BIO: John HOLLAND was born in Liscannor, Co. Clare in 1840/41 and became a schoolteacher. As his father, John Sr., was a member of the British Coastguard Service, he and his wife, Mary SCANLON, were entitled to live in a cottage provided by the government. It was there that the couple raised their four boys during one of the most lethal periods in Irish history. Famine and disease swept the country, and the Hollands watched in horror as neighbors and friends were evicted from their homes if unable to pay their rent. Tragedy eventually struck the Hollands when their two-year-old son, Robert, died of cholera in 1847. John Holland Jr.'s birth to an Irish-speaking mother on the west coast of Ireland meant that he did not learn English until he entered school. He longed to take to the sea like his father before him, but poor eyesight made that dream all but impossible. "No one would trust me even to row a two-oared boat, much less navigate a ship, " Holland once said. I! n his spare time he became a student of submarine technology. He joined the Christian Brothers, taking his first set of vows in 1858. As a teacher, he shared his love of science with his students, but in 1860 he was forced to give up his duties as a result of poor health. The damp Irish climate had wrought havoc on his his physical well-being and he spent nearly two years in convalescence. It was during thi time that he read a newspaper article (1862 story in the "Cork Examiner" ) which told of the encounter between the "Monitor" and the "Merrimack," the two famed ironclad vessels of the American Civil War. Holland was fascinated by the ships' design and became convinced that iron warships would one day replace their wooden predecessors. Various "submersibles" could only operate underwent for brief lengths of time, and although few prototypes had been constructed by men like Robert FULTON , no one had ever built a workable submarine. Holland studied everything known a! bout earlier models and began to design his own. In 1873, Holland withdrew from the Christian Brothers and emigrated to Boston. He arrived in America and settled in Paterson, NJ, where he continued to teach and refine his submarine design. But with no funding available, Holland could only dream of seeing his plans take form. Although his move to the U. S. was motivated by health concerns, there was another factor at work. "I had never taken part in any political agitation," Holland recalled later in life, "but my sympathies were with my own country, and I had no mind to do anything that would make John Bull any stronger and more domineering than we had already found him." In 1874, Holland started teaching at St. John's Parochial School in Paterson, New Jersey. Soon after he showed his submarine ideas to the U. S. Navy and was met with the first of many rejections. Undeterred, Holland often stayed at school long after the final bell, working out his designs on the blackboard. Falling in with the Fenians (a band of m! en fighting for a free Ireland from a power base in America) his fortunes changed dramatically in 1879, when he sought out John DEVOY and proposed to build a submarine for the Clan that would be capable of sinking British ships at will. Devoy invested $23,000 in the project and in 1881 Holland's 60-foot ship conducted its first successful test runs in New York City's East River. Holland married Margaret FOLEY, an Irish-American from Paterson, who was at least 18 years younger than her husband. They had seven children, two of whom died in infancy. In the end, the "Fenian Ram," as it was called, never saw action in the cause for Irish freedom. Apparently while putting new ideas and theories to work, and fearful that the "Ram" might be confiscated as part of a pending lawsuit, John BRESLIN decided to "steal" the "Ram." Approaching it by tugboat late one night in November 1883, Breslin and his men presented the night watchman with a forged note that authorized a transfer. Having deceived the guard, they towed both the "Ram" and its smaller counterpart away from their berth. Because they did not properly seal the smaller craft's hatch, it broke free and sank as they approached Long Island Sound. Although they succeeded in transporting the larger prototype to New Haven, the Fenians soon found that she was uncooperative without her creator at the controls. Today she resides in the Paterson Museum along with the "Holland I." J John HOLLAND, briefly associated with the Nautilus Submarine Boat Co. & John P. Holland Torpedo Boat Co, eventually produced a highly successful submarine which he sold to the U. S. Navy and several other countries and is generally considered to be the father of the modern submarine. At the end of his life Holland sought to turn his creativity to finding more peaceful uses for submarines, including as a ride at seaside amusement parks and as a transport across the English Channel, but neither idea saw the light of day. Embittered by what he felt was a lack of respect afforded his ideas and battling rheumatism and poor eyesight, Holland gradually slipped out of public life. He did, however, become active in community events around his Newark, NJ home, teaching Sunday school and becoming a director in a local drama society. Showing his Irish loyalty even in his final days, he joined the American Irish Historical Society of NYC. Advancing years, a lifetime of hard work and! repeated frustrations eventually caught up with him and he fell ill with pneumonia. The inventor from Co. Clare died in August of 1914 at the age of 73. Although some of his dreams did not become a reality, he can certainly be regarded as a man ahead of his time. When others had insisted upon submerging their submarines with an even keel, Holland had argued for vessels that dove like porpoises with a sleek, simpler design. Holland once commented that "The Navy does not like submarines because there's no deck to strut on."