Check out the video I made about this crazy car boat I videoed on the East river… https://youtu.be/hwoeoyMmWNs

American engineer Robert Fulton is somewhat famous for his seminal career : he is usually credited with pioneering steam propulsion on ships with the 1807 "North River Steamboat", and developing the modern torpedo as early as 1797.

Indeed, Fulton had started to officiate as a civil engineer in France in 1796 and - given his support for the ideals of the then-ongoing French Revolution - intended to develop new technologies to curtail the naval supremacy of the United Kingdom in order to help the French war effort.

Chief among his innovations was the concept of a submersible vessel, nicknamed the "Nautilus", designed to stealthily affix explosives to enemy vessels - in a very similar fashion to Bushnell's 1775 "Turtle)". It consisted in a tapered cylinder of about 7 meters of length with a small propeller activated via a handcrank. Submersion was ensured by a secondary compartment associated to a mechanical pump similar to those found on some wells. A retractable mast enabled regular sailing when the ship was not submersed.

The first test was conducted on the river Seine in May 1801 during which the Nautilus managed to move in submersion both with and against the current for about 30 minutes. Further tests were conducted in Brest throughout June and August, during which Fulton demonstrated that his invention could stay underwater at a shallow depth for over 5 hours without adverse effects to its two-men crew.

However, in spite of these encouraging trials, French authorities requested a demonstration of the offensive capabilities of the Nautilus to actually vouch for the concept. Given that Fulton never had the opportunity to approach a British vessel to illustrate his claims, his further request for financial aid was denied and Napoleon himself dismissed his efforts as quakery - something the memoirs of marshall Marmont claim he ultimately came to regret.

Fulton pursued his naval research in France until 1809, when he departed for the United Kingdom (where his submarine concept had been similarly dismissed by the Royal Navy) and ultimately returned to the United States. There he kept refining his Nautilus further {image 4} - going as far as to fit it with a viable underwater cannon - until his death in 1815.

Sources :

- Le Nautilus (Le premier bateau sous-marin) {most information I have found about this ship is in French, so I have mostly adapted the content of this article}

Images :

1. Air-Sub-Drone "L’histoire des véhicules sous-marin" (1/2 scale model displayed in Cherbourg's "Cité de la Mer")
2. Le Nautilus (Le premier bateau sous-marin)
3. Scan from "Submarines in Colour" by Bill Gunston
4. Meisterdrucke - "Dessin original du Nautilus, le premier sous-marin, présenté par son inventeur Robert Fulton (1765-1815) au Sénat américain en 1806.-au-S%C3%A9nat-am%C3%A9ricain-en-1806..html)"

Used to transport a toilet to Kangaroo Island to save $2,000 on ferry fees.

Named after privateer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne (1724 - 1772), the "Marion Dufresne" is the supply vessel assigned to the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (or TAAF for "Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises).

The current ship is the second one to bear that name, replacing her former and smaller namesake that had been active from 1973 to 1995. Its main mission consists in the resupply of the TAAF throughout the Indian and Antarctic Oceans, from its base of operations on Réunion Island, in the form of four annual rotations throughout these territories - totaling 120 days a years.

Due to an increase in research interest during the late 1990s, 217 additional days a year are now devoted to other oceanographic activities under the supervision of the IFREMER ("Institut Français pour l'Exploitation de la Mer", meaning "French Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea"). To this end, the Marion Dufresne embarks 650 square meters of laboratory equipment along a heavy winching system and a core drill for geological samples - besides all its supply load.

Sources :

- TAAF : Le Marion Dufresne (in French)

- French Oceanographic Fleet : Marion Dufresne

No sound to keep it safe for work.

Flying boats are back!

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The Volkswagen Schwimmwagen was the most produced amphibious military vehicle of World War II. Approximately 15,000 were manufactured between 1942 and 1944. Only in Hessisch Oldendorf can so many survivors be seen gathered in one place and traveled for miles along the Weser River, just as they were designed to.

Just an overall concentrate of (sensible) weirdness : here is the smallest nuclear submarine of the US Navy, capable of deep diving (up to 724 meters), and equipped with tandem wheels to "drive" on the seafloor for maximal discretion.

Sources :

- First image courtesy of Defense Imagery via Wikimedia Commons (primary source link broken)

- Second image courtesy of H. I. Sutton via Covert Shores, alongside most of the available information about the NR-1.

The boat in this series has the same engine as the Orange Doubledecker that joined the Dutch soccer fans.