The Hemlington Nautical History Society

Nautilus

Although Robert Fulton is best remembered for his development of the North River Steam Boat in the United States, he first gained international attention with his experiments in submarines. When he began developing his ideas for a submarine is unclear, but on December 13, 1797, he submitted to France's Executive Directory a proposal for a system of submarine warfare. This included a rate schedule for the destruction of English ships: "4000 Livers [livres] per Gun for each British ship over 40 Guns ... and 2000 Livers per Gun for All vessels of war under 40 tons [sic]." In many respects, Nautilus resembled the submarines developed a hundred years later. The hydrodynamic hull was a cylinder with a pointed bow and slightly tapered stern. A conning tower doubled as a hatch, there was a periscope, and thin tubes could be used to admit air when the vessel was just below the surface. As originally designed, the oxygen supply was sufficient for four men to remain submerged with two candles burning for three hours. In 1802, Fulton tried experiments with a compressed air canister, and to do away with the need for candles, he inserted a three-quarter-inch glass porthole that admitted enough light to read a watch at a depth of 25 feet. Diving and surfacing was regulated by water in ballast tanks, admitted by valves and expelled with compressed air. Propelled by a hand crank attached to a single, four-bladed propeller, Nautilus traveled at two knots. The submarine was steered by means of a vertical rudder and a forward horizontal diving plane. When surfaced, she had an auxiliary sail that could be collapsed on deck.

Fulton's original design had an auger sticking up through the conning tower. This was to have drilled a hole in the hull of a ship, to which an explosive charge would then be fixed. On September 12, 1801, Fulton and three crew departed Le Havre for Cap La Hogue, a distance of 70 miles that Nautilus covered in five days. He attempted to close with two English brigs, but both sailed off, though whether by coincidence or because they had seen the curious vessel is unknown. The next year, at Brest, Nautilus trailed an explosive charge at a distance of 200 meters which succeeded in destroying a target ship, but the charge could have been set without a submarine. First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte was impressed with the possibilities of such mines, however, and asked if he could see the Nautilus. He was informed that Fulton had dismantled it, ostensibly because of rot, but more likely to prevent its design being copied without appropriate compensation.

Fulton eventually made his was to England and managed to interest Prime Minister William Pitt in his ideas, but he never built another submarine. In the optimistic belief that his device would bring an end to naval warfare, Fulton referred to his submarine as "A Curious Machine for Mending Politics." Contemporary French and British naval officers deemed Fulton's devices inappropriately destructive. In the long run, neither view prevailed.

Source: The liners, A Voyage of Discovery.