John P. Holland

1841 - 1914

Inventor of the Modern Submarine

by Richard Knowles Morris
(Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute, 1966; 2nd ed., Univ. S.C. Press, 1998)
page 45 - 47

The amusement park atmosphere wherever the submarine was berthed helped to conceal the determination and singleness of purpose which motivated John Holland. Between trial runs on the Ram, [John Holland] was fully occupied at the Gannon and Cooper shop in Jersey City where he spent his spare time supervising the construction of his third submarine, an all-metal, sixteen-foot, one-ton replica of the successful Fenian Ram. Only in size was his third craft reminiscent of his first little boat, which lay in the mud of the Upper Passaic River. The new boat's purpose was vastly different. It was a working model designed to incorporate improvements suggested by the trials of the Ram. With this diminutive craft, Holland hoped to test hitherto unexplored principles of submarine navigation which he had been unable to exhaust in previous experiments.

During one of Holland's absences from dockside, Engineer Richards decided to try out the Ram on his own. Dropping downstream from the Gap, he passed dangerously close to a tug and the barge which she was towing. The wash from the boats lapped over the open turret into the engine compartment. The Fenian Ram began to settle rapidly. In another moment, Richards was literally blown out of the turret through the hatch. As Holland wrote: "He happened to be just below the hatch ... and was blown out by the escaping air from within the boat." The crew of the tug hastened to his rescue. Sadly Holland noted, "It cost my backers $3,000 to raise the boat and put her in shape again.

In the meantime, all was not well in the ranks of John Holland's backers. The Fenian Brotherhood had financed the three submarines, but not without dissension from impatient members who wanted their "ten cents worth of revolution every week." Pilfering of the Skirmishing Fund for purposes other than those for which it was intended put the Holland venture in a precarious position. Mulcahy filed suit to obtain an injunction to restrain the Trustees of the Fund from using any money in the treasury without the jurisdiction of the court. Simultaneously, reports were being circulated that clearly showed dissatisfaction with Breslin's handling of the submarine project. Threatened by the Mulcahy suit and the growing unrest in the Clan, Breslin criticized Holland who claimed that George Brayton had asked more for the engine used in the Ram than the engine was worth and was prepared Brayton to court. Breslin was certain that the time had come to act. He felt it was necessary to protect the Brotherhood from possible legal attachment of its properties. His action brought the affairs of the Fenian Ram and her sixteen-foot companion submarine to a dramatic conclusion.

Holland, too, may have muddled the waters. He claimed that George Brayton had asked more for the engine used in the Ram than the engine was worth and, if Devoy is correct, was prepared to make his point at law.21 Breslin, already threatened by the Mulcahy suit and the growing unrest in the Clan, criticized Holland for his inopportune complaint. Holland, in turn, sought the advice of James Reynolds of New Haven, the former owner of the Catalpa. Reynolds wrote to Breslin on 8 October 1883:"Mr. Holland spent the whole of yesterday with me and after a very long explanation I think I find the difference between you is in the main imaginery."22 Reynolds then urged Breslin to call a special meeting of the Trustees of this Fund in order that they might vote on Reynolds' proposal to offer an additional sum of $1,500 to Holland for his services.

How this matter was finally adjudicated is not clear, but Breslin was certain that the time had come to act. He felt it was necessary to protect the Brotherhood from possible legal attachment of its properties. His action brought the affairs of the Fenian Ram and her sixteen-foot companion submarine to a dramatic conclusion.

On a dark night in late November 1883, Breslin and a few fellow Fenians, armed with a pass bearing the forged signature of John P. Holland, gained access to the docks at the Morris and Cummings pier in the Canal Basin at the Gap.23 The night watchman apparently did not think it unusual for a tug to pull up at the slip. At any rate, the pass assured him that the unpredictable Irishman could well have ordered the transfer of his submarine under cover of darkness, for the strange craft had been surrounded with an aura of mystery ever since her inception. The Fenians deftly placed the Ram in tow and then slid the blocks from under the sixteen-foot model which rested on ways near the water's edge. The smaller craft was tied astern of the Ram, and the strange convoy made its way into New York Harbor. The tug rounded Manhattan during the night and proceeded up the East River. By the time she reached Whitestone Point, the wind was blowing in strongly from Long Island Sound. The model boat's turret had not been completely closed, and no gasket sealed the hatch. In the choppy waters she foundered, snapped her towline, and settled to the bottom in one hundred and ten feet of water.24 The tug forged ahead into the Sound with only the Ram astern. The next day she reached New Haven and cautiously worked her way toward the Brass Foundry of James Reynolds on the Mill River.

21. New York Gaelic American, Vol.XI, No. 34, 22 August 1914.

22. Devoy's Post Bag, Vol. II, p. 213

23. Writers do not agree on the location of the Ram when she was stolen. This account follows Holland's own recollection as revealed in the papers loaned to Lake, op. cit., p. 108.

24. The 16-foot submarine still lies under 100 feet of water in the East River off Whitestone Point.

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