1749
The Gentleman's Magazine-1749
Submarines and people working on them extend well back into mankind's history. This page is from an English publication called "The Gentleman's Magazine", published in London in July of 1749.
The publication of this magazine started in 1731 and was printed by E. Cave, Jr. It was a bound publication and sold at booksellers in the city and about the countryside.
We have cropped the page and modified it to fit this format. We have not changed any of the text. If you have not had any experience reading "Old English" the big thing to remember is that unless the letter is a capital "S", the letter 's' beginning a word or contained in a word will look like the letter 'f' but the cross piece does not cross the center of the letter. Letter 's' that falls at the end of a word looks like a modern 's'. This is a carry over from the Germanic.
This short piece is a narration of a description of an early submarine type 'ship', 'boat' from the late 1730's or early 1740's built of wood by a house carpenter.
It seems that the folks witnessing the dive were not impressed. The man sought financial backing from the crowd but only acquired about a 'crown' in support or about 20 pounds in today’s money or about $33 in US Dollars.
Scan made from the original magazine in the Private Collection of Ric Hedman
Page created by:
Ric Hedman & David Johnston
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