker 1: uh to surface. The operator could work some pumps inside 367 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 1: the turtle that would push this water back out of 368 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:32,879 Speaker 1: that chamber. It also had ballast, both inside and attached 369 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: to the outside of the vessel that was used to 370 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: make sure the craft would maintain the proper orientation in 371 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: the water and not just you know, start flipping over 372 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: tilting to the side, which would be disastrous to the operator. 373 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: So the weights were really meant to make sure that 374 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:51,640 Speaker 1: it maintained that up down orientation. Air came in through 375 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:55,879 Speaker 1: a pair of snorkels, and the snoricles had lids that 376 00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:00,440 Speaker 1: would close whenever the vessel were to go underwater. Windows 377 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:04,240 Speaker 1: on the hatch above the the operator would allow some 378 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 1: light to come into the interior of the vessel, although 379 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,359 Speaker 1: it was meant primarily to be operated at night, and 380 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: the design also meant that if you went underwater, you 381 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: would have a limited supply of air because the snorkels 382 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:21,000 Speaker 1: now would be closed, and you would also have much 383 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 1: less light to work from. The intent was to operate 384 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,600 Speaker 1: so that only the hatch would be above the surface 385 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,640 Speaker 1: of the water for most of a mission, so that 386 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: the operator would still be able to get a look 387 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 1: around seeing where they were in relation to a target. 388 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,359 Speaker 1: They would also be able to breathe because the snorkels 389 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,640 Speaker 1: would be exposed to the air, and then the operator 390 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:47,680 Speaker 1: would only dive with the submarine in order to avoid 391 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: being seen or when it came time to actually attach 392 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:55,919 Speaker 1: an explosive device to the target. To do that, the 393 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 1: ship had a drill that was also pointed up from 394 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 1: the top of a turtle, and this was to drill 395 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,880 Speaker 1: a hole in a blockade ship, and then in that 396 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:10,920 Speaker 1: hole the operator could attach a line for a gunpowder charge. 397 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,359 Speaker 1: And this gunpowder charge was in the form of a 398 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:17,600 Speaker 1: mine with an ingenious clockwork fuse mechanism, which I'll describe 399 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:23,200 Speaker 1: in just a second. Now, Bushnell had already conducted experiments 400 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:27,400 Speaker 1: while at Yale to find ways to make gunpowder explode underwater, which, 401 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,960 Speaker 1: as I understand it, caused a bit of a stir 402 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,359 Speaker 1: on campus. His mind was most likely a keg that 403 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:35,560 Speaker 1: was about two and a half feet long or about 404 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,879 Speaker 1: point seven six ms and one and a half feet 405 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 1: in diameter or point for six meters, and it could 406 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,639 Speaker 1: hold about a hundred fifty pounds or about sixty eight 407 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:49,200 Speaker 1: ms of gunpowder to create a timing mechanism for the explosive. 408 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,880 Speaker 1: He actually worked with a pair of clockmakers. They were 409 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: known as a Phineas Pratt and Isaac Doolittle, And I 410 00:24:57,359 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: just want to say that I'm really loving these names 411 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: so far. Anyway, together Pratt, Doolittle and Bushnell came up 412 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:08,280 Speaker 1: with a clockwork device that would trigger a flintlock mechanism. 413 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 1: It's the kind that you would find on a flint 414 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:15,879 Speaker 1: lock musket, and the flintlock would have a piece of 415 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:19,320 Speaker 1: flint and steel that would come together when the when 416 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:23,679 Speaker 1: the mechanism activated, it would uh spring shut and that 417 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,159 Speaker 1: would cause a spark. And the idea was that the 418 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 1: spark would then ignite a priming charge of gunpowder. The 419 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:33,440 Speaker 1: priming charge would in turn ignite the explosive charge. So 420 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,800 Speaker 1: the idea was that the sub operator would set a 421 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 