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[PSUBS-MAILIST] more background
hi all
my main interest in psubs started as a young boy
i was mesmerised by jacques-yves cousteau and his
early films
namely "the silent world" which was the first real
underwater movie
followed by "a world without sun"a documentary film
about his conshelf 2
underwater habitat experiment. the haunting intro
of a saucer shaped submersible
gliding over the ocean floor past the underwater
house and finally entering it's own underwater garage.
brilliant "boys own" stuff that fuelled my passion
for submersibles
i was lucky enough to touch this marvellous
craft(or one very similar)
at the oceanographic institute in monaco in the
early eighty's
it was surprising how small it was in real life,
some years later i was in the coastal area of my
country known as cornwall
on holiday with my young family this was around ten
years or so ago
i found a very dilapidated submersible in a garage
surrounded by marine salvage
which wasn't unusual as we have a very rich
abundance of diveable wreck sites
in cornwall.the garage owner allowed me in to
photograph the submersible at length(kittredge k350)and asked if i wanted to buy
it .i'm not sure but i think it was
the sight of this misty eyed drooling idiot that
prompted my wife to dig me in the ribs,yep two young kids,car,mortgage,cat
,pension and life insurance told me straight that there was no way i could even
think about my own submarine.
well ten years or so on i'm divorced (thank god)
the price on the k350 has risen ten fold,it's also being restored,i still can't
afford it but no matter,
i did a dive in a morgo with alan whitfield from
silvercrest submarines and he helped me trace the history of this and also
another UK based kittredge(damn good dive also)i have some photos of the sub
then and now which i will scan in and get to
ray to post.my future intentions are to source
parts in the UK to build a kittredge myself .psubs has been a great inspiration
not only in feeding my passion but
also for letting my know i'm not the only nut out
there.
best regards to all psubbers
roger