The Ictíneo was the first submarine in the world powered by a steam engine. Its creator, Narciso Monturiol, being a pioneer in underwater navigation, invented it between 1858 and 1859. The purpose for which it was built was to facilitate coral fishing. Monturiol really empathized with the difficulties faced by coral fishermen.
The name of the vessel comes from the combination of two Greek words, ichtus meaning fish and naus meaning boat. This combined makes ‘fish boat’. This is the reason for its shape. It has a propeller on its tail, fins to direct it and swim bladders and ballasts that help maintain the balance once submerged. To avoid consuming all the oxygen while submerged, a combination of potassium chlorate, zinc and manganese dioxide was used, which produced enough heat to boil the engine water.
This submersible measured 7 m in length – 2.5 m in width and 3.5 in length. It could submerge itself up to two hours at a depth of 20 meters. Also, it was built with olive wood, though it had a layer of two millimeters of copper that covered it along with oak wood reinforcements. The inventor said that the success of his invention was due to the engineering he applied and no doubt to the most vital material he used – olive wood.
The inventor was a big fan of EVOO and even developed the manufacturing of soap made with olive oil. Also, he created a fodder for rabbits based with wood, reusing some of the subproducts of the process and of the crops.
In honor of this invention, which undoubtedly revolutionized naval engineering, there is a replica of the Ictíneo made with olive wood in the old port of Barcelona.