1: timer on this device and attached the mind to a 422 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,440 Speaker 1: ship using the hole that had been drilled into the 423 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:47,000 Speaker 1: ship's hull, and then they would try and get the 424 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:49,960 Speaker 1: heck out a dodge. They would be turning that hand 425 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,359 Speaker 1: crank frantically to move the propeller in order to get 426 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 1: a safe distance away from the explosive. The team's mind 427 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,600 Speaker 1: design would in theory give the operator enough time to 428 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 1: get the hack away from the exploding ship, and it 429 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,400 Speaker 1: was a novel idea, but it turned out in practice 430 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:13,879 Speaker 1: to fall short of expectations. The Turtles target was a 431 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,679 Speaker 1: big one for its main mission. It was the HMS Eagle, 432 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,680 Speaker 1: which happened to be the flagship of the British Admiral 433 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 1: Richard how As, the brother to General William how of 434 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,240 Speaker 1: the British troops. But the Turtles drill turned out to 435 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: be incapable of cutting through the eagles copper plated hull. 436 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,800 Speaker 1: By that time, dawn was breaking and the Turtles pilot, 437 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:40,840 Speaker 1: a soldier named Ezra Lee, was in danger of being discovered. 438 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: So he attempted to sneak away, but he was spotted 439 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:51,400 Speaker 1: and the Eagle let out a pursuit boat. Lee decided that, well, 440 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:53,200 Speaker 1: the best thing for me to do is to set 441 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:56,120 Speaker 1: the timer on this mine, because if they're gonna get me, 442 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:58,159 Speaker 1: maybe they'll get the mind too and we'll all go 443 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:02,520 Speaker 1: up together. So then he detached the mind from the Turtle, 444 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 1: and the mind did explode. It did not blow up 445 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,879 Speaker 1: the pursuing boat, but it did scare them off, and 446 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 1: it gave him the opportunity to actually make an escape. 447 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 1: The Turtle would go on two more unsuccessful missions, one 448 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:20,879 Speaker 1: of them under the operation of Phineas Pratt himself, but 449 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,879 Speaker 1: nothing ever quite came of it, and the British eventually 450 00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:27,880 Speaker 1: sunk a ship that happened to be carrying the Turtle, 451 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:33,439 Speaker 1: and the submarine was lost in that particular engagement. But 452 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,440 Speaker 1: while the Turtle failed in its mission, the potential was obvious. 453 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,280 Speaker 1: They just had to refine the technology. Moving ahead a 454 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 1: couple of decades, we come to Robert Fulton, an American 455 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:48,480 Speaker 1: engineer and inventor who perhaps is best known. Maybe he's 456 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:52,040 Speaker 1: most famously associated with steamboats, but in the early eight 457 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,320 Speaker 1: hundreds he also developed an early submarine and was also 458 00:27:56,359 --> 00:28:01,920 Speaker 1: perhaps the most American of all classifications a capitalist. In fact, 459 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,480 Speaker 1: you could call him an arms dealer. I'll explain. So 460 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:10,159 Speaker 1: in seventeen seven, Fulton was living in France and he 461 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:13,040 Speaker 1: goes to Paris and he pitches this idea for a 462 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:17,000 Speaker 1: submarine that he calls the Nautilus. Jules Verne would take 463 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: note of this decade later, France and Britain have been 464 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 1: involved in a series of military conflicts for more than 465 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: a century. Uh In fact, some modern historians refer to 466 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,680 Speaker 1: this as the Second hundred Years War. But the French 467 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:35,160 Speaker 1: looked at Fulton's proposal and they said manon, because they 468 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,920 Speaker 1: thought it was a dirty, underhanded way to fight a war. 469 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: Because this was a time when people thought war was 470 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: somehow better if everyone could see what everyone was doing 471 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 1: all the time, and sneaky stuff was considered to be 472 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:51,680 Speaker 1: generally unfair. The mental gymnastics humans go through in order 473 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,960 Speaker 1: to determine what is and isn't a fair way to 474 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,800 Speaker 1: kill each other never really fails to confuse me. And 475 