IT WAS a major turning point in the history of underwater warfare. A one-man vessel deployed during the American War of Independence became the first submarine to attack a surface vessel.

A US sergeant volunteered to screw an explosive charge to the hull of a British warship anchored off New York. The attempt failed, but the use of the tiny submersible meant a new type of weapon had entered the military arena.

ships present at the incident in 1776 are thought to have included the Renown, which had been built in Southampton by Robert Fabian.

Fabian was also responsible for some of the first vessels to be launched at Eling, near Totton.

He leased a yard from Robert Harris, later Lord Malmesbury, and began by building one of three vessels ordered by Southampton merchant Richard Taunton.

Renown was too big to be built at Eling, so Fabian was forced to lease a yard on the opposite side of the River Test.

Commissioned in July 1775, just two months after the first shots were fired in the American War of Independence, she sailed for New York at the end of September.

Her role in the war is described in a new book, The Ships and Shipbuilders of Eling, 1748-1863.

Totton author Joyce Kemish has produced an exhaustive study of Eling-based shipbuilders and the vessels they constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Eling's maritime importance stemmed from the period when it was easier to move goods by water than by land. Roads in Southampton and the New Forest comprised gravel tracks that were muddy in winter and rutted and dusty in summer.

Mrs Kemish writes: "Anything that could go by water went by water - just as far as it could. For moving stone, timber, coal, grain and people the waterways were like modern motorways, joining places rather than separating them. Eling also had natural advantages. Built around a creek with easy access to Southampton Water and sharing its double tides, it was also far enough inland to give protection from coastal raiders."

"Southampton and Hythe were attacked from the sea, but Eling seems to have escaped."

Eling's prosperity soared in the 1750s, when events in other parts of the world ensured that the waterside village enjoyed a boom in shipbuilding.

England was almost continually at war, resulting in a huge demand for ships that naval dockyards alone were unable to meet.

Business slumped at the end of the 18th century and in 1804 the yard employed just a boy and a man who was nearing retirement.

But the demand for warships increased during the Napoleonic Wars and contracts were once again awarded to civilian yards.

Eling endured another slump in the middle of the 19th century.

Peace produced a lull in shipbuilding and maritime trade declined after the opening of railway linking Southampton with other cities in the South.

But the parish turned the growth of railways to its own advantage.

Local landowner Sir John Barker Mill gave Eling Quay a boost by building a branch line from Totton to three points on the waterfront.

A steam-driven crane could be moved along the line, enabling cargo to be handled at any point on the wharf. Later the line was extended to a warehouse which had been a 18th century corn store and later a flour mill.

The building was badly damaged by fire in the 1960s but the ground floor survived and is now Totton and Eling Heritage Centre.

Today the site of the former Eling shipyard is difficult to locate. Remains of a wooden slipway were sawn-off when Eling Quay was refurbished after World War One and many old buildings have been demolished.

Eling Creek is still packed with boats, but almost all are now yachts and other pleasure craft.

*Ships and Shipbuilders of Eling, price £2.95, is available from Totton Library, Eling Tide Mill, and Totton and Eling Heritage Centre.