Pubdate: Thu, 30 Nov 2006
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Page: A1, Front Page
Copyright: 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Jennifer Saranow
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/submarine
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

FOR SUB HOBBYISTS, SMUGGLERS' CRAFT IS MERELY SUBPAR

A Drug Bust Near Costa Rica Captivates Underworld of Garage Tinkerers

This month, the Coast Guard detained four men who were allegedly 
trying to smuggle 3.5 tons of cocaine meant for the U.S. News 
accounts of the Nov. 16 bust, about 90 miles southwest of Costa Rica, 
described their unusual vessel as a 50-foot homemade fiberglass submarine.

That caught the attention of a busy netherworld of hobbyists who 
build submarines in their garages.

"The captured drug-sub appears to be amateurish in construction and 
not nearly as seaworthy as the subs we have seen, designed and 
built," said Jon Wallace, a software engineer for Hewlett-Packard in 
Weare, N.H. In 1996 he cofounded the Personal Submersibles 
Organization, which now counts about 13,000 visitors per month to its 
Web site, psubs.org.

"Semi-submersible at best," sniffed another critic in a posting on 
the group's site.

After reading reports and seeing photographs of the captured vessel, 
hobbyists concluded that the gray drug craft was crudely constructed 
and not a serious attempt at building a submarine. Some said it was 
more a boat meant to blend into the water, skim just below the 
surface, travel long distances and avoid radar detection. A giveaway 
was that it was made of fiberglass -- which is generally not a good 
material for building a submersible vessel, they say. It also had a 
squarish design rather than the cylindrical shape required to 
withstand pressure and stress.

Law-enforcement agencies from Colombia to California are increasingly 
worried about drug-stuffed submarines slinking along beneath the 
seas. "We are out there actively searching for these," says Capt. 
Thomas Cullen, chief of response for the U.S. Coast Guard 11th 
District based in Alameda, Calif., which oversaw the boarding and 
seizing of the vessel off Costa Rica. It was the first manned 
sub-like vehicle seized by the U.S., according to Capt. Cullen. 
Authorities in Colombia have seized a couple of homemade subs in the 
past two years.

Costa Rican authorities say that the vessel seized this month was 
gasoline-powered, and that it traveled just below the surface with 
the crew using snorkel-type tubes to breathe. "Certainly these guys 
are not PSUBS regulars. Gasoline engines in a submersible are 
no-nos," wrote Ray Keefer, 45 years old, a computer test engineer in 
Gaston, Ore., and co-founder of the group. Gasoline engines would be 
dangerous in a submarine. The Coast Guard says its reports indicate 
the seized craft had a diesel engine.

Mr. Keefer and others believe the captured vessel should more 
accurately be called a "David boat," a type of torpedo boat used 
during the Civil War that operated mostly underwater with only its 
smokestack and a few inches of hull visible above the surface. 
"Mostly underwater but not a submersible," he wrote.

James Huffman, 28, a warehouse laborer in Tacoma, Wash., and 
submarine history buff who first got interested in submarines while 
playing the "Up Periscope!" computer game in eighth grade, says the 
craft reminded him of the gasoline- and battery-powered USS Holland 
from around 1900, the U.S. Navy's first commissioned submarine.

Man's fascination with exploring the underwater world dates back at 
least to Alexander the Great, who according to legend descended 
beneath the waves in some kind of glass globe. Experimentation with 
underwater craft continued in the 1500s through the 1700s.

In more recent history, sub-like craft were first used militarily in 
the U.S. during the Revolutionary War. Modern diesel and 
battery-powered designs appeared during the two World Wars, and in 
1954, the era of true submarines that can stay submerged for long 
periods emerged with the nuclear-powered USS Nautilus.

Hobbyists have been building homemade subs for years with the help of 
plans in magazines like Popular Mechanics and designs from men like 
former naval submarine captain George Kittredge, whom some hobbyists 
consider the founder of the homemade-sub craft. The advent of the 
Internet brought sub fans together and let them share designs and tips.

Enthusiasts liken their submarine-building work, which can cost 
$15,000 or more and take many years, to building an airplane or a 
boat from scratch. While it is possible to buy design plans, no 
catalogs exist for parts. Builders have to cook them up at home. For 
prices ranging from about $70,000 to $1 million or more, companies 
like U.S. Submarines Inc. and Netherlands-based U-Boat Worx offer 
ready-made submarines that are popular with yacht owners looking for 
another toy.

Some sub enthusiasts question why smugglers would use a submarine in 
the first place since subs are slow and must surface. "I could see 
somebody towing a submersible below a cargo ship," wrote one on the 
psubs.org Web site and electronic mailing list. George Slaterpryce, 
28, a software engineer in Ocala, Fla., suggested that "a true 
smuggling submarine" would "have to be something that cruises at 60 
feet or so (just deep enough not to be easily noticed)," be 
constructed of lightweight materials and powered by a relatively 
silent motor and have enough air for days of submersion.

Members of the Personal Submersibles Organization recognize that the 
submersibles they build are not technically submarines, according to 
some definitions. Most homemade-sub hobbyists build one- and 
two-passenger steel subs that resemble 10-foot-to 15-foot-long 
propane tanks in shape with view ports. These subs are called 1ATMs, 
or 1 atmosphere subs, because they, like military subs, maintain 
basically the same air pressure inside as at sea level. Depending on 
the design, 1ATMs can descend 350 feet or more, travel at speeds up 
to about five miles an hour and stay underwater for at least an hour.

Alec Smyth, 42, of Alexandria, Va., a director of client services at 
software company Compuware Corp., has two subs of his own, one that 
descends to 250 feet and the other, still in construction, to 700 
feet. He says sub hobbyists have one thing in common: "We all watched 
way too many Cousteau movies as kids." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake