February 29

John Philip Holland, an Irishman, was both an engineer and an inventor, was born in the 29th in 1840. He made a career out of mucking about with submarines. Holland wasn’t the first person to build a submarine, that honor would go to Cornelius Drebbel for his submarine built in 1620. David Bushnell came in second with the very early Turtle, built in 1775. He was not even third. That was Robert Fulton, an American inventor, with his Nautilus in 1800. In 1902, Holland designed and built a submarine for the English Royal Navy. The shame of being the fourth person to get in the aquatic race was tempered somewhat by Holland having the distinction of being the first person to design and build the USS Holland, which was the first submarine that was actually commissioned by the United States Navy. Which I suppose is marginally better than having your eyes poked out with a pointy stick.

Drebbel’s submarine was the first navigable submarine,
At the time of his building the Nautilus, Fulton was an expatriate and his did the work for the French Third Republic