Simon Lake (September 4, 1866 – June 23, 1945) was a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

American

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

and

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Occupations ...

who obtained over two hundred

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

s for advances in naval design and competed with

John Philip Holland John Philip Holland ( ga, Seán Pilib Ó hUallacháin/Ó Maolchalann) (24 February 184112 August 1914) was an Irish engineer who developed the first submarine to be formally commissioned by the US Navy, and the first Royal Navy submarine, ''H ...

to build the first

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 ...

s for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Biography

Born in

Pleasantville, New Jersey Pleasantville is a city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 20,629, which was an increase of 380 from the 2010 census count of 20,249, which reflected an increase of 1,237 ...

on September 4, 1866. Lake joined his father's foundry business after attending public schools in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Lake had a strong interest in undersea travel. He built his first submarine, '' Argonaut Junior'', in 1894 in response to an 1893 request from the US Navy for a submarine torpedo boat. In 1898 he followed up with the ''Argonaut 1'', which he sailed from Norfolk, Virginia for to Sandy Hook, New Jersey (which is actually north of Norfolk), arriving in November of 1898. As a result of lessons learned on that journey, he rebuilt it into the ''Argonaut 2''. Neither ''Argonaut'' nor Lake's following submarine, '' Protector'', built in 1901, were accepted by the Navy. ''Protector'' was the first submarine to have

diving plane Diving planes, also known as hydroplanes, are control surfaces found on a submarine which allow the vessel to pitch its bow and stern up or down to assist in the process of submerging or surfacing the boat, as well as controlling depth when subm ...

s mounted forward of the

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

and a flat keel. Four diving planes allowed ''Protector'' to maintain depth without changing

ballast tank A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water, which is used as ballast to provide hydrostatic stability for a vessel, to reduce or control buoyancy, as in a submarine, to correct trim or list ...

levels, and to dive level without a down-angle. Level diving was a feature of several subsequent Lake designs, notably the first three US G-class submarines. ''Protector'' also had a lock-out chamber for divers to leave the submarine. Lake, lacking Holland's financial backing, was unable to continue building submarines in the United States. He sold ''Protector'' to

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

in 1904 as the ''Osetr'' and spent the next seven years in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

designing submarines for the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

's ''

Kaiserliche Marine {{italic title The adjective ''kaiserlich'' means "imperial" and was used in the German-speaking countries to refer to those institutions and establishments over which the ''Kaiser'' ("emperor") had immediate personal power of control. The term wa ...

'', and the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...

( ''Osetr''- and ''Kaiman''-class submarines). He lived in

Milford, Connecticut Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between New Haven and Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the village of Devon and the borough of Woodmont. ...

from 1907 until his death in 1945. In 1912, he founded the Lake Torpedo Boat Company in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequo ...

, which built 26 submarines for the United States Navy during and after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Lake's first submarine for the U.S. Navy, , set a depth record of in November 1912. In 1922 the United States and other countries signed treaties limiting the size of their navies. This led to financial difficulties which forced the Lake Torpedo Boat Company to close in the mid-1920s. Following the company's closure, Lake continued designing maritime salvage systems including obtaining permission to partially salvage the

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lu ...

off the south Irish coast and then later a failed attempt to salvage gold from , a British frigate that sank in 1780 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

with his submarine, the ''Explorer''. Lake redesigned the former as the Arctic exploration submarine ''Nautilus'', used by Sir

Hubert Wilkins Sir George Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar (31 October 188830 November 1958), commonly referred to as Captain Wilkins, was an Australian polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer. He was awarded the Military Cross afte ...

in a 1931 expedition. He also advised the United States Navy on submarine technology and maritime salvage during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Lake was a member,

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

of Monmouth Lodge No. 172 in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. He later affiliated with Ansantawae Lodge No. 89 in Milford, Connecticut. He died on June 23, 1945.

Legacy

Simon Lake 1919 invention for ocean salvage

By his death, Lake had witnessed the submarine's arrival as a front-line weapon in the US Navy. The US Navy built a class of two

submarine tender A submarine tender is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and ...

s named in his honor, the ''Simon Lake'' class; was in service between 1964 and 1999. In 1989 Simon Lake was inducted into the Toms River (New Jersey) Schools' Hall of Fame. A Milford, Connecticut grammar school named in his honor closed in June 2010. Lakes bay in West Atlantic City, New Jersey is where he tested prototypes. An Atlantic Highlands, NJ street, Simon Lake Drive, at the marina was named in his honor.Atlantic Highlands By Randall Gabrielan

References

Bibliography

* * John J. Poluhowich, ''Argonaut: The Submarine Legacy of Simon Lake''. Texas A&M University Press, November 1999,

External links

"Submarine - The Autobiography of Simon Lake"
pdf file
"Lusitania Treasures To Be Raised"
''Popular Mechanics'', February 1932
"Pumping Cargo From Sunken Ships - Submarine Builder Designs Unique Vessel For Bulk Salvage Work"
''Popular Science'', December 1934
"Baby Submarine On Wheels To Seek Treasure"
''Popular Mechanics'' March 1933
"Hard-Boil for Treasure" ''Popular Mechanics'', November 1930, pp 770-774

Simon Lake Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lake, Simon 1866 births 1945 deaths American engineers American inventors People from Pleasantville, New Jersey Submarine pioneers Engineers from New Jersey