Ictineo I
Encyclopedia
Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol
Narcís Monturiol Estarriol was a Spanish Catalan intellectual, artist and engineer. He was the inventor of the first combustion engine-driven submarine, which was propelled by an early form of air-independent propulsion....
, and the predecessor of his later Ictineo II
Ictineo II
Ictineo II was a pioneering submarine launched in 1864 by Spanish inventor Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol, and was the first combustion engine-driven submarine, propelled by an early form of air-independent propulsion...
.
Design and development
While living in CadaquésCadaqués
Cadaqués is a town in the Alt Empordà comarca, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is on a bay in the middle of the Cap de Creus peninsula, near Cap de Creus cape, on the Costa Brava of the Mediterranean...
, Monturiol witnessed the death of a coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
harvester, which inspired him with the idea of a ship that could sail underwater and allow coral divers to work in safety. He kept his ideas to himself for over 12 years, concerned that he might be ridiculed and also because he did not have the funds to build such a vessel. A friend convinced him that his idea must be brought to life, and that sufficient funds could be found from friends and the general public.
Monturiol had already named his vessel Ictineo, from the ancient Greek icthus (fish) and naus (boat). As he put it, the Ictíneo’s "form is that of a fish, and like a fish it has its motor in the tail, fins to control its direction, and swimming bladders and ballast to maintain an equilibrium with the water from the moment it submerges".
Monturiol realized that the ideal shape for such a vessel from the point of view of hydrodynamics and steerage was that of a fish. However, the optimum shape of hull to withstand water pressure was a sphere. He therefore combined the two, with an inner, ellipsoidal pressure hull and an outer, fish-shaped hull which was open to the sea and free-flooding. Ballast tanks and any other equipment which interacted with the sea were to be placed in the space between the two hulls.
In September 1857 he returned to Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, where he organized the first commercial society in Spain dedicated to submarine navigation, Monturiol, Font, Altadill y Cia. with a capital of 10,000 pesetas
Spanish peseta
The peseta was the currency of Spain between 1869 and 2002. Along with the French franc, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra .- Etymology :...
. In 1858 he presented his project in a scientific thesis titled The Ictineo or fish-ship.
On 28 June 1859, Monturiol was ready for the Ictineo's first voyage and the submarine was launched into Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
harbour. Unfortunately, she hit some underwater pilings, which Monturiol estimated would exhaust his funds to properly repair. He performed some hasty repairs on the damaged portholes, exterior hull, and ballast tanks, and limited his diving depth to 20 metres (65.6 ft).
During the summer of 1859 Monturiol performed more than 20 test dives in the Ictineo, with his business partner and shipbuilder as crew. He gradually increased the depth he dived to until he reached his 20 metres (65.6 ft) limit and learned that the crew could remain dived for about 2 hours using only the oxygen sealed inside the pressure hull, and that their endurance could be doubled using compressed oxygen and his carbon dioxide scrubber. The Ictineo turned out to possess good handling, but its top speed was disappointing, powered as it was by human muscle power.
Ictineo was eventually destroyed in January 1862 after some 50 dives, when a cargo vessel ran into it while it was berthed. It was succeeded by the much improved Ictineo II
Ictineo II
Ictineo II was a pioneering submarine launched in 1864 by Spanish inventor Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol, and was the first combustion engine-driven submarine, propelled by an early form of air-independent propulsion...
.
A modern replica of the Ictineo I stands in the garden entrance to the Marine Museum in Barcelona.
Description
Monturiol had originally wanted to build his pressure hull out of metal in the interests of strength but he and his financial backers lacked sufficient funds, so he instead settled for wood, with which he was familiar since his father was a cooper. The pressure hull was constructed from olive woodOlive Tree
The Olive Tree was a denomination used for several successive centre-left Italian political coalitions from 1995 to 2007.The historical leader and ideologue of these coalitions was Romano Prodi, Professor of Economics and former leftist Christian Democrat, who invented the name and the symbol of...
, supported with oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
rings, and covered in 2 mm of copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, and measured 4 metres (13.1 ft) long, 2 metres (6.6 ft) at its highest, and 1 metres (3.3 ft) wide. Monturiol calculated that it should be able to maintain its integrity to a depth of 500 metres (1,640.4 ft), although he only rated it to 50 metres (164 ft) for the sake of safety. The outer streamlined hull was 7 metres (23 ft) long, 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) high, and displaced 10 tonnes. Several thick glass ports were installed on the sides, top, and bow of the Ictineo; these were semi-conical in shape so that water pressure would tend to force them more firmly into their seats and so avoid leaks.
Four ballast tanks (or bladders, as he called them) were installed in the free-flooding area between the submarine's two hulls, two located forwards and two towards the rear, all controlled from inside the pressure hull using valves to admit water and pumps to force in air. An emergency system was fitted to ensure that the submarine could surface even if the ballast tank system failed, consisting of two sets of large weights fitted to the exterior which could be jettisoned to give positive buoyancy. Monturiol also included a large weight mounted inside the submarine on a longitudinal metal track, which could be slid back and forth to counteract shifts in the vessel's centre of gravity.
For propulsion, Monturiol used hand-cranked propellers. He invented the first chemical air scruber to remove carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
from the interior by forcing the air through a container of calcium hydroxide
Calcium hydroxide
Calcium hydroxide, traditionally called slaked lime, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ca2. It is a colourless crystal or white powder and is obtained when calcium oxide is mixed, or "slaked" with water. It has many names including hydrated lime, builders lime, slack lime, cal, or...
, thus allowing the vessel to remain underwater for longer periods. He also devised a method of producing oxygen which unfortunately proved unpractical because it also produced sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...
as a byproduct. For interior illumination he used a simple candle, which had the advantage of turning red when oxygen was beginning to run low and so alerted the crew.