ISSAC PERAL

01.- The person who I am going to speak is Isaac Peral y Caballero. He was an engineer and
sailor, and he designed the Peral Submarine.
02.- He was born in Cartagena, on June, 1851. In this city he spent the first years of his life.
His family went to live in Cadiz, where he was trained like marine, and he took part in many
military actions around the world.
03.- Isaac Peral is often considered the inventor of the submarine. This is not because he
was the first submarine, this was because he was the first to be electrically powered. The
submarine was built in Cadiz, in 1889, where he did all the tests.
04.- This project was rejected by naval authorities after successful tests. Political reasons
were the cause. Or maybe it was sabotage by Basil Zaharoff, an arms dealer who corrupted
politicians of the time.
05.- Frustrated, retired from naval active duty in 1891. He founded a private electric
company in Madrid, where he patented various electrical inventions like a machine gun.
06.- After a medical intervention to cure the celebral tumor he had been suffering from for
some years, he contracted meningitis, and he died in Belin in 1895. He was burried in
Madrid, and then he was moved to Cartagena.
07.- The submarine remained in Cadiz until 1929, when it recovered the hull and was sent it
to Cartagena, where it was positioned in front of the Submarine base. In 1965 it became a
monument.
08.- When it returned from Sevilla World fair, the submarine was transferred to a new
location, next to Arqua museum.
09.- Inside it was very run down, and it was been restored to their original colour as part of
the celebrations to mark the 125 th anniversary of its launch. My dad was working in that
restore.
10.- Prince Felipe officiated the opening of an exhibition room on the life and works of
Isaac Peral in Naval Museum. In this new location the Peral Submarine is visited by many
people. My brothers are visiting the museum with their school today.