Fascinating stuff! I had no idea that a civil war era sub had made it so far south and for pearl diving no less. The following is an excerpt from a source I found on the subject. (see link) You've got to love the information age!
"One of the more fantastic but proven-effective designs was that of Julius Kroehl?s Explorer, offered to the U.S. Navy in June. Kroehl?s Explorer carried a great amount of compressed air that allowed the crew to so pressurize the interior of the sub that the boat could run with its bottom open to the ocean! As chief engineer of the Pacific Pearl Company, Kroehl?s innovation made perfect sense. Rejected by the Navy, Explorer was towed to Panama, where it functioned well for years; the company divers working the pearl beds from Explorer suffered fewer injuries and harvested more pearls than those of any other company."
From: "Gregory B. Snyder" <snyder@mnrad.com>
Reply-To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Panama Submarine
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:46:46 -0600
>Thanks Chuck -
>Interesting stuff.
>Greg
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
>[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Chuck Will
>Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 2:18 PM
>To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
>Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Panama Submarine
>
>
>Here is a link to some photo's and naration about a small two man sub
>found on a beach in Panama.
>
>http://adventures.yahoo.com/b/adventures/adventures1815;_ylt=Aq2CE9VzFyM
>H7bd
>K1nuD.UPDW8sF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjamtzcG1mBHNlYwNoei1zdG9yeQ--
>
>Click on "Photo Feature" with the picture of the guy with a mask on his
>forehead near the top of the page
>
>
>
>
>
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