SH Archive 1892: Patrick Cunningham and his Torpedo

KD Archive · Apr 26, 2021

Meet Patrick Cunningham, a shoemaker turned weapons engineer. He was an inventor from the late 19th century known for inventing a torpedo which he fired down a high street during the 1896 presidential elections.

Patrick Cunnigham

1844 - 1921

Patrick Cunningham was an Irish shoemaker who immigrated to New Bedford, Massachusetts from Dundalk at the age of nine. He trained with his father to become a cobbler, but joined the Union Navy during the American Civil War where he learnt about, and became interested in, engineering and explosives.

During his brief stint in the Navy, Cunningham developed an interest in engineering and explosives.
In June 1865 he jumped off the USS North Caroline and deserted the Navy.
The charge of desertion was later removed from his service records in 1892.

After a dozen years rambling around America he finally settled in New Bedford where he set up a shoemaking business and became friends with a fellow cobbler, Irish American Bernard Cogan. Apart from shoes, the two also shared a passion for engineering explosives and developing weapons.

The Torpedo

In 1892 Cunningham built a 17 foot long torpedo capable of carrying 125 pounds of explosive; ownership of the explosive went to the company of which he was president. The torpedo did not have propellers or screws as was typical for torpedoes, but instead had spirals around its body, in order to make it spin similar to that of a bullet fired from a rifle. It was tested at the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station in July 1893, and found to be unsuitable for use due to its short range and poor trajectory.

Patrick Cunningham in his whaling yard in New Bedford

On October 31 1896, towards the end of the presidential election, Cunningham fired the torpedo down New Bedford's high street during a rally for the Republican candidate. The torpedo traveled haphazardly down the street before crashing into a shop which collapsed before the explosive detonated, causing massive structural damage to the surrounding buildings.

Though no-one was killed multiple people were injured in the blast.
Cunningham was arrested and charged with maliciously destroying a building.

Cunningham went on to build more torpedoes, and in 1898 tested two of them by firing them from a schooner he had purchased. The first fired correctly but the second exploded inside the ship and caused it to immediately sink; no one was hurt.

Sources:

KD: Well, there it is then. Who needs education? All you need is passion. I like the contrast in the above image: tech vs environment. Is this where he found this torpedo, in his backyard?

I am not even sure that this projectile was actually a torpedo. It appears to consist of 4 screw-in parts.

This entire story is as bizarre as one can expect on this forum. The guy who torpedoes and whaling guns has no photograph, though he died in 1921. The one at the top cannot be really considered a photo of this guy. That "torpedo" image cannot be really considered as this guys picture.

So... who was this Patrick Cunningham?

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anotherlayer · Apr 26, 2021

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: anotherlayer
Date: 2019-11-15 02:14:04
Reaction Score: 1

This was the best thing I've read all day:

"shared a passion for engineering explosives and developing weapons.". Well, then f**k the both of them for having a passion for developing weapons.

And this is where it really cracks me up. This guy was not an inventor, he was an idiot who learned how to attach explosives to the end of a tube of sheet metal and shoot it down a street. Nothing this guy did was an invention:

- He built more torpedoes... He eventually bought a Schooner called "Freeman" and outfitted it with torpedoes. On his test run the first fired but ended up 40 feet away and stuck in the mud in the bottom of buzzards bay.
- The second exploded destroying the bottom of the "Freeman" and sinking it. No person was hurt but of course he lost the schooner and what ever else of value was aboard.

This is the guy in 1st grade who tried to convince you his red crayon was actually a small chunk of TNT. Funny note though, I come from Cunningham blood (my father's mom).

Here is his patent for a Combined Carrying-Boxes and Firing-Chutes for Rockets. He built a box, put some hinges on it and a lid. What a brilliant man.

Oh wait, one more:

- Apparently under the influence of alcohol, he got it out of his building and sat on it to ride it down the street and using a roll of newspaper, he tried to ignite it. His son pulled him off of it, so he managed to ignite it with matches.

It's official. He was an idiot. He managed to ignite with matches. What a brilliant man. Where is his statue located in New Bedford? Road trip?