The story of the Nautilus, the Arctic submarine that visited Ireland

The Nautilus was a Polar submarine that made an unexpected visit to Cork in southern Ireland in June 1931. I have just written an Irishman's Diary about it in The Irish Times newspaper. Read it here. 

Photograph of the Nautilus in the Arctic. Image source.

The 1931 expedition to take a submarine under the pack-ice of the North Pole and carry out meteorological experiments in the world's last remaining uncharted territory was led by Sir George Hubert Wilkins (1888-1958). 

This Australian-born man was a very interesting individual who achieved many 'firsts' during his lifetime, including becoming the first person to capture battle scenes on a movie camera in the Balkan War of 1912 and the first person to fly over Antarctica. He would later be referred to by some as the "Australian Indiana Jones". After he died in 1958 his ashes were scattered on the North Pole by a US Navy submarine. 

The Ohio State University library has a collection of photographs and original documents from the expedition. Check out their website to see digitised photos of the crew and what living conditions were like onboard the submarine.

Video of Wilkins describing the Polar expedition that he was about to undertake. Video source.

News clip of the Nautilus in Cork, June 1931. Video source.

In this news clip from British Pathé, you can see Wilkins and some of the crew on the deck of the Nautilus when it arrived in Cork city on June 22nd 1931. You can also see some of the curious locals who turned up on the quayside to get a glimpse of this unusual visitor to an Irish harbour.