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,120 Speaker 1: for the record, I'm pretty much against the whole killing 476 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,880 Speaker 1: thing entirely, but I realized that the world we live 477 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,960 Speaker 1: in makes that an impractical philosophy to be applied at 478 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: large in every situation. Anyway, Fulton appealed the decision and said, well, hey, 479 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,400 Speaker 1: what about um, how about I build this sucker pretty 480 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,560 Speaker 1: much on my own dime, and in return, if we 481 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 1: use it to attack British ships, you can pay me, 482 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: and that that payment will be based upon how big 483 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,719 Speaker 1: the ship was, how many guns it carried, and for 484 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 1: British shipping vessels. You can give me a portion of 485 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: whatever you end up taking from those shipping vessels. And 486 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 1: the French minister said that cord, which means okay, because heck, 487 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,240 Speaker 1: I mean the France wouldn't have to spend a single 488 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,200 Speaker 1: franc on this, and they would only have to pay 489 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: out a portion of any spoils if the thing actually worked. 490 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: So by eight Fulton had the Nautilus ready to go 491 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,400 Speaker 1: and he wanted to demonstrate its capabilities on the Sin, 492 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:01,160 Speaker 1: the river that runs through Paris. And unlike the Turtle, 493 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:05,680 Speaker 1: the Nautilus had an iron ribbed hull coated with copper sheets. 494 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:10,360 Speaker 1: It also had a conning tower or con. Now, a 495 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:14,480 Speaker 1: ship's con is a designated area. It's typically raised above 496 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: other areas, from which the commander of the ship can 497 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 1: control or con the ship by issuing commands to the crew. 498 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: Future submarines would incorporate the con within a structure on 499 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:29,360 Speaker 1: the top side of the submarine called the sail or 500 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 1: the fin, until technological advancements would render such an arrangement unnecessary. 501 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:39,120 Speaker 1: The Nautilus also had a collapsible mast and a sales 502 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: system so that it could deploy a fan sail very 503 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:45,720 Speaker 1: similar to what would be found on a Chinese junk 504 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:48,640 Speaker 1: ship at the time. This would allow the Nautilus to 505 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,440 Speaker 1: operate more like a classic ship when it's surfaced. The 506 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:56,560 Speaker 1: Nautilus was a cigar or tear drop shape, taking the 507 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,760 Speaker 1: basic form that we would see used in a lot 508 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: of submarines moving forward. It was nearly seven meters long 509 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:08,080 Speaker 1: and two meters wide. They had horizontal wings or planes 510 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:11,480 Speaker 1: that were meant to aid in directing the ship's incline 511 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:14,680 Speaker 1: or decline as it was moving through the water. A 512 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 1: section of the keel was a hollow chamber that could 513 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:21,720 Speaker 1: be flooded to increase the ship's density so it could 514 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:25,200 Speaker 1: dive under the water. Hand powered pumps could push the 515 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:28,280 Speaker 1: water back out of the hull and thus returned the 516 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,920 Speaker 1: buoyancy to the ship and allow it to rise back 517 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: up and and surface. Propulsion once again came in the 518 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 1: form of a hand cranked screw propeller, and Fulton claimed 519 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: that the ship could operate safely at a depth of 520 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: thirty feet or nine meters, although a lot of people 521 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 1: were skeptical of that. Also, whenever he was doing demonstrations 522 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:51,719 Speaker 1: on the seine, he always made a point to go 523 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,200 Speaker 1: in the same direction as the current of the river itself, 524 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:59,320 Speaker 1: which gave the sense that this boat was actually able 525 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:02,760 Speaker 1: to move much faster than it really could in normal conditions. 