Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

Discovery

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

Discovery: Science Stories: Series 1 - Cornelis Drebbel

Magazines & Reviews

Cornelis Drebbel

15/02/2016 GMT

Science Stories: Series 1 - Cornelis Drebbel

BBC World Service - Discovery, Science Stories: Series 1 - Cornelis DrebbelSearch BBC

The magical world of Cornelis Drebbel, inventor of the first submarine in 1621

Philip Ball on the world's first submarine, invented by Cornelis Drebbel in 1621. How did the crew breathe underwater 150 years before oxygen is discovered?

Philip Ball dives into the magical world of Cornelis Drebbel , inventor of the world's first submarine in 1621. 

How did the crew of this remarkable vessel manage to breathe underwater, completely cut off from the surface, 150 years before oxygen was officially discovered? 

King James I of England and thousands of his subjects lined the banks of the River Thames in London to watch the first demonstration. The strangest boat they had ever seen sank beneath the waves and stayed there for three hours. 

Did Drebbel know how to make oxygen? Historian Andrew Szydlow reveals that Drebbel did have secret knowledge of how to keep the air fresh.

In his day, Drebbel was a pioneer of exploring uninhabitable places. Today's equivalent is to make oxygen on the Moon and as scientists grapple with this ultimate challenge, Monica Grady explains their work is being used under the waves where Drebbel began.

Image: Early Submarine, A design for a wooden submarine from around 1650. It would surface and submerge with the inflation and deflation of rows of goatskin airbags attached to the floor of the vessel. (Photo by Henry Guttmann/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Discovery

Science Stories: Series 1 - Cornelis Drebbel

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service