Brooklyn, NY – A mystery makeshift mini-submarine has been impounded by the New York City police off the Brooklyn coast in the East River.
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The sub, seemingly enough to seat two-three men and complete with oxygen tanks, was first spotted by pedestrians on the waterfront who notified the police.
The sub appeared similar to an oval-shaped diving bell.
NYPD sources say three men have been taken into custody after trying to set sail with the sub.
Meanwhile, police sources also say that officers who have entered the sub have not found anything that might pose a security threat…yet, and initial indication is that it did not appear to be terror-related.
No other details are avaialble at this time.
Coiincidentally, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 was sailing nearby when police arrived on the scene.
I don’t blame them who want; to pay the outragous tolls entering nyc.
In a bizarre case of “marine mischief,” a Brooklyn artist manning a replica Revolutionary War submarine caused a scare today after police found the strange-looking vessel foundering in a security zone near the docked Queen Mary 2.
The handmade wood and fiberglass vessel, at the end of a tow rope tied to an inflatable boat, was spotted by police near the luxury ocean liner docked at the cruise ship terminal in the Buttermilk Channel off Red Hook in Brooklyn.
“It was a strange sight,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Angelia Rorison.
Police held the artist, Philip “Duke” Riley, and two other men, both from Rhode Island, for questioning. But there was no indication the trio meant any harm with the replica of the 1776 “Turtle submarine.”
One of the Rhode Island men claimed he was descendant of David Bushnell, the inventor of the original one-man vessel that inspired the replica, police said.
The makeshift sub “is the creative craft of three adventuresome individuals,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. “It does not pose any terrorist threat…. We can best summarize today’s incident as marine mischief.”
The brown, egg-shaped wooden vessel was a replica of a submarine used during the American Revolution, Rorison said. The inflatable boat was towing the submarine, authorities said.
Rorison said the vessel resembled a diving bell, with a hatch on top, and was about 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. It was propelled by a pedal-operated paddle.
The Coast Guard issued two citations to Riley, 35, of Brooklyn – one for having an unsafe vessel, the other for violating a security zone. The sub came within 200 feet of the bow of the Queen Mary 2, Rorison said.
“Basically, the vessel was not safe to sail. It had no lights, no flares. It was not registered,” she said. “Instead of safety violations, this could have turned into a search and rescue.”
Riley is a sculptor and performance artist whose work “addresses the prospect of residual but forgotten unclaimed frontiers on the edge and inside overdeveloped urban areas, and their unsuspected autonomy,” according to his Web site.
The investigation began after a New York police detective noticed the sub and the raft and summoned the Harbor Unit. Rorison said all three men were taken in for questioning by the NYPD.
“All three males are expected to be charged with a number of violations and both vessels will be secured by the Harbor Unit,” the NYPD said.