Ezra Lee

In August 1776 he was selected by brother-in-law Brigadier General Samuel Holden Parsons,[1] also of Lyme, as one of several volunteers to learn to operate the Turtle, an early submarine invented by Saybrook, Connecticut, native David Bushnell.

When General George Washington authorized an attack on British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle, then lying in New York harbor, Lee was chosen to operate the "infernal machine".

Sergeant Lee piloted the Turtle up to the Eagle, which was moored off what is today called Governors Island, due south of Manhattan.

[citation needed] A more likely scenario is that Lee's unfamiliarity with the vessel made him unable to keep the Turtle stable enough to work the drill against the Eagle's hull.

Lee landed safely after remaining several hours in the water, and received the congratulations of Washington, who afterwards employed him on secret service.

Lee made an attempt a short time afterward with Turtle to destroy a British frigate that lay opposite the village of Bloomingdale, but was discovered and compelled to abandon the enterprise.