The very first submarine to figure in actual warfare was the boat invented by David Bushnell. His attempt to blow up the British frigate _Eagle_ failed, mainly owing to the incapacity of the operator, Sergeant Ezra Lee. Fulton, although he blew up several old hulks in time of peace, was afforded no opportunity of testing the capabilities of his vessel in actual warfare. [Illustration: U.S. SUBMARINE “SHARK” ON THE STOCKS. ] During the American Civil War there occurred the famous incident of the destruction of the _Housatonic_ by the Confederate diving torpedo-boat _David_—the only occasion on which a submarine boat has succeeded in inflicting injury on a hostile vessel in a naval action. Though many lives were lost in the _David_, this would not have occurred had the most ordinary precautions been taken. On February 5, 1886, Mr. Nordenfelt read a paper before the Royal United Service Institution on his Submarine Boats; in the discussion that followed many eminent naval authorities took part, and the following are extracts taken from their speeches on this occasion:— “My opinion is that all torpedo-boats should be submarine boats” (Admiral ARTHUR). “With the cupola above water the submarine boat would prove a very formidable means of attack” (Admiral Sir ASTLEY COOPER KEY). “Mr. Nordenfelt has done much towards solving a problem which is likely to be of great importance in future naval operations” (Vice-Admiral H.R.H. DUKE OF EDINBURGH). “I think Mr. Nordenfelt is to be congratulated on having made an enormous step forward, and one which I am sure has a great future before it” (Admiral SELWYN). “If you want to economically defend a port it is better to have a boat that does not show at all. The moral effect of this boat would be enormous, and I am perfectly certain that foreign war vessels would not lay off a port to intercept outward- and homeward-bound vessels if they knew that there was a submarine vessel inside that could come out without being seen” (Major-General HARDINGE STEWART). “As far as practicability for warfare is concerned this submarine boat (the Nordenfelt) is pretty well accepted by the profession.... Therefore as a craft not altogether wholly submerged, but just a boat awash for coast defence, and also for the attack of ships at sea, and especially in heavy weather, when the fast torpedo boats cannot act, I believe the vessel will be found of great practical and reliable service” (Major-General Sir ANDREW CLARKE). The Nordenfelt boats, as will be seen in Chapter XV, failed to come up to the high expectations that had been formed of them, and the British Admiralty considered themselves relieved from the necessity of taking up the subject of submarine navigation.