Here are some images of Cottage Industry Models 1/32 scale Robert Fulton's Nautilus.
From Wikipedia"
Nautilus was a submarine first tested in 1800. Though preceded by Cornelius Drebbel's vessel of 1620, Nautilus is often considered to be the first practical submarine.
The Nautilus was designed between 1793 and 1797 by the American inventor Robert Fulton, then living in the French First Republic.
He unsuccessfully proposed to the Directory that they subsidize its
construction as a means to balance British seapower. His second, also
unsuccessful, proposal to them was that he be paid nothing until the Nautilus
had sunk British shipping, and then only a small percentage of the
prize money. Fulton directed his next proposal to the Minister of
Marine, who granted him permission to build.
Fulton built the first Nautilus of copper sheets over iron ribs at the Perrier boatyard in Rouen. It was 21 ft 3 in (6.48 m) long and 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) in the beam. Propulsion was provided by a hand-cranked screw propeller. The hollow iron keel was the vessel's ballast tank, flooded and emptied to change buoyancy. Two horizontal fins, diving planes in modern terms, on the stubby horizontal rudder controlled angle of dive. Overall, Nautilus resembled a modern research submarine, such as the NR-1,
having a long teardrop hull. The design included an observation dome,
somewhat similar in appearance, if not function, to the conning tower of
later submarines. When surfaced, a fan-shaped collapsible sail, reminiscent of those popular on Chinese ships, could be deployed. Air, beyond that enclosed within the vessel, could be provided by a snorkel constructed of waterproofed leather.
Nautilus was designed from the start to carry what Fulton called a "carcass", a naval mine
intended to be dragged into contact with an enemy ship. A device on the
top of the dome drove a spiked eye into the enemy's wooden hull. The
submarine then released its mine on a line that went through the eye.
The submarine sped away. When the long line had paid out, the mine would
strike the target hull and explode by a detonator. These "carcasses"
were variously sized copper cylinders carrying between ten and two
hundred pounds of gunpowder. Contact with the hull triggered a gunlock
mechanism.
Nautilus' first test dives were in the Seine at Rouen,
in the Saint-Gervais dock, beginning July 29, 1800. These tests were
all successful, but the river current interfered with some tests, so
Fulton took the boat to Le Havre to work in the quiet salt water of the
harbor. He tested endurance with a candle lit, and found the flame did
not challenge the air capacity of the snorkel. He also tested the speed
of his two men cranking against that of two men rowing on the surface. Nautilus
covered the 360 ft (110 m) course two minutes faster than the rowing
crew. During this time he changed the screw propeller to one with four
vanes, like a windmill, and modified the rudder.
Through friends like Gaspard Monge and Pierre-Simon Laplace, Fulton obtained an interview with Napoleon,
but was unable to garner support for his vessel; however, Fulton's
friends pushed the Minister of Marine into appointing a scholarly panel,
to consist of Volney, Monge, and Laplace, to assess the submarine,.
On July 3, 1801, at Le Havre, Fulton took the revised Nautilus
down to the then-remarkable depth of 25 feet (7.6 m). With his three
crewmen and two candles burning he remained for an hour without
difficulty. Adding a copper "bomb" (globe) containing 200 ft3 (5.7m3)
of air extended the time underwater for the crew for at least four and a
half hours. One of the renovations included a 1.5-inch-diameter (38 mm)
glass in the dome, whose light he found sufficient for reading a watch,
making candles during daylight activities unnecessary. Speed trials put
Nautilus at two knots on the surface, and covering 400 m in 7 minutes. He also discovered that compasses worked underwater exactly as on the surface.
The first trial of a "carcass" destroyed a 40-foot sloop provided by
the Admiralty. Fulton suggested that not only should they be used
against specific ships by submarines, but be set floating into harbors
and into estuaries with the tide to wreak havoc at random.
The overseeing committee enthusiastically recommended the building of
two brass subs, 36 ft (11 m) long, 12 ft (3.7 m) wide, with a crew of
eight, and air for eight hours of submersion.
In September, Napoleon expressed interest in seeing the Nautilus,
only to find that, as it had leaked badly, Fulton had her dismantled
and the more important bits destroyed at the end of the tests. Despite
the many reports of success by reliable witnesses, like the Prefect
Marine of Brest, Napoleon decided Fulton was a swindler and charlatan.
The French navy had no enthusiasm for a weapon they considered suicidal
for the crews even though Fulton had had no problems and despite
evidence it would be overwhelmingly destructive against conventional
ships.
Though knowing the French had no further interest, the British
preferred to keep a control on this dangerous device by paying Fulton
£800 to come to England (his original planned destination before going
to France) and develop a second Nautilus for them. The victory at Trafalgar
made his work no longer a danger, and he was ignored until he left, in
frustration, for America in October 1806. He left his papers on
submarines with the American consul in London. He never asked for them,
never referred to his Nautilus work, and the papers went unpublished until 1920.
These papers show that his British Nautilus was planned as a
35 ft (11 m) long, 10 ft (3.0 m) beam sea-going boat with a crew of six,
to be provisioned for 20 days at sea. The upper surface was provided
with 30 "carcass" compartments. The hull was to imitate a sea-going
sloop with conventional-looking mast and sails that could be lowered and
unstepped for submersion. Her two-bladed propeller, still hand-cranked,
folded up out of the water when surfaced to reduce drag. When
submerged, air came through two streamlined ventilation pipes, and light
from the conning tower. However, none of this was actually constructed.
3 comments:
I love your paint work and the slight weathering, you certainly build some out there models. Looks great.
Thanks! I try to keep it interesting.
Just came across your site. Fantastic job on your Robert Fulton Nautilus model. I too have always wanted to build a model of it as well, but the only reference I can find is the left profile view. Did you find other reference drawings of it, or did you just guesstimate it? Have you thought of making a model of Fulton's other Nautilus design that looks more boat like? Keep up the excellent work.
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