ROBERT FULTON AND THE SUBMARINE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW YORK SALES AGENTS LONDON HUMPHREY MILFORD AMEN CORNER, E.C. SHANGHAI EDWARD EVANS & SONS, LTD. 30 NORTH SZECHUEN ROAD [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF FULTON ] ROBERT FULTON AND THE SUBMARINE BY WM. BARCLAY PARSONS [Illustration: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1754–1893 IN LITTERIS LIBERTAS] =New York= COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1922 _All rights reserved_ _Copyright, 1922_ BY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS Printed from type. Published December, 1922 PRINTED BY THE PLIMPTON PRESS NORWOOD · MASS · U·S·A _To_ A. R. P. WHO IN THE LINE OF DUTY DURING THE WORLD WAR CROSSED AND RECROSSED THE HOSTILE SUBMARINE ZONE THIS ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST SUBMARINE IS INSCRIBED W. B. P. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FOREWORD That Robert Fulton devoted some attention to the possibility of an underwater boat during the years when his mind was laboring with plans for the propulsion of boats by steam, has been known since that time. Not, however, until 1896, did it become clear to what extent he had carried his ideas. In that year Lieut. Emile Duboc discovered in the Archives Nationales in Paris the full account of Fulton’s negotiations with the French Government and the plans of the boat that he had constructed, and in which he actually plunged. Other investigators, chiefly Lieut. Maurice Delpeuch of the French navy and Mr. S. L. Pesce, have made public this interesting record. To their respective treatises, “Les Sous-Marines à travers les Siècles” and “La Navigation sous marine” the author of this book is indebted for much information.