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Jim, When I new I would be leaving my submarine and going into civilian life, I gave much thought as to what of her I would take with me. Most crewmembers that leave a ship after being aboard one for many years want something to take with them to maintain some form of connection or bond to her. I wanted nothing short of her very heart. After much thought on this subject I settled on swiping the dinger to the ships bell! This bell was stored on the back bulkhead forward of the captains quarters behind some electrical cabinets and was a feat to obtain without alarming him of my intentions. It was very heavy and secured in place by a sizable brass nut. This pear shaped dinger hung down below this and had a fancy cord attached to it. Once this brass nut were removed, this entire bell would fall. I waited until the old man was sure to be asleep and went to work. I wrapped the bell in a cloth rag should I actual drop it and took lose this nut. It was in fact very heavy but I managed to get my hands on my prize. I changed this original dinger to but a large brass nut and reattached this cord to it. Years later as I sat and held this cold brass dinger in my hands I realized I could never have removed the heart of the ship. The heart of a ship is her crew. All the people who served aboard her for as long as she was afloat were her heart. Jim you being the captain of this new submarine form the heart of this ship and all who spend time aboard her while afloat add a little bit more to her heart. This I never revealed before to anyone...Just thought you'd want to know this. David Bartsch From: Jumachine@comcast.net To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] First Launch Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 07:48:42 -0400 Quiet, cold, high anxiety and time seems to fly by listening and watching for everything..........
Great to see her come alive!
Nice job Jim,
Congratulations, you did it!
Dan H.
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