screw that raised or lowered the craft
just above and in front. No other man had made a like voyage; he had
little experience to guide him, and he lacked the confidence that a
well-tried device assures; he was alone in a tiny vessel with but half
an hour's supply of air, a great box of gunpowder over him, and a
hostile fleet all around. It was a perilous position and he felt it.
With his head in the little conning tower he was able to get a glimpse
of the ship he was bent on destroying, as from time to time he raised
his little craft to get his bearings. At last he reached his
all-unsuspecting quarry and, sinking under the keel, tried to attach the
torpedo. There in the darkness of the depths of North River this unnamed
hero, in the first practical submarine boat, worked to make the first
torpedo fast to the bottom of the enemy's ship, but a little iron plate
or bolt holding the rudder in place made all the difference between a
failure that few people ever heard of and a great achievement that would
have made the inventor of the boat, David Bushnell, famous everywhere,
and the navigator a great hero. The little iron plate, however,
prevented the screw from taking hold, the tide carried the submarine
past, and the chance was lost.

David Bushnell was too far ahead of his time, his invention was not
appreciated, and the failure of his first attempt prevented him from
getting the support he needed to demonstrate the usefulness of his
under-water craft. The piece of iron in the keel of the British warship
probably put back development of submarine boats many years, for
Bushnell's boat contained many of the principles upon which the
successful under-water craft of the present time are built.

One hundred and twenty-five years after the subsurface voyage described
above, a steel boat, built like a whale but with a prow coming to a
point, manned by a crew of six, travelling at an average rate of eight
knots an hour, armed with five Whitehead torpedoes, and designed and
built by Americans, passed directly over the spot where the first
submarine boat attacked the British fleet.

The Holland boat _Fulton_ had already travelled the length of Long
Island Sound, diving at intervals, before reaching New York, and was on
her way to the Delaware Capes.

She was the invention of John P. Holland, and the result of twenty-five
years of experimenting, nine experimental boats having been built before
this persistent and courageous inven