Old
Saybrook High School Students Rebuild First Submarine
By
Marylena Mantas
For
the students of Old Saybrook High School in Essex, Connecticut
history, math and science classes will transcend traditional textbook-based
lectures this academic year. These students will have the opportunity
to participate in a unique project requiring them to experience
history, as they rebuild the Turtle, the first submarine
ever used in warfare. The original submarine was build 225 years
ago.
“This
is every educator’s dream… to replicate something that happened
in our backyards,” said Scott Schoonmaker, Principal of the Old
Saybrook HS. “The students are ready to go and they are excited.”
The project is only one component of a larger educational series
organized by the National Maritime Historical Society (NMHS) in
cooperation with the Connecticut River Museum and the National
Park Service and sponsored by The History Channel and the New
York State Bridge Authority. The project plans to reach over 450,000
teachers and their students across the United States through the
use of web cams and the Internet.
“It’s
important to bring this into the high schools,” said David Allen,
director of education at NMHS. “We are using this as a kick-off
to get students involved in, hands-on activities, allow them to
use their ingenuity, and enable them to understand the minds of
those who kept New York independent. The kick-off event for the
year-long project was an exhibition of the eight feet tall and
five feet wide working replica of the original Turtle (courtesy
of the Connecticut River Museum), which took place recently at
Clinton Castle located at New York’s Battery Park. The NMHS organized
the exhibition exactly 225 years after the Turtle set out
to destroy the British fleet in the New York Harbor on September
6, 1776.
“It’s
difficult to imagine that 225 years ago tonight the largest British
fleet showed up at NY harbor,” said the President of NMHS, Patrick
J. Garvey. “The arrival of this fleet, a landmark strategic event
in the Revolutionary War, [made NYC] the ‘center of gravity’–the
center of the war.”
The Turtle, invented by David Bushnell (whose descendents
are current students at Old Saybrook High School), planned to
attach an underwater mine to the British command warship. According
to NHMS, the submarine’s pilot “abandoned the attack but released
the mine to float among the enemy fleet in the harbor. The subsequent
explosion rocked New York and caused the Royal Navy admirals to
rearrange their fleet in order to guard against this ‘infernal
machine.’”
“I
don’t think one child out of 100 in the New York City school system
can give you this oversimplified story of the revolutionary war,”
said NMHS President Emeritus, Peter Stanford. “We are working
to change that in New York City schools.”
Professional boat builders will guide students through the building
process, with technical knowledge provided by the US Navy Undersea
Warfare Center. Students will document the construction and testing
results that they obtain throughout the year. The project will
engage students from England and France, who will arrive in the
United States in October of 2002 to participate in a “battle”
replicating the one that took place in the New York harbor during
the Revolutionary War. Ships will be anchored near the US Military
Academy at West Point, New York, where a professional diver will
use the submarine and “attack” the ships.
“One
year from now we should have a newer, more authentic Turtle
combining old and new technologies,” said Allen. “The students
will bring history into the future.”
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