526 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:07,920 Speaker 1: The attack mechanism on this particular submarine was a spike 527 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 1: with an eye in it, so you can think of 528 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:13,480 Speaker 1: it like a giant sewing needle, but attached to the 529 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:16,680 Speaker 1: eye was a cable, and attached the cable was a 530 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:20,320 Speaker 1: mine an explosive, and the mind was designed to explode 531 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,360 Speaker 1: upon coming into contact with an enemy ship's hull. Eventually, 532 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:28,360 Speaker 1: Fulton realized that he never build up the speed and 533 00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 1: forced necessary to penetrate a ship's hull with this spike, 534 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:37,040 Speaker 1: and so he decided instead to use a towed explosive 535 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,840 Speaker 1: device called a carcass. Now it turned out to be moot, 536 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: because when Fulton tried to use the Nautilus in a 537 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: real world setting, it just couldn't keep up with the 538 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,880 Speaker 1: ships it was targeting. Ships could spot it and then 539 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 1: maneuver out of the way, and this Nautilus was so 540 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: slow it can never catch up. The French eventually canceled 541 00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 1: all contracts with Fulton, who then did the incredibly American 542 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 1: thing that I mentioned earlier. He switched sides. He had 543 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,280 Speaker 1: been marketing the submarine to the French to use against 544 00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 1: the British, so then he turned around to the British 545 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:14,640 Speaker 1: to sell them essentially the very same technology to be 546 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:19,600 Speaker 1: used against the French. Robert Fulton, pioneering arms dealer. His 547 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:23,280 Speaker 1: attempts at using the submarine for the British were just 548 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:26,320 Speaker 1: as fruitless as they had been for the French, and 549 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:29,200 Speaker 1: the Breads were able to dominate the seas with their 550 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:33,560 Speaker 1: more conventional navy, and ultimately Fulton submarine would never see 551 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:37,520 Speaker 1: a successful wartime use and he would scrap it, focusing 552 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 1: on steamboats instead. The next advances in submarines would arrive 553 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,160 Speaker 1: before and during the Civil War in the United States. 554 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:47,640 Speaker 1: I'll explain more in just a second, but first let's 555 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:58,920 Speaker 1: take another quick break. In eighteen fifty five, a Bavarian 556 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:03,720 Speaker 1: engineer named Wilhelm Bower built a submarine for Russia. It 557 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 1: was called the C Devil and it would require a 558 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,759 Speaker 1: crew of about a dozen sailors. Rather than a hand 559 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,680 Speaker 1: crank propeller, this submarine used a treadmill to provide the 560 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:18,640 Speaker 1: power needed to drive the propeller's motion, with four sailors 561 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:22,560 Speaker 1: providing the foot power to do so. Bauer had built 562 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: an earlier submarine back in Bavaria, but it had sunk 563 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:29,120 Speaker 1: on a test run, and Bower and two other men 564 00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:33,200 Speaker 1: aboard had to actually wait while the vessel slowly filled 565 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:36,240 Speaker 1: with water until it reached a point where the pressure 566 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:39,360 Speaker 1: on the inside of the submarine had equalized enough to 567 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,680 Speaker 1: open the hatch and swim out. Because the water pressure 568 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:45,800 Speaker 1: outside the submarine was so great, they could not physically 569 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:49,040 Speaker 1: open the hatch the water weight was too great. Once 570 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,520 Speaker 1: the pressure equalized, they were able to open it. Can 571 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:57,840 Speaker 1: you imagine sitting in a sunken submarine for hours waiting 572 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 1: for there to be enough water in the summer so 573 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,560 Speaker 1: you can open up that hatch. It must have been terrifying. 574 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:08,080 Speaker 1: For that reason, Bower, in his Sea Devil design, included 575 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:12,120 Speaker 1: a primitive airlock so that the crew could escape if 576 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:16,000 Speaker 1: such an event were to occur. With the new submarine, 577 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:20,400 Speaker 1: the Sea Devil had more than one thirty successful dives, 578 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,880 Speaker 1: including one during the coronation ceremony, in which the submarine 579 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 1: carried a four piece band which played beneath the water. Ultimately, 580 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: the Sea Devil would end up getting stuck in the 581 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:36,920 Speaker 1: mud at the bottom of a river, reportedly because Russian admirals, 582 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:40,920 