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Archiver > IRISH-AMERICAN > 2005-09 > 1127862412


From: "Jean R." <>
Subject: John P. HOLLAND, b. 1841 Liscannor, Co. Clare >> NJ - Submarine Prototype
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:06:52 -0700


SNIPPET: One hundred years ago the United States Navy purchased its first submarine. Designed and built by Irishman John HOLLAND, this unusual-looking vessel was the precursor of a fleet that today is a vital part of American military strategy. The journey that led up that historic occasion in April 1900 was hard-fought for the Co. Clare-born creator, who battled for 22 years to put his undersea ship in service in his adopted homeland. Although he did not live to see it, many of HOLLAND's far-sighted designs were adopted by the mid-20th century, as a new class of submarines entered the U. S. fleet.

John HOLLAND, born in Liscannor, Co. Clare, in 1841, was a man ahead of his time. As his father, John, Sr., was a member of the British Coastguard Service, he and his wife, Mary SCANLON, were entitled to live in a cottage provided by the government. It was there that the couple raised their four boys during one of the most lethal periods in Irish history. Famine and disease swept the country, and the HOLLANDs watched in horror as neighbors and friends were evicted from their homes if they were unable to pay their rent. Tragedy eventually struck the HOLLANDs when their two-year-son, Robert, died of cholera in 1847.

John HOLLAND JR's birth to an Irish-speaking mother on the west coast of Ireland meant that he did not learn English until he entered school. It was not in language, however, but in the sciences where he showed his greatest ability. He longed to take to the seas like his father before him, but poor eyesight made that dream all but impossible. "No one would trust me even to row a two-oared boat, much less navigate a ship," he once said. So instead HOLLAND joined the Christian Brothers, taking his first set of vows in 1858. He spent his novitiate in Limerick and then transferred to Cork, where he again demonstrated his proficiency for mechanics and science. As a teacher, he shared his love of science with his students, but in 1860 John was forced to give up his duties as a result of poor health. The damp Irish climate had wrought havoc on his physical well-being and he spent nearly two years in convalescence. It was during this time that he read a newspaper article tha!
t changed the course of his life. A spring 1862 story in the 'Cork Examiner' told of the encounter between the 'Monitor' and the 'Merrimack,' the two famed ironclad vessels of the American Civil War. HOLLAND was fascinated by the ships' design and became convinced that iron warships would one day replace their wooden predecessors. Soon thereafter, he returned to teaching, and it was not long before he embarked on his lifelong mission to create submarines.

Various so-called 'submersibles' or vessels that could operate underwater for brief lengths of time, had been developed over the preceding two centuries. The first of these had been devised by a Dutch inventor, Cornelis DREBBEL, who in 1620 tested a leather-covered rowboat that was capable of going underwater. During the Revolutionary War, David BUSH-NELL mounted an attack on the British 'HMS Eagle' in his one-man 'Turtle.' And in 1800 steamboat inventor Robert FULTON unveiled an underwater ship, the 'Nautilus, on the River Seine in France. Various improvements on these designs were introduced throughout the 19th century. Yet it was the vision and persistence of John HOLLAND that brought the concept of the true submarine, a vessel that can operate submerged for extended lengths of time to fruition. He performed his first experiments with a clock-driven model that he submerged in a water-filled tub. Before his research could continue, however, his health failed him aga!
in. By 1873, he withdrew from the Christian Brothers and emigrated to Boston. Although his move to the U. S. was motivated by health concerns, there was another factor at work. "I had never taken part in any political agitation," HOLLAND recalled later in life, "but my sympathies were with my own country, and I had no mind to do anything that would make John Bull any stronger and more domineering then we had already found him."

Falling in with the Fenians in 1874, HOLLAND started teaching at St. John's Parochial School in Paterson, NJ. Soon after he showed his submarine ideas to the U. S. Navy and was met with the first of many rejections. Undeterred, he often stayed at school long after the final bell, working out his designs on the blackboard. The Fenians, a band of men fighting for a free Ireland from a power base in America, saw great potential in their comrade's submarine design. Properly deployed, said the Fenians, the submarine could sneak up on British vessels, attack them, and made a getaway before they knew what had hit them ....

You may wish to read more on the web or in your library about this gentleman's 'Holland I' and the 'Fenian Ram, the Fenian plot and 'shipnapping' by John BRESLIN, John's marriage to Margaret FOLEY, an Irish-American from Paterson, 12 years younger, their seven children, two of whom died in infancy. Interesting are John's trials and tribulations, successes, his brilliant designs that often fell on deaf ears, unusual other inventions and his activity in community events around his Newark home, where he taught Sunday school and became a director in a local drama society. Read about his 'Holland VI,' rechristened the 'USS Holland, and learn about the exhibits at the Paterson Museum in Paterson, NJ.

In his final days, HOLLAND joined the American Irish Historical Society of NYC. The inventor from Co. Clare died in August of 1914, at the age of 73. Although he never lived to see many of his dreams become reality, his children could take heart in the fact that their father came to be regarded as a man ahead of his time. John had argued for vessels that dove like porpoises, made the case for sleek, simpler vessels and dreamed of a time when submarines would cross the Atlantic at great speeds.

Excerpts, eight-page article, 'Submerged in Thought,' by Thomas P. FARLEY, 'World of Hibernia' magazine, Spring 2000 issue.

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