| Sources |
- [S2563] Ancestry.com, Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1600-1889, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Lehi, UT ; Date: 2016;), Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography; Volume: Vol. I.
- [S7784] Find a Grave: BUSHNELL Davidl 1740-1824, David Bushnell (Bush) (Veteran).
Revolutionary War patriot and inventor of "The American Turtle," the first known submarine.
David Bushnell (1742 - 1824) of Westbrook, Connecticut, was an American inventor during the Revolutionary War. He is credited with creating the first submarine ever used in combat, while studying at Yale University in 1775. He called it the Turtle because of its look in the water. His idea of using water as ballast for submerging and raising his submarine is still in use today, as is the screw propeller, which was first used in the Turtle.
While at Yale, he proved that gunpowder exploded under water. David Bushnell also made the first time bomb. With this, he also came up with mine barrage in 1777. He combined his ideas in an attempt to attack British ships which were blockading New York Harbor in the summer of 1776 by boring through their hulls and implanting time bombs, but failed every time due to a metal lining in the ships hull to protect against parasites in their previous station, the Caribbean. David Bushnell then created the Turtle. The Turtle eventually sank.
On June 8, 1781 he was promoted Captain of Sappers and Miners. Bushnell later traveled to France and then settled in Warrenton, Georgia where he taught at the Warrenton Academy and practiced medicine. He died in 1824, but before he died David was honored with a medal by George Washington. David Bushnell's Submarine Model is on display at the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum and Library in Groton, Connecticut.
Bushnell reportedly changed his name to Bush after his move to Georgia.
The grave appears to be unmarked.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39963761/david-bushnell_(bush)
- [S303] Ancestry.com, Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT ; Date: 2006;).
- [S1359] Ancestry.com, U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT ; Date: 2010;).
- [S2254] Ancestry.com, U.S. War Bounty Land Warrants, 1789-1858, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT ; Date: 2007;).
- [S3118] Ancestry.com, U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT ; Date: 2007;).
- [S3118] Ancestry.com, U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT ; Date: 2007;).
- [S581] Godfrey Memorial Library, comp., American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI), (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT ; Date: 1999;).
- [S3118] Ancestry.com, U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT ; Date: 2007;).
- [S2627] Wikipedia: Connecticut State Navy, (Name: Wikipedia;), Connecticut State Navy - Turtle.
In February 1776, after a presentation by inventor David Bushnell, authorized the payment of £60 so that he could complete the construction of what became the Turtle, a small one-man submarine designed to attach a mine to another ship. She was used in an attempted attack on HMS Eagle in New York harbor in 1776; the attack failed. The Turtle was sunk in 1777, but was supposedly recovered later by Bushnell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_State_Navy
- [S2628] Wikipedia: Turtle (Submersible), (Name: Wikipedia;), American Turtle.
Turtle (also called American Turtle) was the world's first submersible vessel with a documented record of use in combat. It was built in 1775 by American David Bushnell as a means of attaching explosive charges to ships in a harbor, for use against Royal Navy vessels occupying American harbors during the American Revolutionary War. Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull recommended the invention to George Washington, who provided funds and support for the development and testing of the machine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(submersible)
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Ship-Turtle (Submarine)
Turtle (also called American Turtle) was the world's first submersible vessel with a documented record of use in combat. It was built in 1775 by American David Bushnell as a means of attaching explosive charges to ships in a harbor, for use against Royal Navy vessels occupying American harbors during the American Revolutionary War. Connecticut… |
- [S2286] Ancestor Lineages of Members Texas Society/National Society Colonial Dames Seventeenth Century, REVOLUTIONARY WAR - Bushnell’s Turtle: A Revolutionary Submarine.
It’s hard to talk about the Revolutionary War without invoking the term “bold,” as rising against a global colonial power is not for the faint of heart. Innovation in warfare, especially in the medicinal, scientific, and engineering fields, was — and remains — a natural occurrence. But with George Washington’s Continental Army out armed, outmanned, and outmatched by the British at almost every angle, the Continental Congress did more than fund a guerilla war, it welcomed non-conventional tactics and odd inventions. This bold mindset allowed one inventor’s ideas to flourish and change the game of naval warfare forever. This is the story of the Turtle, the first combat-deployed submersible vessel.
