The Resurgam
the very First British Steam Powered Submarine
and the World's First Submarine

Written by Godfrey Dykes

© RN Communications Branch Museum/Library

  Have you ever been to the Royal Navy's Submarine Museum? If you haven't, it is situated in Gosport Hampshire on the very land which was the original submarine base, HMS Dolphin, now a medical establishment linked to the nearby famous naval hospital of Haslar. I was one of the thousands of submariners whose alma mater was HMS Dolphin, and whilst the museum is a memorial to those days (from 1904 {and operationally from the 31st August 1912} until the early 1990's) it is a poor representation of what used to be. Whether you have been there or not, resplendent amongst many other submarine artefacts is the very first Holland Boat, Holland 1, which is claimed to be the very first RN submarine and well it might have been. However, the story is too simple by far and lacks depth (pardon the pun) because the museum fails to tell the whole story about early RN submarines. At the end of its service career, Holland 1 was on its way to the breakers yard being towed, when the tow line broke and the boat sank. Many many years later it was raised and put on show, justifiably, as a national treasure.

  The submarine museum, whilst keeper of the legend, is not always faithful to the legend, and every now and again 'slips-up' for not keeping us submariners, and above us, the nation, informed of relevant facts and events. Only recently, I told the museum about the destruction of the Rugby Radio Station masts, each at 820 feet high, and in their time, inanimate servants of the submarine fleet operating within approximately two thousand miles of HMS Dolphin, but for some inexplicable reason they did not respond, indeed, actively choosing to ignore the event.

  Fortunately, for me if not you (although I am convinced that you will consider yourself fortunate when you have read this) I have many friends out there who act as feeders to my web site, and by so doing, enhance the scope of the subjects I cover even adding authority and credence, not to mention variety and interest. One such person is Preston. E. Willson (known as Tugg - the two (l's) and the two (g's) are important to him) an ex RN'er, who alerted me to a recent television programme the contents of which, are used to tell the following story. Thank you Tugg.

  I have to admit that I had never heard of this submarine, the RESURGAM, and I am not claiming my story to be the product of original research made by me, as so many of the articles published on my site are. It fell into my lap as it were. However, I am surprised that the experts, or so called experts, the academics of the submarine museum, whilst clearly knowing of this story (there is a little bit about it on their web site) have not thought it worthy of telling in full as a feature article. You see, until recently the experts had assumed that the RESURGAM was a 'folly' which would not have worked as a proper submarine (had it been afforded the chance) and wrote it off as such, denying even its name being added to royal naval submarine legend. That is not only a great pity but a great mistake too.

  This page seeks to rectify that blunder, and to add, if not to the stuffy academic world, to the hearts and minds of submariners proper, this story of:-

The RESURGAM - the very FIRST British Steam Powered Submarine and the WORLD's FIRST Submarine

  In the last quarter of the 19th century, two engineers sought to develop a submarine (there were others too) which would be good enough to catch the eye of the royal navy, and after them, the United States navy. One was an American called Holland, and the other, a Brit called Garrett. George Garrett had taken the cloth at the age of twenty five, but even as a Vicar, he devoted nearly all of his time into the development of his invention. Holland, devoted as much time and probably more, based from a higher academic engineering approach which gave him some advantage. The 'score' in 1878 looked like this. Holland 1878 - failure: Garrett 1879 - boat sank before evaluation, Holland 1899 - first boat accepted by the RN. By 1879 and just ahead of Holland, the Reverend George Garrett had a boat ready for evaluation. Being a Vicar he used the word RESURGAM which means, taken from the OED {Oxford English Dictionary}

  "|| resurgam (_________).
  (L.)
  _I shall rise again', expressing Christian faith in resurrection at the Last Day. Usu. transf. and fig.
  1662 J. Trapp Annotations Old & New Testament I. 142 Howbeit he had hope in his death, and might write Resurgam on his grave.
  1847 Thackeray Van. Fair (1848) xiv. 126 Arms and Hatchments, Resurgam.---Here is an opportunity for moralizing!
  1853 Geo. Eliot Let. 3 Jan. (1954) II. 79 Now nothing seems pleasant to me but---Resurgam.
  _1859 E. Dickinson Poems (1955) I. 56, I slew a worm the other day---A _Savant' passing by Murmured _Resurgam'---_Centipede'! _Oh Lord---how frail are we'!
  1929 Oxf. Poetry 39 Arise_resurgam_for another day" as the name for his boat, which, with 'surfacing' in mind, was a clever thought.

