http://industriamechanika.com/blog/category/genres/submersibles/

Japanese mini-sub converted to houseboat.

The Ictíneo II, more than twice the length of the Ictíneo I, was launched between 1864 (with human power) and 1867 (with steam power). It became the first combustion engine driven submarine in the world.

The thinking at the time was that it was almost impossible to run a steam engine underwater because it would use up all the oxygen and convert the inside of the ship into an oven. To overcome this, Monturiol invented a chemical furnace based on a reaction between potassium chlorate, zinc and manganese dioxide - a process that produced enough heat to boil water to run the steam engine. To complement this ingenuity, the reaction gave off oxygen as a by-product.

The Ictíneo II was equipped with arms to retrieve objects from the sea floor. According to other sources, Monturiol regarded the submarine as a tool for exploring the underworld of the deep sea and as a passenger transportation device.

When his search for independant funding proved unsuccessful, Monturiol attempted to sell his invention to the military. He mounted a cannon onto the Ictíneo II in a last effort to attract investment from Madrid, but the Spanish monarchy regarded the wooden fish with apprehension and was not prepared to invest any money into it. In other countries at the time, military factions saw little potential in submarines - their use went against their understood etiquette of war in those times.

In 1868, shortly after its launch, the groundbreaking Ictíneo II was seized by the shipyard and scrapped, together with her predecessor. The reason? Monturiol could not pay the bills.

Ironically, only 30 years later, the Spanish fleet was annihilated by America in the dispute over Cuba, and with it Spain lost the final remnants of its 400 year old world empire. The Spanish vessels were infinitely inferior to their American enemy. Speculatively, an army of submarines may have been able to change the course of history.

Monturiol died in 1885, penniless and forgotten.

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/08/submarines-1.html#more

Narcís Monturiol i Estarrol’s Ictíneo (derived from the Greek words for fish and for ship) was launched in 1859 in Barcelona harbour to instant success. Monturiol, who possessed no scientific education, became a local hero. The submarine, made of olive wood supported with oak rings and sheathed in two-millimetre thick copper, measured only 23 feet (7 meters) in length and offered hardly enough space for the captain and the four man crew who powered the ship by cranking.

Despite it’s low-tech appearance, the Ictíneo was a marvel of sophisticated technology, decades ahead of its time. The vessel had a double hull - a spherical inner shell that resisted the water pressure, and an outer fish-like shell that protected the submarine and was used for steerage and hydrodynamics.

Between both hulls were four ballast tanks, controlled from within the cabin by valves letting in water or forcing in air. During driving, pitch was controlled by a weight which could be moved along a rail. This micromanagement of buoyancy allowed the Ictíneo to remain at extremely precise depths - a feat which other submarines at that time could not achieve.

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/08/submarines-1.html#more

Homebuilt Chinese submarine

There are 10 Nautili from the 20,000 Leagues ride at the Magic Kingdom (bulldozed in a crime against all humanity), and they’re now in a boneyard, although one was used at MGM studios and another is in the ocean at Disney’s Castaway Island.

http://jimhillmedia.com/columnists1/b/jeff_lange/archive/2006/01/27/1552.aspx

See also:

A great background page on the ride, including the driver’s prank where they ram two subs together to stage an accident:

http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/20K.htm

CIA two-man semisubmersible.  It has to hold two people so you can drop off and pick up spies.

Pneumatic gun!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_Ram

Fenian Ram is a submarine designed by John Philip Holland for use by the Fenian Brotherhood, American counterpart to the Irish Republican Brotherhood, against the British. The Ram’s construction and launching in 1881 by the Delamater Iron Company in New York was funded by the Fenians’ Skirmishing Fund.

Fenian Ram was armed with a nine-inch pneumatic gun some eleven feet long, mounted along the boat’s centerline and firing forward out of her bow. It operated like modern submarine torpedo tubes: a watertight bow cap was normally kept shut, allowing the six-foot-long projectiles to be loaded into the tube from the interior of the submarine. The inner door was then shut and the outer door opened by a remote mechanism. Finally, 400 psi (2.8 MPa) air was used to shoot the projectile out of the tube. To reload, the outer door was again shut and the water in the tube was blown into the surrounding ballast tank by more compressed air.

…due to funding disputes within the IRB and disagreement over payments from the IRB to Holland, the IRB stole Fenian Ram and the Holland III prototype in November 1883. They took the submarine to New Haven, Connecticut, but discovered that no one knew how to operate it. In 1927, Edward Browne purchased her and moved her to Paterson, New Jersey, where she can still be seen at the Paterson Museum.

Ente remote-controlled tracked submersible

Only known photograph of “Seetufel” tracked submarine