An Inventor from Humble Origins
David Bushnell’s origin story embodied the American dream decades before the United States was an inkling in the mind of its founders. He was born to farmers, Nehemiah and Sarah Bushnell on August 30, 1740. Growing up in the rural outskirts of Saybrook, Conn., Bushnell assisted his father and brothers with fieldwork and general farm maintenance, but spent his free time reading, cultivating curiosity and a love of invention.
But it took time and tragedy before Bushnell could tap into his academic passions. At 26, he remained unmarried and living at home. But in the course of just three years, he lost two sisters and both parents. Seizing an unforeseen opportunity in the face of grief, Bushnell used half of his inheritance to pursue an education and, at age 31, he was accepted at Yale College.
His focus of study at Yale? Igniting gunpowder underwater — a feat which generally thought impossible prior to his experiments. At first, he was only able to detonate about two ounces of gunpowder underwater but, by the time he left Yale, Bushnell had crafted mines that could detonate up to two pounds of submerged explosives. The only thing Bushnell was missing was a vehicle that could stealthily transport his mines.
The Plight of the Turtle Submarine
After graduating from Yale in July 1775, Bushnell returned home to his brother’s Saybrook farm and the pair got to work creating the contraption that would transport and plant the mines. In a detailed 1787 letter to Thomas Jefferson,Bushnell described his craft thus:
“The external shape of the sub-marine vessel bore some resemblance to two upper tortoise shells of equal size, joined together; the place of entrance into the vessel being represented by the opening made by the swell of the shells, at the head of the animal.”
One of Bushnell’s Yale colleagues, Dr. Benjamin Gale, invited his personal acquaintance, fellow inventor Benjamin Franklin, to visit Bushnell and view his new creation. From this visit onward, Bushnell’s association with the Continental war effort grew as his network expanded. By the summer of 1776, George Washington himself met with Bushnell to arrange for the transport and operation of the craft now dubbed the Turtle. Although early submarines were concocted by Dutch inventors in the 1620s, the Turtle was more than just the first American example: it soon pioneered submerged naval combat.
The Turtle’s first and most famous contact with the British occurred in September of 1776. The plan was to covertly approach the HMS Eagle, infiltrate underneath it, attach a bomb to its underside with the assistance of boring tools, and then float away in time for the explosive to sink the British warship. But due to poor health, Bushnell could not pilot the mission and the volunteer captain, Sergeant Ezra Lee, had only basic training for operating the intricate machinations of the Turtle. Adding a layer of difficulty, the vessel only had enough air to be submerged for 30 minutes. Lee's struggles to attach the bomb were probably due to a combination of stress, confusion and accidental carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Lee ended the mission by floating away from the ship and letting the mine explode downriver, where it failed to harm either himself or the HMS Eagle. The other two attempts undertaken by the Turtle are not as well documented, and the submarine was unfortunately taken out of commission when the American sloop transporting it was sunk by British forces at the Battle of Fort Lee. The Turtle was salvaged but, due to budget constraints, was not able to be repaired and used again.
Bushnell, Genius...or Fool?
The wretched death of the Turtle was not the end of Bushnell’s involvement with the Continental Army. He also attempted to create a river mine network to stop British ships from floating into the former colonies’ interior. While this task was mostly unsuccessful, Bushnell’s innovative keg mines were deployed in a January 1778 attack on the British fleet in Philadelphia harbor immortalized by poet Francis Hokinson as “Battle of the Kegs.” The introverted inventor served the rest of his days in the Continental Army as a sapper and engineering captain.
It can be easy to critique Bushnell if one forgets the circumstances, lack of time, budget and resources under which he worked. During a different time, at a different place, there’s a strong chance that we could have seen Bushnell’s brilliance fully shine. Still, his genius must be recognized as the father of modern submarines and naval mine warfare for good reason. Bushnell is credited for the invention of the screw propeller as well as the use of water ballasts, both components that are used today in modern submarines. The U.S. Navy even recognized Bushnell for his services by naming two submarine tenders after him in 1915 and 1945.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/head-tilting-history/bushnells-turtle-revolutionary-submarine
- [S9339] American Battlefields: Bushnell's Turtle, (Name: American Battlefield Trust; Location: Washington DC;), Bushnell’s Turtle: A Revolutionary Submarine.