  He had built his boat at Birkenhead which was a coal burner using the steam to power a 6 HP engine - modern day boats are also steam machines but use nuclear energy instead of coal. It was fitted with a snorkel which drew in air whilst on the surface; carried two and a half tons of coal forward; had a three bladed propeller and a thwart ships shaft which carried a hydroplane on each end, port and starboard sited amidships either side of the conning tower. It was made from iron and had wood cladding amidships. The overall length was 40 foot and its weight 30 tons. The Admiralty had agreed to evaluate the boat at Portsmouth, and the Resurgam started its journey south. The first part was achieved without event, but on the second leg, the final surface tow to Portsmouth, it was swamped and sank in the Irish Sea. The boat was unmanned and there were no human casualties.

  Holland's design went on to be accepted by the RN and subsequently by the USN, and friend Garrett courted countries like Greece, but none of his creations ever saw the sea, let along under the sea. Eventually, and totally disillusioned, Garrett left the UK for the States and obscurity.

  Recently, a team of marine archaeologists dived on the wreck of the Resurgam, by now well known and a wreck belonging to a British preservation society. It is mapped eight miles off shore in Colwyn Bay, Wales, at a depth of sixteen metres. Permission was granted to dive on the wreck seeking only to ascertain whether or not the boat was a folly, or was capable of being a proper submarine. The plans were preserved and available, and the job of the divers was to check that the measurements of the wreck matched the drawings, specifically for the size of the propeller and the hydroplanes shaft. The thickness of the hull and the disposition of the bunker/boiler/steam storage and the steam engine were also measured and assessed in-situ to check authenticity. The findings were then given to an eminent naval architect prominent in the construction and workings of a submersible (who had also been present onboard the diving vessel overseeing the underwater camera shots and accurate measurements) for computer analysis using modern computer generated models, accepted internationally as " tool of science and repute."

  The findings of the naval architect were such as to prove beyond any doubt that the RESURGAM was for all intents and purposes a viable submarine, and had it survived the tow from Birkenhead to Portsmouth, it would have been judged appropriate and fitting as a submarine by the royal navy. Had the sinking not occurred, perhaps Holland would not have been invited to produce the first operational submarine, and Garrett's boat would have been the legend instead of the Holland boat. Holland incidentally went on to built five Holland boats for the RN before starting a major build for the USN.

  As a realist, lead by pragmatic reasoning, I know that a steam engined submarine versus a combustion engine submarine does seem a little far fetched for those days.

  But, what an opportunity missed, where the story started with steam and ended with steam, and sandwiched in between was the combustion engine, the diesel electric submarine. Good museum piece I would have thought and of course, a flag-flying exercise for a British inventor.

  Imagine, the Reverend George Garrett class boat! HMS Minister; HMS Padre; HMS Vicar; HMS Bishop; HMS Cardinal; HMS Arch Bishop; HMS Pope; HMS Priest; HMS Chaplain.

  Come on RN Submarine Museum, give credit where credit is due, and please, wake up to submarine environmental issues - like the communicators who see RUGBY as much part of submarine life, as do swim-boys in the SETT (the tank - a place to exercise the escape from a submarine trapped at least one hundred feet below the surface) - we are a band of brothers and all issues should be addressed as one.

Godfrey (Jeff) Dykes with thanks for the alert to Tugg Willson (P.E. Willson)