How a Louth teacher invented the first submarine

As a scuba diver, I am enthralled by many aspects of the underwater world, but I have always had a particular fascination for submarines. So when I learned that the inventor of the modern day sub had actually been a mathematics teacher in my hometown of Dundalk, I was duly intrigued.

John Philip Holland’s story is a remarkable one, a life spurred on by an unshakable belief in a fantastical dream. From humble beginnings and modest means,John rose to become the undisputed father of the modern submarine; during a lifetime bedevilled by setbacks and embroiled in political intrigue.

Born on February 28, 1841, in the small sleepy village of Liscannor on the western seaboard of County Clare, John’s formative years were surely influenced by stirring tales of the sea. Strange legends of the lost land Kilstephen (Ir: Cill Stíopháin) that had mysteriously disappeared beneath the waves after a devastating earthquake in the 8th century. A seismic event that also split the island of Inis Fithae into three separate parts, the islands of Mutton, Inismattle and Roanshee; killing tens of thousands in its wake. No doubt local folklore would have also whispered about the enormous sea-serpent that had burst forth from the depths of Liscannor Bay to feast upon the sorry corpses; until the local Saint MacCreehy slew the terrible beast.
Of course, not all of John’s early maritime instruction would have been so unsettling in nature.

A son of the local Coastguard Officer, he had accompanied his father often on his duties around Liscannor Bay; observing the ways of the sea, marvelling at the streamlined efficiency of dolphins as they breached and dived again: pondering the whereabouts of seabirds that disappeared beneath the surface, only to reappear somewhere else. But perhaps of even greater influence, might have been the lively talk of Tom Steele’s diving exploits off Liscannor Bay, a few short years earlier. A local man from nearby Ennis, Steele had gone on to patent ‘Steele’s Improved Diving Bell’, which permitted divers to safely enter or leave the bell, through an airlock tube; demonstrating to John, that with modern engineering and scientific ingenuity, man could indeed master the deep.

Little wonder that John had taken such a keen interest in the sea, and wished to follow in the footsteps of his father; who had sadly passed away when he was young. John studied navigation at the CBS in Ennistymon and went forward to take the written examination and passed, but he failed the medical due to poor eyesight; ending all notions of a career linked to the sea, or so it would seem.

The family moved to Limerick in 1853, and John joined the Order of the Irish Christian Brothers in 1858 and became a teacher; here, he received his religious name, Philip. For his first assignment, John was sent to the North Monastery in Cork. There he met Brother Dominic Burke, a noted science teacher, who enthusiastically encouraged Holland's scientific experiments. While in Cork City, Holland started to experiment with small models of submarine boats, using a pond in the school grounds to test his designs.

Holland Boat No. I prototype submarine 

In these formative years, Holland studied astronomy and worked on the theory of flight which many experts say was accurate. He later developed this theory in the ‘Practicality of Mechanical Flight’, published in 1891, which was hailed as an extraordinary achievement at the time. All of this when the Wright Brothers were only opening their bicycle shop!

Besides the North Monastery in Cork, Holland went on to teach in many other centres across Ireland: including St. Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise, St. Joseph’s CBS Drogheda and Coláiste Rís, Dundalk; becoming their first master of maths. All the while, earnestly continuing his work on a submersible craft; until fate once again intervened.

Due to poor health, Holland left the Brotherhood in 1873 and emigrated to the U.S., as had his mother and two brothers. But he had no sooner arrived in Boston, when he slipped upon an icy street and promptly broke his leg; landing him in bed for the following three months. With little else to do, Holland feverishly worked on perfecting the plans of his submersible; time that would ultimately prove to be well spent.

In a stroke of good fortune, Holland was offered a teaching job in St. John’s Catholic School, Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson was a melting pot of immigrants from Italy, Poland, Germany and Ireland, keen for economic advancement and open to technological innovation. It was an industrial nerve-centre, packed with machine shops constantly churning out machinery for the U.S., and the world.

During his time at St John’s, Holland submitted his design for a submarine to the U.S. Navy, but the Navy Secretary rejected it out of hand as ‘a fantastic scheme of a civilian landsman’; giving short shrift to Holland’s cherished dream. But ‘adversity makes strange bedfellows’, and his younger brother Michael quickly introduced John to his Fenian friends; as possible financial backers for his submersible scheme.

