The wreckage of a strange “experimental submarine” built over 100 years ago has been found on the dark seabed of Long Island Sound. Rumors have been circulating for some time about the location of the mysterious submarine, said to be inspired by Jules Verne’s classic 1872 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and its location has finally been found.
Discovered by Connecticut divers from Shoreline Diving Services, the 28-foot-long submarine was built by “eccentric millionaire” and inventor Simon Lake and was quite famous in the early 1900s.
Lake was quite passionate about submarines. The engineer applied for more than 200 submarine design patents in his lifetime and became known as the “father of the modern submarine”.
In 1907, he built a special submarine for the US Navy, which he named the Defender, but lost the contract at the last minute to a competitor. He re-equipped the submarine for underwater rescue missions, but unfortunately found no buyers.
Still, Defender managed to make a splash in his teenage years, and was even visited by aviator Amelia Earhart in 1929. By 1946 it was getting old and the Defender was sunk by the Army Corps of Engineers in the waters of Long Island Sound.
Richard Simon, vice president of Shoreline Diving Services, was one of those influenced by Lake’s work and the Defender’s story, and is dedicated to the task of discovering the long-lost wreckage.
Two surveys of the area, one by NOAA and the other by Eastern Search & Survey, identified the presence of an unidentified wreck in Long Island Sound. After Simon noticed that the object’s size and position appeared consistent with Defender, he started a study to confirm his suspicions.
On April 16, 2023, while Simon was overseeing deck operations, divers Steve Abbate and Joe Mazraani were swimming towards the wreck and found a solid submarine just as they had hoped for.
“It is very exciting to finally get to this important piece of maritime history,” Abbate said.
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