Speaker 1: who had grown envious of Bower's success and his favor 583 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:45,200 Speaker 1: with the Tsar, gave Bauer incorrect information about the depth 584 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:49,319 Speaker 1: of the water, so, according to the story, they sabotaged 585 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,080 Speaker 1: the effort. They said, oh, no, the river isn't that 586 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:55,040 Speaker 1: you know. The river is is something like forty ft deep, 587 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,400 Speaker 1: when in fact the river was twenty feet deep. So 588 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:02,520 Speaker 1: then Bower dives further than what he actually can and 589 00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:06,279 Speaker 1: get stuck in the mud. During the American Civil War, 590 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:11,840 Speaker 1: both the Union and the Confederacy experimented with submersible military boats. 591 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:16,080 Speaker 1: The Union, for example, constructed a ship called the USS Alligator, 592 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:18,880 Speaker 1: and the U. S. Navy gave the job of building 593 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:22,919 Speaker 1: the Alligator to a firm called Nify and Levi, which 594 00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:26,200 Speaker 1: in turn was following the designs of a French engineer 595 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:29,640 Speaker 1: named Brutus de Ville Roy or a de Ville Ras, 596 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,120 Speaker 1: if you prefer. The purpose of the Alligator was to 597 00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:38,759 Speaker 1: counteract ironclad Confederate ships like the Merrimack. Now, this contract 598 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:41,880 Speaker 1: called for a ship that was quote at least fifty 599 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:45,560 Speaker 1: six inches in width and sixty six inches in height 600 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: and forty five feet in length, that equals out to 601 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:53,320 Speaker 1: one point four meters wide, about one point seven ms high, 602 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,439 Speaker 1: and about thirteen point seven ms long. The actual ship 603 00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:58,880 Speaker 1: would end up being a little different from those dimensions, 604 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,000 Speaker 1: but you get the rough idea. The original propulsion system 605 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:04,879 Speaker 1: of the Alligator was a set of ores that would 606 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:09,080 Speaker 1: need to be operated by twenty two sailors. That ended 607 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 1: up being too slow and too crowded, so the Navy 608 00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,960 Speaker 1: scrapped that in favor of a screw type propeller, and 609 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:19,520 Speaker 1: not only did that propeller provide a faster means of propulsion, 610 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:23,120 Speaker 1: it also reduced the crew needed to operate the propulsion 611 00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:26,800 Speaker 1: system to just eight sailors instead of twenty two. The 612 00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:31,239 Speaker 1: submarine also had a diver lockout chamber, so again a 613 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:35,960 Speaker 1: very primitive airlock system, and it also was said to 614 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:40,000 Speaker 1: have an air purification system, but I couldn't find really 615 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,919 Speaker 1: any information on how that actually worked, so I don't 616 00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:47,680 Speaker 1: really know what that was. You know, whether or not 617 00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:50,680 Speaker 1: it was fully self contained within the vessel, or it 618 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,239 Speaker 1: was a system of hoses and pumps, I don't know. Ultimately, 619 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,840 Speaker 1: the Alligator would be more of a headache and also 620 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:02,359 Speaker 1: a sunken cost literal as it turned out more than 621 00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:06,760 Speaker 1: a viable military asset. It was being towed to South 622 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,799 Speaker 1: Carolina for its first true military mission, but during that 623 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:15,719 Speaker 1: trip bad weather struck and the towing ship had to 624 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:19,400 Speaker 1: cut loose the submarine, which was unmanned at the time, 625 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: and the submarine ultimately sank beneath the waves and was lost. 626 00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:28,640 Speaker 1: The Confederacy built a semi submerged to torpedo ship called 627 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:31,960 Speaker 1: the c. S. S. David. This was not a true submarine. 