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"Perhaps the most important guest to dive int the Holland during the summer of 1898, at least from the standpoint of the submarine's future, was Isaac L. Rice, versatile German-born entrepeneur, law professor, founder of The Forum magazine, and an authority on chess. Some sources claim that he first descended in the boat on 4 July, but the better evidence indicates that while he may have visited the boat at dockside on that date, he did not go down in the submarine until 3 September.19 Mr. Rice held a monopoly in the storage battery business, building his first company in 1888 around the patent of Clement Payen's 'chloride accumulator.' He acquired control of the Electric launch Company (later Elco); and upon the death of the president of The Electro-Dynamic Company, the former employers of Frank T. Cable, that enterprise also came under Rice's management. The use of his storage batteries to operate the dynamos of John Holland's underwater boat introduced him to the invention. There can be little doubt of Isaac Rice's enthusiasm for his adventure on board the submarine, for when was needed to make extensive alterations in the stern structure of the Holland VI during the winter of 1898-99, he did not hesitate to put up the money for the reconstruction. later, Rice was to combine the John P. Holland Torpedo Boat Company with his own newly incorporated Electric boat Company of 100 Broadway, New York City.20"
19. A complete list of trial runs of Holland VI for 1898, and a list of all those who went down in her, was compiled by C. A. Morris in his own handwriting. Typed copies of the same were also kept, Morris Collection (Submarine Force Library, Groton, CT). 20. For an account of Rice's business ventures, see Niven, op. cit., pp. 26, 70-73, and 78. |