Pistole aus Brandtaucher & Beigabe

Brandtaucher. muzzle loading pocket pistol with percussion lock. Around 1850, recovered from the 'Brandtaucher' in Kiel harbor in 1887. Length 16.5 cm, barrel length 6.5 cm, inside diameter of barrel 1 cm - Underhammer pistol with piston screwed into the barrel - The inventor and artillery sergeant Wilhelm Bauer (1822-1875) developed the first German submarine, the 'Brandtaucher' or 'Eiserner Seehund', around 1850. In 1851, he undertook the first underwater voyage in naval history in Kiel harbor. On the third dive attempt, the boat was damaged by the water pressure and sank. Bauer and the other submariners managed to save themselves. When the boat was salvaged in 1887, the pistol on board came into the possession of the then shipyard director Schwarzlose. Enclosed are two newspaper articles from the Kieler Nachrichten from 1960 and 1967 as well as the book 'Der eiserne Seehund' by H.A. Thies, each with handwritten notes from the Schwarzlose family ('The pistol comes from this first submarine!') - Today the fire diver is in the Military History Museum of the German Armed Forces in Dresden - Rusty, the firing cock therefore hardly movable, the engraved decoration heavily scraped - See also the lot 'Stammbuch Franzius' from our auction.