628 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:35,600 Speaker 1: It could not dive beneath the water, but most of 629 00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:39,960 Speaker 1: the ship's body was beneath the water. It was steam powered, though, 630 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:42,280 Speaker 1: which meant that it had to have a smoke stack 631 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,920 Speaker 1: to exhaust the smoke from the coal that they were 632 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:50,799 Speaker 1: burning in order to heat the boiler. And if you 633 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:52,719 Speaker 1: have a smoke stack, it's got to stick out over 634 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:56,799 Speaker 1: the water, so that part was always exposed to the air. 635 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:01,400 Speaker 1: The ship was designed to hold four bowl three sailors 636 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:04,400 Speaker 1: and a commanding officer. At the front end was a 637 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:08,719 Speaker 1: long spar that had a torpedo at the very tip, 638 00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 1: so this was a boat that was meant to ram 639 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:15,759 Speaker 1: a ship, and the tip of the spar would explode 640 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:19,920 Speaker 1: upon contact. The David attacked a Union ship called the 641 00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:25,360 Speaker 1: USS New Iron Sides on October Free while the David 642 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:29,480 Speaker 1: struck New Iron Sides and the torpedo exploded as planned. 643 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:34,239 Speaker 1: The resulting splash of water slashed into the David and 644 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:37,319 Speaker 1: extinguished the fire for the ship's boiler, so now there 645 00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:41,040 Speaker 1: was no power to the ship anymore. The commanding officer 646 00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:44,640 Speaker 1: and one of the crew abandoned the ship. Technically, actually 647 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:47,719 Speaker 1: two of the crew abandoned the ship. The third crew 648 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:50,799 Speaker 1: member could not swim, so one of the other crew 649 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,440 Speaker 1: members swam back, and then those two guys were actually 650 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:57,920 Speaker 1: able to re light the boiler fire and then eventually 651 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:01,560 Speaker 1: navigate away from the New irons Sides. Sailors aboard the 652 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,520 Speaker 1: New Iron Sides had been firing with small arms to 653 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:10,360 Speaker 1: against the David, but didn't do any significant damage. So uh, 654 00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:13,600 Speaker 1: those two guys got away. The other two were actually captured. 655 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:18,640 Speaker 1: The most famous Confederate submarine was called the h L. Huntley, 656 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:22,520 Speaker 1: which was named after Horace Huntley, who designed it. The 657 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:26,000 Speaker 1: submarine used a spar torpedo similar to what the David 658 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:29,320 Speaker 1: had used, but unlike the David, the Hunley could actually 659 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:32,080 Speaker 1: dive beneath the water. It carried a crew of eight, 660 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:36,799 Speaker 1: including the commanding officer. Sometimes some reports say could hold 661 00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:38,840 Speaker 1: up as as many as nine, but eight was the 662 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:43,240 Speaker 1: standard crew and seven people were needed to hand crank 663 00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:47,080 Speaker 1: the propeller. The eighth wooden man a rudder to steer 664 00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:50,680 Speaker 1: the vessel. The vessel was nearly forty ft or twelve 665 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,560 Speaker 1: meters long, and inside the height of the vessel was 666 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,880 Speaker 1: just over four ft three inches or one point three meters, 667 00:40:57,239 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 1: which meant it was pretty cramped and said that submarine 668 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:04,080 Speaker 1: you could not stand, you know, tall in there. The 669 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,040 Speaker 1: ship had ballast tanks that could take on water and 670 00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:10,800 Speaker 1: also expel it using hand powered pumps. The ship also 671 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,400 Speaker 1: carried weights to help act as ballast, and the weights 672 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:16,520 Speaker 1: could be quickly jettisoned if the ship needed to surface quickly, 673 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:18,960 Speaker 1: and it had a pair of snorkels that could bring 674 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:21,759 Speaker 1: fresh air into the vessel when it was close to 675 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:25,440 Speaker 1: the surface, Otherwise the ship was cut off from fresh air. 676 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:29,399 Speaker 1: And according to some accounts, a single candle provided light 677 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:32,919 Speaker 1: inside the submarine, and it also provided a warning when 678 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:35,439 Speaker 1: the oxygen level was getting low because the candle's flame 679 00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:38,600 Speaker 1: would begin to flicker. Part of the reason why the 680 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:43,040 Speaker 1: Hunley is famous is because it was responsible for a 681 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,960 Speaker 1: couple of dozen deaths, most of them Confederate soldiers, and 682 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:50,560 Speaker 1: remember this was a Confederate ship. During the testing of 683 00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:54,920 Speaker 1: the vessel, the Honley sank twice, the first result in 684 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:58,320 Speaker 1: the loss of five crewmen, and in the second accident, 685 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,839 Speaker 1: all eight