Anyone know what this boat is?

I came across this picture whilst hunting for more X craft information...anyone know what it is? I presume that strange looking frame is to protect the conning tower from something? It does mention that the frame was to protect the tower from ice, maybe an early attempt at surfacing from under an ice sheet?

Simon Lake's PIONEER, rigged for under-ice work.

David

That was quick! Thanks David, at least I know what it is now...might make an interesting boat to model, especially with global warming looming.

Simon Lake was an amazing guy and a real pioneer.

He never seems to get the level of interest you would expect compared with Holland,  for example.

Is that observation true only in the UK or it different in the US?

David

david f wrote:Simon Lake was an amazing guy and a real pioneer.

He never seems to get the level of interest you would expect compared with Holland,  for example.

Is that observation true only in the UK or it different in the US?

David

Same deal over here, David. And I share your dismay over this historical over-sight.

Lake was a practical Engineer as well as a very smart salesman. Holland, on the other hand, was a one trick pony with a real hard-on for the British Empire -- that white-hot-poker-up-his-ass fueled his earlier, ground-breaking work. In my opinion, if it were not for the Electric Boat company buying him out eventually, the Holland legend would have been a foot-note to the historical record (as what happened to Lake).

Those who win the war write the history.

David

Thanks. That's interesting that Lake is under-regarded in the US too.
I also see * that Lake built about 33 subs for the US during the World War 1 - a lot!
I also don't see many models of his boats.
Many thanks for the observations,

David

* My source is "Argonaut - The Submarine Legacy of Simon Lake" by Poluhowich. The only decent book on Lake I have come across.

I think this pic is of Simon Lake's Protector fitted for running under the ice. It has the round deck and conning tower of the Protector as well as the home port. Must have been around 1900 to 1902.

Photo taken from ITV4 last week hence I know what it is.

Any thoughts gents?




Answer will be posted in a few days.....

I know that place so well,I.O.M.

It is either a island with a rock outcropping or a sub that has had an impact with a surface vehicle. I will go with an island and not a sub, trick question?

Both right.... its the bottom of a harbour at the Isle of Man at low tide.

but imagine sailing into harbour on a foggy night to come across that....

Nice one!

The thing that looks like a conning tower is, I think, a "sailors refuge" (For when washed ashore from a wreck - not a pub!)

I think it was built by the chap who later founded the Royal National Life Boat Institution (or RNLI and the AMS chosen charity as it happens.)

David