There were earlier civilizations that experienced and lived destinies. They understood the destinies and lived it. That you have neither read nor understand them does not amount to their nonexistence. They existed.
Though reasonable people understand that hearsay testimonies are worthless, some Holy Book believers have used the New Testament reference to Jonah, a hearsay, as evidence that a whale, they mistakenly defined as a "fish," swallowed up an adult human being. Perhaps you've heard of the movie Jaws. This was no movie. Some say it was/is a myth. Incontrovertible science evidence says anyone in the belly of a whale would suffocate to death for lack of oxygen. A whale swallowed a human; can you see the anthropomorphism? Anthropomorphism and zoomorphism were some of the best methods to paint or represent an unknown object of discussion. It was the best vocabulary available to them at that time. A submarine scooping a human is akin to a whale that swallowed Jonah.
Perhaps our perception of the past is not what it should be. Perhaps our perceptive truth of the past is jaundiced. Perhaps our knowledge of the past has been erroneously prioritized by the academics. Why would the academics do this? Remember that he who pays the piper dictates the tune.
Obviously, we have been conditioned by the academics to accept that our civilization is better than earlier civilizations, therefore making it hard even to contemplate that there could have been better technologies in submarines before today. We are conditioned to totally accept that we are the center of the universe and the supreme beings of living things.