The Fenian Society was quick to spot the lethal possibilities of Holland’s novel invention in their war against the British, and launched an appeal fund in the Irish World newspaper. The successful testing of Holland’s 33-inch model submarine at Coney Island, New York, convinced the Fenian leadership to sponsor the $4000 construction of a full-sized ‘wrecking boat’ from its ‘Skirmishing Fund’.

His first submarine the ‘Holland 1’ was built in Todd & Raftery’s Shop, Paterson, New Jersey, and was launched in 1877. It was 14 feet long and powered by a 4 h.p. engine and carried just one man. It was launched in the Passaic River before a large crowd of curious onlookers, but someone had forgotten to insert two screw plugs and the sub soon began to sink beneath the water.

The brooding waters of Liscannor Bay

The following day, however, Holland made several successful dives. The Fenians were mightily impressed and voted more money to develop a boat ‘suitable for war’. Holland quickly removed any useful parts from the ‘Holland 1’ and scuttled her, reckoning that it was cheaper to start afresh than haul her out of the water and place her in storage. Fifty years later, the historic little sub was salvaged from the Passaic River and, together with Holland’s papers, is now preserved in the Paterson town museum.

With extra funds from the Fenians, Holland was able to give up teaching and concentrate on his submarine experiment. Holland was cautious about giving away sensitive information to the newspapers, and suspected most reporters of being British spies. A pushy reporter from the New York Sun, unable to get any information on Holland’s new sub and its Fenian connections, peevishly labelled the invention, ‘The Fenian Ram’.

The Fenian Ram was built at Delamater Iron Works, New York, and was launched in May 1881. It was 31 feet long, driven by a 15 h.p. engine, could travel at 9 m.p.h. over the water and 7 under, displacing 19 tons. The submarine was also armed with an underwater cannon fired by compressed air. The Fenian Ram marked an important stage in submarine development, but some of the Fenians were becoming impatient. And while Holland was developing a third prototype, one fractious group decided to take ‘The Ram’ into their own hands.

Led by John Breslin, with forged papers, they towed the ‘Fenian Ram’ and ‘Boat Number 3’, up the East River into the Long Island Sound. Just off Whitestone Point, the third prototype was accidentally sunk by inexperienced hands. And the ‘Fenian Ram’ was taken to Mill River in New Haven, where it remained in a shed until the 1916 Easter Rising; when it was displayed at Madison Square Gardens to raise money for dependents of the Irish Rising. Holland was furious, and ranted about the stupidity of their actions. ‘I’ll let her rot on their hands’; he fumed, bringing an acrimonious end to his interactions with the Fenians. Today, the Fenian Ram is on display at Paterson Museum, New Jersey.

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A married man with four children and saddled with bills, Holland gave up all thoughts of submarines and took a job as a draughtsman designing buckets. But in a strange twist of fate, he was thrown one last lifeline in the latter years of his life, when the U.S. Navy launched an open competition to design a submarine; a contest which Holland won. After several tortuous years of production, redesign and considerable personal cost, the streamlined ‘Holland 6’ was born; which was the first submarine in the U.S. Navy. The sleek sub could manoeuvre as well as any modern submersible, and was considered an outstanding success. She was launched in 1897, and would finally be named the ‘USS Holland’ in honour of its designer, when she was acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1900.

Holland went on to build many more submarines, including several for Japan which were used against Russia in the war of 1904-5. For his contribution to the Japanese victory, Holland was honoured with the Fourth-Class Order of Merit Rising Sun Ribbon, by the Japanese Ambassador, for his distinguished service to the Japanese nation. Ironically, Holland also sold his design to the British Royal Navy, who used it to build ‘Boat 1’, their first ‘Holland Class’ submarine.

John Philip Holland died on August 12, 1914, in Newark, New Jersey, having truly earned his place on the long roll of great Irish inventors. Following Holland’s death in 1914, The New York Times reported that ‘although he was interested in submarines, Mr. Holland was opposed to war, and his idea of submarines was to incapacitate warships and not to destroy them and kill the men on them’, which seems a fair reflection of the man. In his 1907 publication ‘Sketches and Calculations’, Holland planned a 40-passenger submarine ‘for amusement at seaside resorts’, with large circular ports for viewing the underwater world. Who knows, perhaps Holland had quietly dreamed of taking his unique invention back home to Ireland one day, to try to discover what ancient secrets did truly lurk beneath the murky depths of Liscannor Bay?

Don Baldwin.
Dundalk SAC.
our.ie Don Baldwin Author