Ships were lost during these dark voyages, and said to have had the ships on the bottom of the sea where their wrecks could be found. It was during this, the darkest period of his life, that he discovered the principle of the lever (although he would not get credit for it until several years after that). The lever was the one indispensable tool in the construction of his submarines. When it worked perfectly, a man could walk over the vessel (the submarine) and push or pull on things. Most submarines of this time had only one propeller. Mr. Holland was the first to invent or pioneer the double-screw type. His ships also had twin screws, one forward and one aft. These helped the men steer and go forward. His vessels were often described as "fish-shaped," and, of course, they were so built for the purpose of being submersible. When his first submarine was in Lake Michigan, a few men on the shore would swim out, as near as they dared, while others would row out to the ship. The submarine would "wink" its lights for a signal to the shore, and a rope was dropped. The men on the shore climbed up and got on board. The submarine would then take them ashore to a place called Burnham Park, which was a big picnic ground that the soldiers had taken over. When the time came to unload his goods and get them to shore, he would call out to the men on the shore to put the ropes around their necks. These were ropes with a loop and noose on them. He would cut loose the ship and the submarine would sink down and turn off its lights. The men on the shore would row back to the beach and look around for the ropes they had put around their necks. The ropes, tied to buoyant bags, would come to the surface with them. The submarine, under the water, was a dark box. The men in it wore white pants and white canvas shoes. These came to the surface as bright as snow. When they came back to the shore they were often mistaken for ghosts, and it was necessary for the boys in town to explain who they were. With the first submarines Mr. Holland made several trips from Grand Haven to Chicago. These were in about ten feet of water, which is considered deep enough for the present day. It was when he was working in the canal, in the years that the canal was being built, that he put a submarine in there. They would put the submarine in the channel and move it around to see how deep it was. The first submarine in the canal was called the St. Clair. A man named Cline, who was on it, was the first person to come down through the canal from Michigan to the Mississippi River. Mr. Holland had one of the first motor cars in Grand Haven. It was made by a company called the Leland Motor Company, and had a gasoline motor. It was capable of being put in the water, in case of an emergency. The water of the canal was deep enough for the car to float. This car was used on the submarines, and also for transportation around the canal. He called it the "Bug." The "Bug," because of its shortness, was very easy to get in and out of. When submarines were invented, the men of that day had not become familiar with the concept of a boat that would take men under water and travel under water at great speed. They were afraid to put their men in it, and made them learn to swim in a diving tank before they were allowed to go under water in the submarines. But Mr. Holland did not believe in this kind of training for his crew. When men would balk about going in the submarines, he would say, "If you are going to go down in the submarines, you had better learn to swim." His submarines ran in the water on long-range electrical engines, with which he did not get along very well. But he stuck with them anyway, and made a better kind of battery than the one that he had in the first submarine, which he called "The Whitehead." He invented another model and gave it to the navy, and called it the Advance. Mr. Holland was a man of great ideas, a quick thinker and a plodder. His ideas were always well thought out. He would carry a pail with him, and every so often would dip the water from it, and would use the water to put out a fire that was burning in his laboratory. He said his laboratory was always burning for some reason or other. The men who built the submarines he designed were the ones who knew how to run them, and the crew was necessary to run them. He did not put an engine in the ship, nor did he have a steering wheel, until he made the St. Louis. He did not have a compass on the ship until the Great Lakes. He was a man who had a lot of friends, and was a good storyteller, too. In fact, one of the boys said it was a wonderful thing to see Mr. Holland tell his stories, for when you were with him, you would always have something to talk about. Most of his friends still remember him with a great deal of affection. He was so well liked in Grand Haven, that when a man of any importance came to the town, they would give him a great reception. When Mr. Holland passed away, the people were very much depressed, for he was a great favorite in the town, and his funeral was one of the greatest events that they had ever had. Source: "Biographical Sketches," The Newcomen Society of the State of New York. Grand Haven, MI: The Herald Co., 1893. 5. ### _THE HISTORY OF THE FIFTY-FIFTH REGIMENT_ Sitting on a sandy beach, the men would sit in the evening as they listened to the humming and purring of the motors that would be humming above the water of the Grand River. For this was the machine shop of the submarine builders, and the noise of this would be like the sound of a motor being turned on high. The men could look over at the boatyard as it grew larger as the weeks went by. In fact, it was their factory, and any noise would tell the men that something was happening. The men who were working here, and the men who were still busy at the Grand Rapids foundry, were soon told that they were to make a new submarine for the government. The first boats that they built here were to be sent back to the builders at Grand Rapids. Once more these boats were to be rebuilt to make the