Story behind the story of the artist and the Turtle

Last week an artist named Duke Riley caused a bit of a stir in New York harbor by approaching too closely to the liner QE2 in a homemade submarine. Press coverage of the stunt duly noted that the design of the submarine was loosely based on that of the"Turtle," which saw brief and mainly fruitless service in the Revolutionary War and is generally considered the first American submarine, certainly the first to be intended for use in war. What the news reports failed to note was that one of Artist Riley’s colleagues bears the surname Bushnell, which just happens also to be that of the builder of the"Turtle." Coincidence? I doubt it.

David Bushnell was born in Connecticut and, despite graduating from Yale College in 1775, he was evidently one of those self-directed tinkerers – think Eli Whitney, Samuel Colt, Eli Terry, Walter Hunt (the last, from New York, was not strictly speaking a Yankee, but I speak loosely here) – who gave rise to the notion of Yankee ingenuity. 

On leaving Yale, Bushnell went home to Saybrook, Connecticut, and began building his submarine.  It was roughly (as shown here) egg-shaped and held a crew of one in a sitting position. Hand-operated cranks drove two screw propellers. Hand- and foot-controlled valves and pumps made for descending and ascending. The rudimentary instruments, a compass and a depth gauge, were lit by phosphorus. What made it a war machine was the detachable mine, which by means of an auger bit, also controlled from inside, could be attached below the water line to an enemy ship. A clock device then permitted the submarine to escape to a safe distance before the mine exploded. 

In August 1776 the “Turtle” was put into New York harbor near the Battery. The crew: Sgt. Ezra Lee, a volunteer from Gen. Samuel Parsons’ brigade; the target: Admiral Lord Richard Howe’s flagship “Eagle” of 64 guns; the result: failure. “Eagle” had a copper-clad bottom that was proof against the auger. On the other hand, the “Turtle” did remain submerged for some hours and survived, along with Sgt. Lee, to try again. 

A second attempt against a British frigate in the Hudson a few days later also failed.  Sgt. Lee returned to the army and saw action at Trenton and Brandywine. He rejoined Bushnell and the “Turtle” in 1777. Near New London, Conn., he went up against the frigate “Cerberus.” He managed to attach the mine, but as he was retreating it was spotted by a sailor aboard a prize schooner that was tied up alongside “Cerberus.” The sailor attempted to haul in the mine, which exploded, killing three sailors and destroying the schooner but leaving “Cerberus” unharmed. Later attempts in Boston and Philadelphia also failed. 

Early in 1778 Bushnell built a number of floating mines and floated them down the Delaware River against British shipping. Only one exploded, but the panic among the sailors that ensued inspired Francis Hopkinson to write the satirical poem “The Battle of the Kegs.” 

David Bushnell died in Georgia in 1824. It would be another 40 years before a submarine successfully engaged a surface ship in war.

Riley’s was a mildly clever stunt, though what it has to do with art escapes me, as does much of what is dubbed art nowadays. He has a “statement” posted on his website, but – while it does refer to “performative interventions” and “reinvented historical obscurities” – I can make nothing of it. There must be an art to writing these things.