Scientist of the Day - Isaac Peral
Isaac Peral y Caballero, a Spanish naval officer and engineer, was born on June 1, 1851, and died on May 22, 1895. But his significant date, the one we commemorate today, was Sep. 8, 1888, when a submarine built to his design, the world’s first military submarine, was launched in Cartagena. It was 70 feet long and powered by tons of batteries, since no petroleum engines were yet available. It had one torpedo tube facing forward, and was capable of diving to a depth of 90 feet. It is always referred to as the Peral, although I am not convinced it was called that at the time, since no national navy named its ships after living people in 1888 (only private inventors, like John Philip Holland, did that).
By most standards, the Peral was a success. Over the course of many months, it made all sorts of dives, some of them hours long, and maneuvered around the surface, and had one successful torpedo firing with an unarmed missile. Its principal deficiency was a lack of range, since there was no engine onboard to recharge the batteries. But Peral had solved the problem of supplying fresh air for the crew when submerged, a critical necessity for a submarine navy, so his boat showed real promise.
Nevertheless, the pioneering Spanish submarine effort ultimately went nowhere, to Peral's great frustration. A second and larger submarine was approved, but then funds were withdrawn. Peral blamed his superior officers, claiming they lacked foresight, which did not help his cause, although he was right. When the Peral was removed from service in 1890 and the barely fledged submarine program was shut down, Peral resigned in protest and began inventing for himself. But he was already in poor health, and Peral died in 1895 with no further inventions to his credit.
Spain is quite proud of Peral now, and they should be, but many other almost-successful submarines were built in the late 1880s, once high-amperage storage batteries became available – in France, England, and Germany. The most successful inventor was the Irishman John Philip Holland, who, having emigrated to the United States, built his first submarine in 1877, although it was not until 1898 that his sixth boat, Holland VI, showed enough promise to be purchased by the U.S. Navy. We have written a post on Holland.
Ironically, the Spanish Navy finally acquired its first submarine in 1917, and they named it Isaac Peral, in honor of their snubbed pioneer (fifth image). But they bought it from Holland's company in the U.S., so none of the features of Peral's 1888 boat were present in the 1916 Isaac Peral.
The bright part of the story is that the 1888 Peral (the boat) survives. Most of the early submarines sank at some point, and are admired only by the fishes. The Peral
was for many years on display in the naval yard in Cartagena, on the southeast Mediterranean coast (third image), and then around 2013, it was removed, restored, and put on display in the Cartagena Naval Museum, where you can see it today (fourth image).
There is a substantial model of the 1888 Peral in the Naval Museum in Madrid, and a photograph of the model can be found on Wikimedia commons (first image). In the background is an oil painting, and the photo has enough resolution that I was able to extract the painting (sixth image). The label beneath claims that it depicts the events of Sep. 8, 1888, but that is not likely, since the Peral immediately went back into drydock to be furnished out, and it was not cavorting about the harbor until the spring of 1889. But it does give us a good idea of the scale of the Peral.
It might surprise you to learn that the oldest surviving submarine on display anywhere is the Brandtaucher (Fire-Diver), built in 1850 by Wilhelm Bauer, and powered by two men on treadmills with a third steering and manipulating mines; it can be seen in the Military History Museum in Dresden. Since Bauer was a colorful character, and, like Peral, considerably hindered by military bureaucracy, we will try to publish a post on Bauer and the Brandtaucher at the first opportunity.
William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.
