How a Scholarly Farm Boy Attempted to Take Down the British Navy with A Turtle

By | December 31, 2018

test article image
Painting depicting the unsuccessful attempt by USS Turtle to attach a 'torpedo' to the bottom of HMS Eagle. Governor's Harbor, New York, USA. 7 September 1776. Source: (Fotosearch/Getty Images).

At the start of the American Revolutionary War, the British military seemed like an unbeatable foe. The rebel colonists could not hope to match the Brits’ naval superiority…at least, not by conventional ways. But one outside-the-box inventor…a Connecticut farm boy turned Yale student named David Bushnell…had an audacious idea. If he could create a vessel that could carry a person under the water undetected, an explosive could be attached to the unsuspecting warships. Although Bushnell’s Turtle, the world’s first submarine, did not complete its task of blowing up British ships, it did usher in a whole new aspect of war…submarine warfare. 

test article image
Source: (commons.wikimedia.org)

David Bushnell Traded Farm Life for Yale

David Bushnell was born in Connecticut in 1740. He was a creative problem-solver and inventor from childhood. He appeared to be a confirmed bachelor. At age 26, he was still living at home and unmarried when his father died. Bushnell and his younger brother, Ezra, took over the farm, but the older brother’s heart was not in farming. He sold his share of the farm to his brother and prepared himself to take the entrance exam for Yale. He was accepted into the University when he was 31 years old.