Infinitesimal Impossibilities 01: The American Turtle

Summary: As History Impossible reaches its two year mark and the episodes get longer and longer, I figured that now was the time to do something different, namely to add a new show to the History Impossible family, as I've been calling it: Infinitesimal Impossibilities. These are stories that are simply too small--bite-sized, if you will--in comparison to the epic stories that have come to characterize History Impossible and to help me out with this, I've brought on my amazing Pop Quiz co-host (and victim) Molly Pan to help keep us on course.   And speaking of staying on course, this first Infinitesimal Impossibility is indeed about a device that had a lot of a trouble staying on course without an amazing pilot behind it (and an ingenious design for its time). That would be the American Turtle, the first combat submarine ever deployed in the world. What makes this story so seemingly impossible has everything to do with when this device operated, namely in the lack of appropriate technology and the insane ingenuity and clever know-how by its creator, David Bushnell.   So sit back and enjoy this first of hopefully many installments of Infinitesimal Impossibilities. As always, many thanks to Molly Pan for the artwork AND co-hosting duties.   <p>History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon and PayPal:</p> <ul> <li>Elias Borota</li> <li>Matthew Dakus</li> <li>Gavin Edwards</li> <li>Peter Hauck</li> <li>Devin Hreha</li> <li>Mike Kalnins</li> <li>Benjamin Lee</li> <li>Tyler Livingston </li> <li>Jose Martinez</li> <li>Mike Mayleben</li> <li>Judy McCoid</li> <li>Kostas Moros</li> <li>Molly Pan</li> <li>Jake Petersen</li> <li>John Pisano</li> <li>Edmund Plamowski</li> <li>Brian Pritzl</li> <li>PJ Rader</li> <li>Mark Reed</li> <li>Sam</li> <li>Emily Schmidt</li> <li>Ricky Worthey</li> <li>Steve Uhler</li> </ul>