The unluckiest vessel of the era was surely the submarine A1. Some of the things that happened in her have served as a warning to all submariners from that day to this. Before delivery, A1 suffered the first explosion in a submarine - this was due to a pocket of hydrogen gas.
On another occasion, when on passage off Land's End the engines became unreliable and she was taken under tow. A1 rolled in the heavy seas and seawater entered the batteries, filling the submarine with choking chlorine gas and prompting the crew to abandon ship.. When she was eventually delivered to Portsmouth, A1 was berthed in the northern and remote part of the harbour so that this 'dangerous craft' could do as little
