This article is from page 20 of the 2006-04-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
LISCANNOR looks set to be twinned with the town of Paterson in New Jersey, to commemorate the invention of the submarine by local man John Holland 125 years ago, this year.
An open invitation has also been extended by the Mayor of Paterson, José Torres, to the people of Liscannor, to join in the celebration of the invention in New Jersey on May 1.
Holland was born in Liscannor on February 24, 1841, but later moved to the small New Jersey town, where he set up a naval company and won the contract to build the world’s first working submarine, ‘the Fenian Ram’ in 1881.
A public meeting was held in Liscannor last week to discuss the possibility of setting up a twinning agreement with the American town.
After attending St Macreehy’s National School in Liscannor, Holland spent some time in the Christian Brothers School in Ennistymon. He moved to Limerick, following the death of his father when he was 17years-old.
His father was in the coastguard and, as a young man, Holland expressed an interest in following him in this career. His eyesight was not of the required quality however, and he instead joined the Christian Brothers.
While in training to enter the Brothers he came into contact with a science teacher named Brother Dominic Burke, who encouraged him in his designs for a submarine.
Just before his final ordination into the Christian Brothers in 1873, he decided to leave the order and join his mother and his two brothers in Boston.
After working for a brief time in an engineering firm, he took up a teaching position at St John’s Catholic School in Paterson, New Jersey.
His original attempt to attract the US Navy to invest in his design were rejected, but following help from his brother Michael and funding from the Fenian movement, he constructed the 14-foot prototype, the Holland No 1, in 1877.
Using further money invested by the Fenians, Holland built the Fenian Ram in Delamater Iron Works in 1881.
He later set up the John Holland Torpedo Boat Company, which won the contract to build the first submarines for the American Navy in 1896.