of the crew died, including Hunley himself, who 686 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:05,320 Speaker 1: was at the time acting as the commanding officer. Even 687 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:09,280 Speaker 1: with those two accidents during the testing phase, the Confederacy 688 00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:12,600 Speaker 1: salvaged the ship, repaired it for use, and put it 689 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:17,760 Speaker 1: back into official military use. On February seventeen sixty four, 690 00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:22,160 Speaker 1: the Hunley attacked the Union ship the Housatonic, which was 691 00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:25,200 Speaker 1: a wooden ship of war, and the Huntley's attack was 692 00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:30,520 Speaker 1: technically successful. The Housatonic did sink and five crew of 693 00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:34,120 Speaker 1: the Hausatonic died as a result. However, the Huntley itself 694 00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:37,480 Speaker 1: failed to return to port, and for many years no 695 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:39,880 Speaker 1: one was really sure what had happened. I mean, clearly, 696 00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:43,960 Speaker 1: somewhere along the line the Hunley sank, but no one 697 00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:48,880 Speaker 1: was sure where or why. The Huntley, which was only 698 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:53,440 Speaker 1: in thirty feet or nine meters of water, remained lost 699 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:59,120 Speaker 1: until nineteen five years later. Crews were able to retrieve 700 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:03,040 Speaker 1: the Huntley. Upon opening the submarine, the retrieval crews were 701 00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:06,279 Speaker 1: surprised to find that the Hunley's crew were all at 702 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:09,839 Speaker 1: their stations, which suggested there was no effort to abandon ship. 703 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:13,200 Speaker 1: There was no struggle to try and open the hatches 704 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:16,400 Speaker 1: or anything like that, which raises the question what actually 705 00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:20,120 Speaker 1: killed the crew before the ship had been unsealed. The 706 00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:23,359 Speaker 1: general theory was that the crew had either suffocated or 707 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:26,719 Speaker 1: they had drowned, but the submarine had no signs of 708 00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:30,560 Speaker 1: any damage that would have caused them to drown, So 709 00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:34,359 Speaker 1: the leading hypothesis now is that the shock wave from 710 00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: the exploding torpedo actually killed the crew. A ruptured blood 711 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:41,840 Speaker 1: vessels in their lungs and led to them becoming incapacitated 712 00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:44,960 Speaker 1: and then ultimately dying. However, we do not know for 713 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:48,840 Speaker 1: sure what did it now. I'm going to conclude this 714 00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:52,840 Speaker 1: episode with the description of one other early submarine built 715 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:55,680 Speaker 1: while the Union and Confederacy were both attempting to make 716 00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:59,680 Speaker 1: practical use of submarines of their own. This ship's name 717 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:03,040 Speaker 1: was Le Planeur, and this was designed by a man 718 00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:08,640 Speaker 1: named Bourgeois in the late eighteen fifties. Actual construction began 719 00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:11,960 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty and it took a couple of years 720 00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:14,360 Speaker 1: for it to be finished, And as far as I 721 00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:17,440 Speaker 1: can tell, it was the first submarine to use a 722 00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:22,319 Speaker 1: mechanical means of propulsion rather than relying directly on manpower. 723 00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:27,080 Speaker 1: The submarine carried containers of compressed air, and the air 724 00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:30,480 Speaker 1: served many purposes. It provided the power needed to drive 725 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,080 Speaker 1: the propellers of the submarine. So you know, we released 726 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:36,360 Speaker 1: the compressed air and it moves the mechanical elements that 727 00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:39,919 Speaker 1: actually make the propeller turn. So this was an air 728 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:44,520 Speaker 1: powered vehicle, and the subs engine was an eighty horsepower engine. 729 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:48,280 Speaker 1: The compressed air would also keep pressure inside the submarine 730 00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:52,799 Speaker 1: greater than it was outside the submarine, which was said 731 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:56,480 Speaker 1: to be good to keep water from seeping into the vessel, 732 00:44:56,800 --> 00:44:59,520 Speaker 1: which for submarines is considered to be a bad thing. 733 00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:03,280 Speaker 1: Tanks used to hold the compressed air were quite large. 