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Lodner Phillips was an inventor during the middle of the 19th century. What he invented was submarine technology. One of his submarines sank, unnoticed, in the Chicago River near the LaSalle Street bridge. All hands (and paws) were lost. This mini-tragedy was discovered weeks after an epic tragedy had transpired just yards away - the Eastland disaster, July 24, 1915, with a stunning death toll of approximately 845 people.
![[Amazing Photos] 19th century Foolkiller submarine pulled from Chicago River](http://www.windycitizen.com/files/imagecache/gawk/files/WebRaisingPhillipsSub04.jpg "[Amazing Photos] 19th century Foolkiller submarine pulled from Chicago River")
[Amazing Photos] 19th century Foolkiller submarine pulled from Chicago River
therebreathersite.nl - 3 weeks ago - 392 views
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Here's a little bit more on the submarine, dubbed the "Foolkiller" by the promoters that tried to make money off an exhibit on State Street. This is a very weird true Chicago story, but it's poorly documented. http://adamselzer.livejournal.com/510429.html
I first heard about this while reading a book on the Chicago River, written in the fifties, that is in the Newberry Library collection.
Great find!
Those photos are amazing.
This is far and away the most interesting link on the Citizen that I've seen so far today. Vote this up everybody!
Done. Gorgeous and creepy.
Agreed. Reminds me of Jules Verne's moon gun: http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/julongun.htm
Did you see the movie of that which was released in the fifties or sixties? "From The Earth To The Moon!" Awesome.
This story almost rates its own movie. Phillips tried to sell his knowledge to the government during the Civil War, but they weren't interested, despited the viability of many of his ideas. Imagine this sub sitting down on the bottom of the river for half a century, waiting to be found after the Eastland Disaster.
Upvoted. Can you imagine drowning in that thing? Heck, even just bouncing off the walls of the river in it. There was no visibility, right?
I think the predominant belief is that the operator asphyxiated. There was no bottled oxygen in the sub - that came later.
Phillips previously tested another sub at Michigan City, Indiana, which was the destination of the Western Electric party that was on the Eastland. The earlier sub imploded and the occupant(s) barely escaped with their lives.
How awful must it had been to be the guy that had to turn the propeller to make the thing move?
Very cool stuff.
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