''Resurgam'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

: ''"I shall rise again"'') is the name given to an early Victorian

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

and its prototype, designed and built in Britain by

Reverend The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...

George Garrett. She was intended as a weapon to penetrate the chain netting placed around ship hulls to defend against attack by torpedo vessels.

''Resurgam'' I

The first ''Resurgam'', built in 1878, was a 14 ft (5 m), hand powered, one-man vessel nicknamed "the

curate's egg A "curate's egg" is something described as partly bad and partly good. In its original usage, it referred to something that is obviously and entirely bad, but is described out of politeness as nonetheless having good features that redeem it. This ...

" due to her shape. She was a one-third size prototype for Garrett's design.

''Resurgam'' II

Construction

The second ''Resurgam'' was built by Cochran & Co. at

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liv ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, and launched on 26 November 1879. Her construction was of iron plates fastened to iron frames, with the central section of the vessel clad with wood secured by iron straps. As built, she was long by in diameter, weighed , and had a crew of three. She was powered by a closed cycle steam engine originally patented in 1872 by the American engineer Emile Lamm which provided enough steam to turn the single propeller for up to four hours. She was designed to have positive buoyancy, and diving was controlled by a pair of hydroplanes amidships. At the time she cost £1,538. After successful trials in the

East Float The Great Float is a body of water on the Wirral Peninsula, England, formed from the natural tidal inlet, the Wallasey Pool. It is split into two large docks, East Float and West Float, both part of the Birkenhead Docks complex. The docks r ...

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirra ...

, it was planned that ''Resurgam'' should make her way under her own power from Birkenhead to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

for a demonstration to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

Loss

On 10 December 1879 ''Resurgam'', crewed by Garret, Jackson (as skipper) and Price (engineer) set out for Portsmouth. However, during the voyage mechanical problems caused the crew to dock at Foryd Harbour,

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the historic boundaries of Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd ( Welsh: ''Afon Clwyd''). To the we ...

, for repairs. Once completed, and after trials, the crew set sail on the night of 24 February 1880 in a high wind, towed by the steam yacht ''Elphin'', which Garrett had bought to act as a tender. The ''Elphin'' developed engine problems and the ''Resurgam's'' crew transferred to her to assist. Because the entry hatch on the ''Resurgam'' could not be fastened from outside, the submarine began to ship water and the tow-rope broke under the added weight, the ''Resurgam'' sinking in Liverpool Bay off Rhyl on 25 February 1880.

Discovery of wreck

For many years the exact location of ''Resurgam'' was a mystery. In 1995, she was found by an experienced wreck diver, Keith Hurley, while he was attempting to clear snagged fishing nets in of water. On 4 July 1996 ''Resurgam'' was designated protected wreck No. 42 under the Protection of Wrecks Act. The site of the wreck covers an area in radius at . The ''Resurgam's'' hull is intact although partially damaged and remains at risk from illegal diving and trawling. Since her discovery, the conning tower steering wheel has been broken and portable items have gone missing. In 1997, a project called SUBMAP was undertaken by the Archaeological Diving Unit to study the wreck site. Over one hundred volunteer divers, coordinated by the Nautical Archaeology Society, surveyed the structure of the hull and the colonising marine life around it by using remote sensing equipment to search for debris in the surrounding area. The results of the SUBMAP project have been published as a comprehensive digital archive using

Site Recorder Site Recorder is a geographical information system (GIS) and information management system (IMS) designed for use in maritime, freshwater and intertidal archaeology. Site Recorder can be used on maritime and intertidal archaeology projects for re ...

. The wreck is currently protected against further corrosion by

sacrificial anode A galvanic anode, or sacrificial anode, is the main component of a galvanic cathodic protection system used to protect buried or submerged metal structures from corrosion. They are made from a metal alloy with a more "active" voltage (more n ...

s that had been attached to the hull. Plans to raise her have so far not been fruitful. ''Resurgam'' was featured in the TV programme ''

Wreck Detectives Wreck Detectives is the title of two TV documentary series from UK Channel 4 aired in 2003 and 2004 presented by Jeremy Seal, Miranda Krestovnikoff and David Manley. Series 1 - 2003 #Alum Bay wreck, Alum Bay # Earl of Abergavenny, Weymouth B ...

'' in 2004. In 2007 divers from the

British Sub-Aqua Club The British Sub-Aqua Club or BSAC has been recognised since 1954 by UK Sport as the national governing body of recreational diving in the United Kingdom. The club was founded in 1953 and at its peak in the mid-1990s had over 50,000 members d ...

Trafford Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, with an estimated population of 235,493 in 2017. It covers Retrieved on 13 December 2007. and includes the area of Old Trafford and the towns of Altrincham, Stretford, Ur ...

undertook conservation work, placing zinc sacrificial anodes on the wreck. See also: In 2012 divers from the British Sub-Aqua Club in Chester also replaced sacrificial anodes on the wreck.

Replica

A replica of the vessel was built by trainees at the AMARC Training College attached to the

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

shipyard, Birkenhead, in 1996-97. She was put on display at

Woodside Woodside may refer to: Places and buildings Australia * Woodside, South Australia, a town * Woodside, Victoria, a town Canada * Woodside National Historic Site, the boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King *Woodside, Nova Scotia, a neighbo ...

Ferry Terminal, Birkenhead, in March 1997. After falling into disrepair the replica was refurbished by students of the North West Maritime and Engineering College in 2009.

Notes

References

''The Father of the Submarine'', Scanlan Murphy W., 1987, William Kimber & Co Ltd,
Divernet article about discovering the submarine
Retrieved 20 November 2006 * Fenwick, Valerie and Gale, Alison (1998), pp 143–144, ''Historic Shipwrecks, Discovered, Protected and Investigated'', Tempus Publishing Limited, .

Office of Public Sector Information. Retrieved 19 October 2006
Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Annual Report 2005
Retrieved 6 October 2006

Retrieved 12 October 2007

Retrieved 4 September 2009 * Compton-Hall R. (1999), pp 81–94, ''The Submarine Pioneers'', Sutton Publishing Ltd, * * Scanlan Murphy W. (1987), pp 62–83, ''The Father of the Submarine'', William Kimber & Co Ltd, * Bowers P. (1999), pp89–129, ''The Garrett Enigma'', Airlife Publishing Ltd., * Ivor Wynne Jones, ''Shipwrecks of North Wales'' 5th Ed (2007)
BBC article about ''Resurgam''

External links

{{1880 shipwrecks English inventions Shipwrecks in the Irish Sea Submarines Ships built on the River Mersey Protected Wrecks of Wales 19th-century submarines Maritime incidents in February 1880 1880 in Wales Abandoned military projects of the United Kingdom Archaeology of shipwrecks