734 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:05,640 Speaker 1: They needed to be to hold enough air to operate 735 00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:08,799 Speaker 1: the submarine for longer than just a few moments. That 736 00:45:08,840 --> 00:45:11,120 Speaker 1: meant that the size of the overall vessel had to 737 00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:15,200 Speaker 1: be quite big as well. It measured one hundred forty 738 00:45:15,239 --> 00:45:19,000 Speaker 1: feet long or nearly forty three meters far larger than 739 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:22,600 Speaker 1: any submarine before it. It required a crew of twelve 740 00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:26,440 Speaker 1: sailors to man the ship, and the innovations were pretty important, 741 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:30,000 Speaker 1: but the sub also had its share of drawbacks. One 742 00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:32,759 Speaker 1: of those was that initially relied on a series of 743 00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:36,000 Speaker 1: pipes and pistons inside the submarine that could move water 744 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:38,960 Speaker 1: around to act as ballast and to help provide stability 745 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:43,440 Speaker 1: as the ship was diving or where when it was climbing. Uh. 746 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:47,080 Speaker 1: And it was made more difficult because of the ship's size. Right, 747 00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:50,160 Speaker 1: You've got a ship that's very long, and you get 748 00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:52,839 Speaker 1: a sort of lever effect. Right, a small change at 749 00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:56,040 Speaker 1: a pivot point would end up being a huge change 750 00:45:56,120 --> 00:46:00,520 Speaker 1: toward either end of the submarine. And unfortunately, the system 751 00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:04,600 Speaker 1: wasn't able to react very quickly to changes in the 752 00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:09,080 Speaker 1: ship's orientation, so a typical trip under the waves would 753 00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:12,720 Speaker 1: be pretty harrowing. The ship would dive and the systems 754 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:15,880 Speaker 1: needed to correct its attitude in the water to level 755 00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:19,400 Speaker 1: it out, would very slowly kick in, and then the 756 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,319 Speaker 1: ship would start to level out, but it would overcorrect 757 00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:24,759 Speaker 1: and then it would start to climb and the whole 758 00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:27,440 Speaker 1: cycle would start up again. Now the system would be 759 00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:31,000 Speaker 1: trying to correct for the change in attitude where now 760 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:34,120 Speaker 1: it's it's tilted up instead of down, and the process 761 00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:37,840 Speaker 1: would keep going, so you had this see saw effect 762 00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:41,360 Speaker 1: in the water as you're riding on the submarine. It 763 00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:45,239 Speaker 1: could not maintain a level heading with zero buoyancy, and 764 00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:47,600 Speaker 1: so ultimately the project was scrapped because it was just 765 00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:50,160 Speaker 1: too risky. There needed to be more innovation in the 766 00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:53,319 Speaker 1: field to stabilize the submarine so that it wouldn't be 767 00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:58,080 Speaker 1: so unmanageable underwater. Now. In our next episode, will continue 768 00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:00,840 Speaker 1: down the path of history to explore how marine technology 769 00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:04,759 Speaker 1: advanced over time and how modern submarines work today. But 770 00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:07,680 Speaker 1: there's a lot more to cover that will probably skip 771 00:47:07,719 --> 00:47:10,400 Speaker 1: around a little bit because in some cases we're talking 772 00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:16,320 Speaker 1: about evolutionary changes where it's you know, important changes, important 773 00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:21,200 Speaker 1: significant innovations in submarine technology. But to cover every single 774 00:47:21,239 --> 00:47:25,399 Speaker 1: one would be pretty exhausting, so I'll probably lump them 775 00:47:25,440 --> 00:47:28,719 Speaker 1: together in sections. But that's for the next episode. If 776 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:31,280 Speaker 1: you guys have suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, 777 00:47:31,680 --> 00:47:34,920 Speaker 1: send me a message. The email addresses tech Stuff at 778 00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:37,960 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Dropped by our website that's 779 00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:41,360 Speaker 1: tech Stuff podcast dot com. You'll find links to where 780 00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:43,960 Speaker 1: we are on social media. You also find an archive 781 00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:47,399 Speaker 1: of all of our past episodes up there, and there's 782 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:49,840 Speaker 1: a link to our online store, where every purchase you 783 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:52,640 Speaker 1: make goes to help the show, and we greatly appreciate it, 784 00:47:53,040 --> 00:48:00,239 Speaker 1: and I will talk to you again really soon. Tech 785 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:02,960 Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 786 00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:05,920 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i 787 00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:09,279 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 788 00:48:09,320 --> 00:48:10,240 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.