Attack of the Turtle

Attack of the Turtle, by Drew Carlson
 
14-year-old Nathan Wade fears two things: a local bully and (despite being a fisherman's son) water. When his father enlists in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, Nathan goes to stay with relatives in Saybrook, CT. His cousin, David Bushnell, invents a submarine to be used against the British and asks Nathan to help him journey to New York to deliver the Turtle--a submarine designed to attach bombs to the British ships in New York harbor. There Nate tests his courage under fire and even underwater. Novel is based on actual events: although Nate's story is fictionalized, Bushnell did invent and construct the Turtle, the first submarine to be used in warfare.
-Deirdre