Jeff F
Guru
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2015
- Messages
- 2,437
- Location
- Canada
- Vessel Name
- Escapade
- Vessel Make
- 50` US Navy Utility trawler conversion
One of my favourite memories from a misspent youth was the night we went for a cruise in a fake submarine. This thread has me recalling the story.
This was in Halifax in the late 1970s. The majority of Canada's naval fleet was based there, including a couple of small D/E subs. It wasn't uncommon to see them coming and going without escort.
At the head of harbour is a small bay where I lived, and in those days we were having serious silting issues and losing a lot of navigable water. In a play for attention some pranksters at our sailing club built a near life-sized conning tower out of timber covered with black fabric. They carried it as far out as they could on the mudflats at low tide in the wee hours and weighted it down with cinder blocks. It was realistic enough to cause a real stir the next morning, and they got some press time to talk about the issue.
Later that summer I had a flash of inspiration. I had an old pontoon boat that was being used as a work boat, and some friends and I were able to load the fake conning tower onto a couple of 4x4s laid across the platform. The tower was about 35' long and 10' wide and overhung the pontoon boat in all directions. The gap to the water was barely noticeable from a distance. It was about 12' tall but had waist deep platform at the top. So piloting was done with one person at the top shouting down to the person inside operating the 6 hp outboard blind.
We used to regularly run the 7 miles or so to downtown Halifax by boat. There was a public dock next to a few great pubs, and it was a lively place in the summer. So on this Saturday evening we decided to take the fake sub. We had about 8 people aboard. I volunteered to be the sober skipper, we wired up some interior and running lights, made sure we had all our required safety gear, and set out at dusk. Someone had a klaxon horn as well, so we added that.
It was a beautiful night, calm and clear. We didn't encounter any other vessels, but when we passed the naval base about a mile short of our destination it was pretty clear we had been spotted, with small lights pointed in our direction. Shortly after that the harbour ferry seemed to go out of its way to come close to us, and held their big searchlight on us as it went by.
We stopped a couple of hundred feet off the dock to have some fun. There were a few dozen people gathering and pointing. I could hear them talking about the submarine. As I was watching a couple of young guys in uniform arrived. I was at the top with my girlfriend, but everyone else was inside partying.
After a few minutes we started up again and slowly came in to a floating dock. Some people ran back, afraid we were going to ram them. As we came alongside I gave a blast of the diving horn, and the crew inside opened the side door and spilled onto the dock.
When I climbed down to talk to the guys from the Port Authority the crowd was roaring with laughter. I was explaining everything to them when the crowd parted to let a very irate looking ferry captain through. He let one of the ports guys have an earful, then stomped off. Guess he had to stay on schedule.
After the hubbub died down the authorities left and we hit the bars. The return home later that night was uneventful, and we disassembled it not long after.
I've thought since then that we should have put up a few radar reflectors, allowed ourselves to be sighted, then doused the reflectors and snuck away. That might have really caused a fuss.
This was in Halifax in the late 1970s. The majority of Canada's naval fleet was based there, including a couple of small D/E subs. It wasn't uncommon to see them coming and going without escort.
At the head of harbour is a small bay where I lived, and in those days we were having serious silting issues and losing a lot of navigable water. In a play for attention some pranksters at our sailing club built a near life-sized conning tower out of timber covered with black fabric. They carried it as far out as they could on the mudflats at low tide in the wee hours and weighted it down with cinder blocks. It was realistic enough to cause a real stir the next morning, and they got some press time to talk about the issue.
Later that summer I had a flash of inspiration. I had an old pontoon boat that was being used as a work boat, and some friends and I were able to load the fake conning tower onto a couple of 4x4s laid across the platform. The tower was about 35' long and 10' wide and overhung the pontoon boat in all directions. The gap to the water was barely noticeable from a distance. It was about 12' tall but had waist deep platform at the top. So piloting was done with one person at the top shouting down to the person inside operating the 6 hp outboard blind.
We used to regularly run the 7 miles or so to downtown Halifax by boat. There was a public dock next to a few great pubs, and it was a lively place in the summer. So on this Saturday evening we decided to take the fake sub. We had about 8 people aboard. I volunteered to be the sober skipper, we wired up some interior and running lights, made sure we had all our required safety gear, and set out at dusk. Someone had a klaxon horn as well, so we added that.
It was a beautiful night, calm and clear. We didn't encounter any other vessels, but when we passed the naval base about a mile short of our destination it was pretty clear we had been spotted, with small lights pointed in our direction. Shortly after that the harbour ferry seemed to go out of its way to come close to us, and held their big searchlight on us as it went by.
We stopped a couple of hundred feet off the dock to have some fun. There were a few dozen people gathering and pointing. I could hear them talking about the submarine. As I was watching a couple of young guys in uniform arrived. I was at the top with my girlfriend, but everyone else was inside partying.
After a few minutes we started up again and slowly came in to a floating dock. Some people ran back, afraid we were going to ram them. As we came alongside I gave a blast of the diving horn, and the crew inside opened the side door and spilled onto the dock.
When I climbed down to talk to the guys from the Port Authority the crowd was roaring with laughter. I was explaining everything to them when the crowd parted to let a very irate looking ferry captain through. He let one of the ports guys have an earful, then stomped off. Guess he had to stay on schedule.
After the hubbub died down the authorities left and we hit the bars. The return home later that night was uneventful, and we disassembled it not long after.
I've thought since then that we should have put up a few radar reflectors, allowed ourselves to be sighted, then doused the reflectors and snuck away. That might have really caused a fuss.
