George Garrett (inventor)

George William Littler Garrett (4 July 1852 – 26 February 1902) was a British clergyman and inventor who pioneered submarine design.

He was appointed assistant master at the Manchester Mechanics' Institute and subsequently obtained a BA degree.

The Resurgam was built by Cochran and Co in Birkenhead, Merseyside,[1] It was not very practical - the boiler full of superheated water made conditions inside the submarine very hot indeed, and in common with many early submarine inventors he had not overcome the problems of longitudinal stability.

Nevertheless, although the submarine was lost whilst under tow in 1880 near Rhyl on its way to trials in Portsmouth for the Royal Navy,[2] it impressed the Swedish industrialist Thorsten Nordenfelt sufficiently to finance him.

A further submarine was built for Russia but ran aground off Jutland on the way there and the Russians refused to pay for it.