It may have just been drunk talk, but I heard from an old salt about some guy who claimed to have developed a catalyst to make water into fuel. He gave the navy department a demo, pouring his wonder tonic into a gallon of water, and then pouring it into the tank of a 3 cylinder motorlaunch engine. The engine started and, with some fiddling with the carburettor, it ran just fine. After collecting some promises and requests for further demos for various agencies, he walked out and was never seen again. After analyzing the residue in the tank, they figured out that the wonder catalyst was acetone and the water was just there to thin it out.
