John Philip Holland, inventor of the modern submarine
John Philip Holland (1840-1914) from Liscannor, Co Clare, invented the first successful commercial submarine and transformed war at sea. He worked on his designs in the USA and they were bought by the US Navy, but he grew up in this small town on the Atlantic coast in 1840, where his father was a coastguard.
There had been many attempts over several centuries to design an underwater vessel that could attack ships by stealth. Holland began thinking about the problem as a teenager, and later when he worked as a science teacher in Ireland. It was only when he emigrated to New Jersey in 1872 that he began seriously to work on his ideas.
Submarine designs
His initial designs were funded by the Irish Fenian Brotherhood, hopeful of a new way to attack the British at sea. Later, he was funded by the US Navy.
His breakthrough came when he switched from petrol engines to electric battery power. Though more complicated, this arrangement consumed less of the precious air supply.
JP Holland and crew on the Holland VI
His Electric Torpedo Boat company built a number of prototypes, including the Holland VII, which cost $150,000, was 20 metres long and could dive to 20 metres. The US Navy bought it in 1900, and so began the submarine era.
Holland died at the outbreak of World War I, and just a few weeks later a German submarine sank three British cruisers in under an hour, killing 1,400 men. Naval warfare had changed forever.
A statue in Liscannor, outside the hotel, commemorates this ingenious Irishman. Clare Library has more about Holland here.
Visiting Liscannor
When you are in Liscannor, the local quarry and gem shop is well worth a visit — the best rock shop in Ireland! And of course the Cliffs of Moher nearby are a bracing coastal walk.
