Isaac Peral

Isaac Peral y Caballero (Cartagena, 1 June 1851 – 22 May 1895, Berlin), was a Spanish engineer, naval officer and designer of the Peral Submarine. He joined the Spanish navy in 1866, and developed the first electric-powered submarine which was launched in 1888, but it was not accepted by the naval authorities. He then left the navy to develop other inventions commercially.

Isaac Peral was the son of Juan Manuel Peral and Isabel Caballero. He had two siblings who later also became naval officers. He was born in Cartagena on June 1, 1851, where his father, a seaman in the Spanish navy, was based.

In 1859 his father was relocated to the military base of San Fernando (Cádiz Province). At 14 he decided to join his brother Alejandro in the naval academy Colegio Naval Militar de San Carlos. This was a financial sacrifice for the family and he studied hard to get the best marks. At 16, after only two years, he joined the Spanish navy as a guardiamarina de 2ª (midshipman). He also studied geography, physics and astronomy.

Peral took part in combat in the Third Carlist War in Spain, and in Cuba. He was awarded a wide range of medals for his service.

In 1876, in Cádiz, Peral married María del Carmen Cencio, daughter of an army doctor. They had nine children but four of them died young.

In 1881, Peral was serving as a second lieutenant and member of a hydrographical team in the Philippines. While there, during a visit to the barber's he received a small cut in his temple, which caused lasting illness and later became the site of a brain tumor.

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