Bushnell invents the submarine

The Revolutionary war is on and David Bushnell invents the submarine.

Bushnell was an American inventor who lived from 1742 to 1824.

A David Bushnell biography states that in 1639 Francis Bushnell came to the American continent and settled at a New Haven colony. He voyaged to America from England and co-founded a settlement which became Guilford, Connecticut. The son of Francis, the father of David Bushnell was farming in Saybrook, Connecticut when David was born. By the age of 24 both of David's parents had passed away and he and a brother inherited the farmland.

David Bushnell gives up his farmland opting to pursue some studies. By 1775 he'd graduated from Yale University. His interest in chemistry led him to experiment with gunpowder and he learned that this explosive could detonate under water.

He designed, again in 1775, the shell for what would come to be known as Bushnell's Turtle. This was the invention of the submarine. When he demonstrated this invention to the Connecticut Council of Safety they approved his idea and showed their appreciation by giving him grants for further innovations of the Bushnell Turtle concept.

The extra money granted to him did not lead to a torpedo launching submarine capable of destroying enemy targets and vessels.

By 1781 David Bushnell finds himself in the employ of General Washington where he holds a post of captain lieutenant for the sappers and miners. He is a commander of the Corps of Engineers at Westpoint by 1783. This position did not last very long and Bushnell disappeared from public life for about a decade.

The year is now 1795 and he is relocated in Columbia County, Georgia, where he is living under the alias of Dr. Bush and he is a school master. During this period he had learned the skills of a medicine man and opened up a private practice in Warrenton, Georgia.

In 1824 he dies after having practiced medicine for many years.

To summarize. Bushnell invents the submarine, becomes an exile, changes his name to Dr Bush and dies in Georgia.    

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As a side note - Chaining the Hudson is a book by Lincoln Diamant which gives the birth date of David Bushnell as 1740 - in this book we learn that "the water machine", the world's first submersible was also how the Bushnell Turtle was called. We are also told that Bushnell learned medicine while at Yale along with physics and advanced mathematics.

In another much older book called A history of American manufacturers we are told that while David Bushnell contrived a submersible vessel that submarine inventions were not new. In this book the Bushman submersible is called the American Turtle. Again from the same book we are told that while Bushnell invented other curious machines for annoying the enemy that none met any great success.





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