You will not be surprised to know that, being the person who invented the wheel, the umbrella and the anemometer, I was pleased to find in the depths of my ever expanding cuttings collection, the following long lost item relating to China`s early submarine:
SUBMARINES – Wang Kia , a Taoist priest of China (4th century A.D. .) in his `Shi-i-ki`, lib. Iv., when referring to the reign of Shi – Hwang-ti of the Ts`in dynasty (221-210 B.C) , says:-
“The people of Yuen-ku arrived in China after making the voyage in the lo-chau [lit., “ spiral-shell boat”], which was shaped like a spiral shell, and capable of being conducted near the bottom of the deep without incurring the intrusion of any water. Its other name was lun-po-chau [lit ., “ under-wave boat”]. The men of that country had the stature of ten feet, and clad themselves with the knitted hairs of birds and beasts. Questioned by the emperor as to the beginnings of the heavens and earth, they answered as if they had ocularly witnessed it.
Obviously, this idea of the spiral shell boat was the outcome of the observation of the submarine movement of such a shellfish as the nautilus or Argonaut. KUMAGUSU MINAKATA (1)
1. Notes and Queries 12 S. V. May 1919 p. 131
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