Early submarines are often associated with Jules Verne's famous book, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. However, in the American Navy submarines had been in development for nearly a century prior to Verne's writing. In fact, it was early American submarine designs that served as a guide for Verne's book. Today, we take a look at the birth of the submarine in the U.S. Navy, and we do this through the lens of the actual pay documents issued by the State of Connecticut to the designer of the first American submarine during the Revolutionary War.