Cork event hails Irish inventor of submarine

A CO CLARE man who developed the first submarine to be formally commissioned by the US Navy was a genius in many fields who would have developed a flying machine only for a deterioration in his health, a conference heard over the weekend.

John Philip Holland was born in February 1841 in Liscannor, Co Clare.

After teaching in a number of schools in Ireland, including the North Monastery School in Cork, he emigrated with his family to America in 1872, where he began working on his submarine design.