Talking about legality of psubs,
Here in Canada, I tried to register my sub but
nobody, and I mean nobody, police, costum officers, transport ministry agent,
could point me to any law regarding psubs registry.
So it fell into the canoe / kayak category because
it is very small and have an engine below 9.9hp. And can go without
registration...
But I have yet to see a lake police
officer...
Pierre
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 6:17
PM
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] PSUBS and
FBI
Lets think about what they could do with a
sub...
1) Sink ships by firing torpedos: Maybe in a movie.
In real life, it would be a ridiculous plan for dozens of reasons.
2) Infiltrate a harbor to place explosives on ships:
Their chances of doing so undetected would be infinitely better with
SCUBA gear that is easily purchased off the shelf. In particular
with rebreathers. A sub on a trailer is about the worst possible plan if
you're trying to go unnoticed. And I presume a sub is easier to detect when
submerged as well.
3) Place explosives at great depth: Sure,
but evil as I may be, I cannot come up with any useful targets at depth
beyond SCUBA.
4) Smuggle things like people or explosives: This is the
only viable nastiness I can think of, but you'd need a big diesel electric
sub in the range of Peter or Carsten's. I can count the people building
such boats, worldwide, on one hand. Building a boat that size would also be
pretty hard to do unnoticed, and the effort is huge when compared to
conventional means of smuggling. Anyone proposing a diesel electric sub
for smuggling would have an exceptionally poor sense of cost/benefit. The
drug subs I've seen in the news are not really subs at all, they're
just David boats designed to run on the surface while keeping a low
profile.
Having said that, it is amazing how many people, when
they find out I have my own sub, are amazed that it's legal. They assume a
little one person K-250 has potential as a weapon. It doesn't at
all! I presume the fact it's legal is due to someone in the Navy or Coast
Guard having a more educated notion of what our toys can and cannot
do.
cheers,
Alec
The
contents of this e-mail are intended for the named addressee only. It contains
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destroy it.
Hopefully their isn?t anyone on
this forum using a fictitious name? quietly lurking in the background?
gathering up all kinds of notes on building a viable submersible?
Nah? what was I thinking.
From: "Stephen Pearce" <sjpearceqld@bigpond.com> Reply-To:
personal_submersibles@psubs.org To:
<personal_submersibles@psubs.org> Subject: RE:
[PSUBS-MAILIST] PSUBS and FBI Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 08:00:26
+1000
Jon
It?s
very sad really that every post on this forum is very probably being
monitored and assessed by the US Fed?s. So much for an innocent
hobby!
I had
to laugh when I read his last name was ?Smith?. Did he have dark sunglasses
too! J
Steve
Pearce
-----Original
Message----- From:
owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Jon Wallace Sent: Friday, 24 August 2007 2:48
AM To:
personal_submersibles@psubs.org Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] PSUBS and
FBI
Given
the growing popularity of using submersibles for illegal and/or suspicious
activities, the federal government is interested in knowing more about psub
type submersibles. One thing I've not seen anyone talk about regarding
the convention yet, is that we were approached by a special agent of the FBI
on Friday at the dive site. I had accounted for all participants
except for Frank D, and not having met him before I didn't know what he
looked like. Shortly after we arrived at the dive location, I saw a
gentleman walking down the path. I approached him and said "Frank?"
anticipating that Frank D. had arrived. He said "no", then looked at
me and said "Jon?". I said "yes", and he then pulled out his FBI
identification (Special Agent David Smith), explained why he was there, and
asked to learn more about the submersibles we use.
Agent
Smith made it clear from the outset that we were not doing anything illegal
and he was not there to stop us from using our submersibles or continuing
with our convention. I brought him around to the various subs we had
on site, explained how they functioned, and also explained the difference
between 1-ATM, ambient, and wet-subs. I then invited him to speak to
us the next day at the seminar we were holding, which he agreed to do.
Agent Smith spoke to the assembled group on Saturday and explained that
after the sub/QE2 incident in New York recently, the FBI was researching
small subs. He explained that in the post-9/11 environment, the FBI
would like us to remain vigilant and report any suspicious requests,
discussions, or activity that might seem out of the realm of what a
recreational/personal submersible might be used for.
Given
another drug sub capture, we can expect continuing attention to our
hobby.
A new home for
Mom, no cleanup required. All starts here.
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