This is not a flying saucer. It is the actual "Fenian Ram" battery-powered submarine armed in 1881 with an eleven-ft. long 230mm (nine-inch) gun pneumatically firing six-ft. long steel shells filled with dynamite through the prow of the ship. The gun was mounted along the vessel's centerline. The design was rejected by the U.S. Navy but Irish revolutionaries decided to fund its construction so they could attack the British (the inventor, John Philip Holland, was an Irish immigrant). The Irish couldn't pay the bill so they stole the ship and moved it to New Haven, Connecticut. They discovered nobody knew how to operate it, and Holland refused to help them. To make a long story short, the ship was eventually purchased by Edward Browne and moved to a park in Paterson, N.J., where I found it on a concrete pedestal, surrounded by an iron fence. I was commissioned to photograph it for an article I was writing for Exide Power Systems on submarine battery history. Later it was moved indoors and is now exhibited at the Paterson Museum.

For our resident marine expert, RR, here are the Fenian Ram's vital statistics: displacement: 19 long tons; length: 30 ft, 10 in,; beam: 5 ft. 11 in.; height: 5 ft., 11 in.; storage battery-charger propulsion: 15-HP (11 KW) Brayton piston engine, single screw. A crew of three included the operator, an engineer, and the gunner. It was never used in combat but made numerous test dives and fired the gun. The ship was built by the DeLamater Iron Works, NYC. An earlier version, the Holland I, was rejected by the Navy, and was scuttled by Holland. Jim, I hope this report passes muster.

This is not a flying saucer. It is the actual "Fenian Ram" battery-powered submarine armed in 1881 with an eleven-ft. long 230mm (nine-inch) gun pneumatically firing six-ft. long steel shells filled with dynamite through the prow of the ship. The gun was mounted along the vessel's centerline. The design was rejected by the U.S. Navy but Irish revolutionaries decided to fund its construction so they could attack the British (the inventor, John Philip Holland, was an Irish immigrant). The Irish couldn't pay the bill so they stole the ship and moved it to New Haven, Connecticut. They discovered nobody knew how to operate it, and Holland refused to help them. To make a long story short, the ship was eventually purchased by Edward Browne and moved to a park in Paterson, N.J., where I found it on a concrete pedestal, surrounded by an iron fence. I was commissioned to photograph it for an article I was writing for Exide Power Systems on submarine battery history. Later it was moved indoors and is now exhibited at the Paterson Museum.

For our resident marine expert, RR, here are the Fenian Ram's vital statistics: displacement: 19 long tons; length: 30 ft, 10 in,; beam: 5 ft. 11 in.; height: 5 ft., 11 in.; storage battery-charger propulsion: 15-HP (11 KW) Brayton piston engine, single screw. A crew of three included the operator, an engineer, and the gunner. It was never used in combat but made numerous test dives and fired the gun. The ship was built by the DeLamater Iron Works, NYC. An earlier version, the Holland I, was rejected by the Navy, and was scuttled by Holland. Jim, I hope this report passes muster.