Fulton's Submarine

Robert Fulton (1765-1815)
"On Submarine Navigation and Attack"
Bound manuscript, August 1806
Manuscript Division
Gift, 1924 (124.2)

Plunging boat [submarine],
above and below water views
Ink and watercolor on paper, 1806
LC-USZC4-6051

Robert Fulton (1765–1815)
[Submarine above and below water level]
Graphite, ink, and watercolor on paper, 1806
Prints & Photographs Division Purchase, 1983 (123.15)
[ Digital ID# ppmsca cph 3g06051]

Napoleon commissioned the first practical submarine, designed by the American inventor Robert Fulton. Testing of this craft, the Nautilus, was successfully carried out in France in 1800-1801, when Fulton and three mechanics descended to a depth of 25 feet.

This bound manuscript provides explanatory text for Fulton's illustrations of the construction and propulsion of the submarine.

In 1807 the famous Clermont, Fulton's first commercially viable steamship, sailed from New York to Albany, and proved to a nation of farmers and craftsmen that the U.S. could compete technologically with Europe.

Robert Fulton (1765-1815)
Interior Chambers for Crew,
Ballast, and Submarine Bombs
Graphite, ink and watercolor
on paper, 1806

Sighting Mechanism and details.
Plunging boat [submarine]. Section
Ink and watercolor on paper, 1806

Prints & Photographs Division