Today MCI has a history mystery for you. The 29th September 1913 was the date that Rudolf Diesel disappeared. As you can probably guess from the name, Rudolph Diesel was the inventor of the diesel internal combustion engine. He was a French – German engineer who wanted to create the most efficient engine that he could.
On this day in history, however, he was travelling from Antwerp to London by steamship to discuss opening a factory to make his engines. After dinner and arranging an early morning wake-up call, he vanished…
Ten days later, a fishing boat came upon a body in the water. Unable to identify the deceased individual, they salvaged any personal effects still present and returned the body to the sea. When they docked, the effects were identified as being Diesel’s but, as no body was kept, a full investigation was impossible. There are many theories as to why Diesel died. Suicide and accident were just two, but given that it was just one year prior to World War 1, it may well have been German agents wanting to prevent the engine from being made in the UK.
However he died, it was the passing of a great inventor whose invention is still used today.