Old Saybrook High School Students Rebuild First Submarine
By Marylena Mantas

For the students of Old Saybrook High School in Essex, Connecticut history, math and science classes will transcend traditional textbook-based lectures this academic year. These students will have the opportunity to participate in a unique project requiring them to experience history, as they rebuild the Turtle, the first submarine ever used in warfare. The original submarine was build 225 years ago.

“This is every educator’s dream… to replicate something that happened in our backyards,” said Scott Schoonmaker, Principal of the Old Saybrook HS. “The students are ready to go and they are excited.”

The project is only one component of a larger educational series organized by the National Maritime Historical Society (NMHS) in cooperation with the Connecticut River Museum and the National Park Service and sponsored by The History Channel and the New York State Bridge Authority. The project plans to reach over 450,000 teachers and their students across the United States through the use of web cams and the Internet.

“It’s important to bring this into the high schools,” said David Allen, director of education at NMHS. “We are using this as a kick-off to get students involved in, hands-on activities, allow them to use their ingenuity, and enable them to understand the minds of those who kept New York independent. The kick-off event for the year-long project was an exhibition of the eight feet tall and five feet wide working replica of the original Turtle (courtesy of the Connecticut River Museum), which took place recently at Clinton Castle located at New York’s Battery Park. The NMHS organized the exhibition exactly 225 years after the Turtle set out to destroy the British fleet in the New York Harbor on September 6, 1776.

“It’s difficult to imagine that 225 years ago tonight the largest British fleet showed up at NY harbor,” said the President of NMHS, Patrick J. Garvey. “The arrival of this fleet, a landmark strategic event in the Revolutionary War, [made NYC] the ‘center of gravity’–the center of the war.”

The Turtle, invented by David Bushnell (whose descendents are current students at Old Saybrook High School), planned to attach an underwater mine to the British command warship. According to NHMS, the submarine’s pilot “abandoned the attack but released the mine to float among the enemy fleet in the harbor. The subsequent explosion rocked New York and caused the Royal Navy admirals to rearrange their fleet in order to guard against this ‘infernal machine.’”

“I don’t think one child out of 100 in the New York City school system can give you this oversimplified story of the revolutionary war,” said NMHS President Emeritus, Peter Stanford. “We are working to change that in New York City schools.”

Professional boat builders will guide students through the building process, with technical knowledge provided by the US Navy Undersea Warfare Center. Students will document the construction and testing results that they obtain throughout the year. The project will engage students from England and France, who will arrive in the United States in October of 2002 to participate in a “battle” replicating the one that took place in the New York harbor during the Revolutionary War. Ships will be anchored near the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, where a professional diver will use the submarine and “attack” the ships.

“One year from now we should have a newer, more authentic Turtle combining old and new technologies,” said Allen. “The students will bring history into the future.”

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