German Naval Ministry News

At the bottom of Milford, Conn.’s city harbor lies a century-old, barnacle-encrusted submersible, belonging to native and inventor Simon Lake, a pioneer in the field of submarine technology and underwater exploration. While some mistakenly believe the submersible in the city's harbor is an early submarine, it is actually a chamber that would be lowered to the ocean floor by a boom on a ship. People could walk to the chamber through a 200-foot-long tube with a staircase that was connected to the structure. According to the Connecticut Post, one of three such chambers built by Lake was used by England in 1907 to salvage the Lutine, a treasure-filled ship that sank in the Zuider Zee, a former arm of the North Sea that was later shut off by dikes, according to the inventor's family.