Narcís Monturiol

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Narcís Monturiol in 1880
Replica of the Ictíneo II in the port of Barcelona

Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol (born September 28, 1819 in Figueres , Spain , † September 6, 1885 in Barcelona ) was a Spanish engineer and inventor.

Narcís Monturiol designed and built the Ictíneo II, the first submarine with a mechanical drive.

Although Monturiol successfully completed his law studies in Barcelona in 1845 , he never worked as a lawyer. Through his friendship with Abdó Terrades he came closer to the Republican Party of Spain and joined it. In addition, he also sympathized with the socialist ideas of Étienne Cabet . He supported the Catalan independence movement, which finally forced him into exile in France in 1848 .

On his return he trained as a typesetter and later published the writings La madre de familia (1846) and La Fraternidad (1847-1848), which became the first communist newspaper in Spain. During his stay in Cadaqués he could dive in their dangerous work of harvesting coral observe and so also witnessed a fatal accident, drowned as a diver there. This experience made him think about the possibilities of a "safer coral harvest" with underwater vehicles. In September 1857 he returned to Barcelona, ​​where he organized the establishment of the first Spanish trading company for research into submarines. It was called Monturiol, Font, Altadill y Cía and had an initial capital of 10,000 pesetas .

In 1858 he finally presented his idea and his project in the scientific treatise Ictíneo or the Fish Ship . The first dive of his first submarine Ictíneo I took place in September 1859 in the port of Barcelona. On October 2, 1864, the Ictíneo II made her maiden voyage .

An exhibition on Monturiol's work is in the Museu Marítim de Barcelona .

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