Narcís Monturiol

Narcís Monturiol was born in Barcelona in 1819. He spent part of his life at Cadaqués, where he saw how hard the coral collectors worked, and the accidents and illnesses the divers suffered as a result of their work. It was this that gave him the idea of designing and building some sort of contraption that would make their work easier and increase their productivity. He returned to Barcelona, mulling over this idea of building an underwater vessel that would help people collect coral and pearls, but which could also carry out other underwater tasks, such as salvaging ships, recovering treasure and exploring the sea bottom. The result of his idea was the Ictineo (or Fish-Vessel). Several men helped him to build this submarine, including Josep Missé (the ship’s carpenter for the first Ictíneo), Joan Monjo (technical manager for the construction of the second submarine and designer of the general plans) and Dàmas Calvet (the engineer who helped to solve all the problems regarding the chemical reactions required to propel the underwater vessel). In 1858 work began on the initial prototype – the first Ictineo – at the Nuevo Vulcano workshop in Barceloneta.

Monturiol made two great contributions to the development of the submarine – the double hull system, which Labeuf used for his Narval in 1899, and his air renewal system, a totally new technique which, in addition to producing oxygen, eliminated carbon dioxide.