Karl Flach (engineer)
Karl Flach (born August 15, 1821 in Villmar as Johann Anton Flach; † May 3, 1866 in the Bay of Valparaíso ) was a mechanic and engineer of German origin.
Life
He was born as the son of the watchmaker Heinrich Flach and his wife Margaretha, b. Otto was born in Hessen and learned the mechanic trade. In the course of his professional training and professional practice, Flach came to Hamburg , where he married Johanna Luise Henriette Müller in 1851.
Flach travels with his wife and son Heinrich (Enrique) on the sailing ship Australia on April 3, 1852 from Hamburg to Chile , where he calls himself Karl August Flach. On behalf of the Chilean government, he designed and built the first Chilean submarine , which was also the second submarine in South America and the fifth submarine worldwide to complete a successful dive.
In 1865/1866 Karl Flach designed and built the Flach as a submarine powered by muscle power and pedals. It was equipped with two cannons and had a viewing window. The boat was 12.5 m long and 2.5 m wide, and weighed about 100 tons with a water displacement of 50 tons. The crew consisted of Karl Flach, the two Chileans Adolfo Pulgar and Franzisco Rodriquez, two French and five German employees: Valentin Baum, Gustavo Maas, Augusto Wermuth, German Schmidt and Luis Grinewinkel. The submarine was commissioned because the Chilean government under José Joaquín Pérez wanted to oppose the Spanish in the Spanish-South American War after they besieged Valparaiso. The submarine - with Karl Flach as its captain - carried out several successful test and diving trips. On May 3, 1866, the boat left for another - unannounced - dive trip. There must have been problems. The submarine Flach sank with its crew of eleven, which also included Flach and his son Enrique, in the Bay of Valparaíso. Rescue attempts were unsuccessful. In 2007 the wreck of the submarine was allegedly located.
literature
- George Joseph Kleiser: German submarine builder in Chile 1866. Toronto 1999 (there further references).
- Bernhard Hemmerle: Johann Anton (alias Karl August ) Flach. A German submarine builder in Chile. In: 2015 yearbook of the Limburg-Weilburg district, Limburg 2014.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Flat, Karl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-born engineer in Chile |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 15, 1821 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Villmar |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 3, 1866 |
| Place of death | Valparaíso Bay |