THE STEAMBOAT 295 



way, and may thus avoid the dangers and inconveniences 

 of storms. It will be interesting to go back a number of 

 years and trace the history of the submarine from its early 

 stages. 



Submarines in the Revolutionary War. During the Revo- 

 lutionary War, David Bushnell made an attempt with a 

 submarine to blow up a British frigate in New York harbor. 

 He actually succeeded in getting under one of the warships 

 with a magazine of powder ; but in trying to fasten this to 

 the vessel by means of a screw, he struck it against a bar of 



FIG. 116. A modern submarine. 



iron. While trying to find another place, he drifted away 

 from the ship and could not find it again. 



Robert Fulton directed his attention to submarines about 

 the year 1800. His experiments were partially successful 

 for he constructed a submarine which descended to a depth 

 of twenty-five feet and remained three hours. He also 

 showed how it was possible to use a submarine to blow up 

 other boats in time of warfare. 



Submarines in the Civil War. We hear again of sub- 

 marines during the Civil War, when the Confederates con- 

 structed submarine boats called " Davids." One of these 

 was successful in sinking one of the United States steam- 

 ships, the Hoosatonic, by means of a torpedo. The sub- 

 marine itself, however, was disabled by the explosion and 

 sank to the bottom with its crew. 



Holland submarine. The first really successful submarines 

 were built by Mr. Holland during the nineties. In 1892 the 



