Confederate Submarine Inventor H.L. Hunley on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: Confederate inventor, Horace Lawson Hunley, died on this day in 1863 while testing his invention, the first combat submarine. The submarine, the H. L. Hunley, often referred to as Hunley, CSS H. L. Hunley, or as CSS Hunley, was the first combat submarine to actually sink a warship. 

Horace L. Hunley was buried with full military honors at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8, 1863.

Hunley was not the first inventor to be killed by his own invention. One famous person to have done so was French physicist Marie Curie who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. On 4 July 1934, she died from aplastic anaemia believed to have been contracted from her long-term exposure to radiation, some of which was from the devices she created.

Alexander Bogdanov (1873–1928) was a Russian physician, philosopher, science fiction writer and revolutionary who experimented with blood transfusion, attempting to achieve eternal youth or at least partial rejuvenation. He died after he took the blood of a student suffering from malaria and tuberculosis, who may have also been the wrong blood type.

Thomas Midgley, Jr. (1889–1944) was an American engineer and chemist who contracted polio at age 51, leaving him severely disabled. He devised an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys to help others lift him from bed. He became accidentally entangled in the ropes and died of strangulation.

Max Valier (1895–1930) invented liquid-fuelled rocket engines as a member of a 1920s German rocket society. On 17 May 1930, an alcohol-fuelled engine exploded on his test bench in Berlin, killing him instantly.

William Bullock (1813–1867) invented the web rotary printing press. His foot was crushed during the installation of his invention in Philadelphia. The crushed foot developed gangrene and Bullock died during the amputation.

William Nelson (c. 1879-1903), a General Electric employee, invented a new way to motorize bicycles. He then fell off his prototype bike during a test run and died as a result.

Francis Edgar Stanley (1849–1918) was killed while driving a Stanley Steamer automobile. He drove his car into a woodpile while attempting to avoid farm wagons travelling side by side on the road.

Fred Duesenberg (1876–1932) was killed in a high-speed road accident in a Duesenberg automobile.

Luis Jiménez was killed while creating the famous Colorado statue of a blue horse, the Blue Mustang, when a section of it fell on him and severed an artery in his leg.

16th-century Chinese official, Wan Hu, is said to have attempted to launch himself into outer space in a chair to which 47 rockets were attached. The rockets exploded, and it is said that neither he nor the chair were ever seen again.

Also, you can see the HL Hunley submarine on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, South Carolina.

You may also be interested in 220 Books on the American Civil War on DVDrom 1861-1865

For a list of all of my disks, with links click here