John Holland - Submarine Inventor
by Pat Friend
John Holland was a brilliant man with a vision of how submarines could
change naval warfare. His humble beginnings gave no clue of the
contribution he would make not to his native Ireland but to the navies of
some of the world's most powerful countries.
John Phillip Holland was born in 1841 to John and Mary Scanlon Holland in
Liscannor, Co. Clare. His mother was an Irish speaker, so John and his
brothers learned English only after they were old enough to attend school.
The Potato Famine made Co. Clare was a rough place to be living during the
1840s but the Holland family was secure in their home because their father
was a Coast Guard provided with a government house as part of his earnings
for patrolling the Irish coast on horseback. Still, they did not escape the
tragedy as John's younger brother Robert died of Cholera in 1847. His
father also died in the 1840s and his mother moved with her three remaining
sons to Limerick in 1853.
John began his education in the National School system and likely continued
it at the Christian Brothers School at Ennistymon. The Christian Brothers
encouraged his interest in science and inventions, particularly Brother
Dominic Burke who encouraged him in his early research. He eventually
joined the Christian Brothers and became a teacher in their schools,
continuing to work on his submarine designs. Ill health forced him to
resign from the order in 1873. He left Ireland, joining his mother and
brothers in Boston, Massachusetts. Before long, John left his family to
teach at St. John's school in Paterson, New Jersey.
Once in New Jersey, Holland began work on a submarine design and entered a
Navy submarine design contest. His brother Michael was active in the Fenian
Brotherhood and introduced the inventor to the revolutionary group. The
Fenians' goal was to develop a small submarine that could be sealifted on a
large merchant ship to an area near an unsuspecting British warship. The
submarine would then be released from the bottom of the merchant vessel,
attack the warship and return to its base. The Fenians believed in Holland
enough that they funded his research and development expenses at a level
that allowed him to resign from his teaching post. The result of his
efforts was the Fenian Ram that was launched in 1881. Holland and the
Fenians had several disagreements and they parted company, leaving Holland
to seek other sources of funding for his work.
MORE ON...
http://allaboutirish.com/library/people/holland.htm