It’s hard to talk about the Revolutionary War without invoking the term “bold,” as rising against a global colonial power is not for the faint of heart. Innovation in warfare, especially in the medicinal, scientific, and engineering fields, was — and remains — a natural occurrence. But with George Washington’s Continental Army out armed, outmanned, and outmatched by the British at almost every angle, the Continental Congress did more than fund a guerilla war, it welcomed non-conventional tactics and odd inventions. This bold mindset allowed one inventor’s ideas to flourish and change the game of naval warfare forever. This is the story of the Turtle, the first combat-deployed submersible vessel.
An Inventor from Humble Origins
David Bushnell’s origin story embodied the American dream decades before the United States was an inkling in the mind of its founders. He was born to farmers, Nehemiah and Sarah Bushnell on August 30, 1740. Growing up in the rural outskirts of Saybrook, Conn., Bushnell assisted his father and brothers with fieldwork and general farm maintenance, but spent his free time reading, cultivating curiosity and a love of invention.
But it took time and tragedy before Bushnell could tap into his academic passions. At 26, he remained unmarried and living at home. But in the course of just three years, he lost two sisters and both parents. Seizing an unforeseen opportunity in the face of grief, Bushnell used half of his inheritance to pursue an education and, at age 31, he was accepted at Yale College.
His focus of study at Yale? Igniting gunpowder underwater — a feat which generally thought impossible prior to his experiments. At first, he was only able to detonate about two ounces of gunpowder underwater but, by the time he left Yale, Bushnell had crafted mines that could detonate up to two pounds of submerged explosives. The only thing Bushnell was missing was a vehicle that could stealthily transport his mines.
The Plight of the Turtle Submarine
After graduating from Yale in July 1775, Bushnell returned home to his brother’s Saybrook farm and the pair got to work creating the contraption that would transport and plant the mines. In a detailed 1787 letter to Thomas Jefferson,Bushnell described his craft thus:
“The external shape of the sub-marine vessel bore some resemblance to two upper tortoise shells of equal size, joined together; the place of entrance into the vessel being represented by the opening made by the swell of the shells, at the head of the animal.”
One of Bushnell’s Yale colleagues, Dr. Benjamin Gale, invited his personal acquaintance, fellow inventor Benjamin Franklin, to visit Bushnell and view his new creation. From this visit onward, Bushnell’s association with the Continental war effort grew as his network expanded. By the summer of 1776, George Washington himself met with Bushnell to arrange for the transport and operation of the craft now dubbed the Turtle. Although early submarines were concocted by Dutch inventors in the 1620s, the Turtle was more than just the first American example: it soon pioneered submerged naval combat.
The Turtle’s first and most famous contact with the British occurred in September of 1776. The plan was to covertly approach the HMS Eagle, infiltrate underneath it, attach a bomb to its underside with the assistance of boring tools, and then float away in time for the explosive to sink the British warship. But due to poor health, Bushnell could not pilot the mission and the volunteer captain, Sergeant Ezra Lee, had only basic training for operating the intricate machinations of the Turtle. Adding a layer of difficulty, the vessel only had enough air to be submerged for 30 minutes. Lee's struggles to attach the bomb were probably due to a combination of stress, confusion and accidental carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Lee ended the mission by floating away from the ship and letting the mine explode downriver, where it failed to harm either himself or the HMS Eagle. The other two attempts undertaken by the Turtle are not as well documented, and the submarine was unfortunately taken out of commission when the American sloop transporting it was sunk by British forces at the Battle of Fort Lee. The Turtle was salvaged but, due to budget constraints, was not able to be repaired and used again.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/head-tilting-history/bushnells-turtle-revolutionary-submarine
- [S4149] Sons of the American Revolution - Patriots, David BUSHNELL -- Ancestor #P-334662.
Birth 30 Aug 1740
Death 1824
Type of Service: Captain
Cemetery: Warrenton Cemetery
https://sarpatriots.sar.org/patriot/display/334662
- [S429] Ancestry.com, Early Connecticut Marriages, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT ; Date: 2012;).
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1740 - 1824 (83 years)
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