The Turtle

Special guests Lena and Graham from Patrol reports, sit in today to bring you the story of the Turtle... In September of 1776, New York Harbor was the stage for one of the most unusual moments in the American Revolution. The British fleet, anchored in force and confident of its dominance, faced a new kind of threat that no navy had ever encountered before. It came not from a ship bristling with cannon, but from beneath the water in a wooden contraption no larger than a barrel. This strange invention was called the Turtle, the world’s first combat submarine, designed by David Bushnell and operated by Sergeant Ezra Lee. Their mission was simple in theory but almost impossible in execution: sneak under the British flagship HMS Eagle and attach a timed explosive charge to its hull. What followed was a mixture of daring, failure, and lasting legacy. Tonight, we tell the story of the Turtle’s attack on the Eagle, a moment where desperation, courage, and invention collided in the fight for independence.