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Can anyone find a photo or art of this one?
Tim
THE HUNT FOR CHILE’S FIRST SUBMARINE
Sub Seekers Narrow In On Lost 1866 Prototype
(December 15, 2006) Somewhere below the surface of Valapariso Bay, hidden in the harbor’s dark, frigid waters and half-buried in murky sludge, is a unique 140-year-old object that, for more than a year now, has been filmmaker Juan Enrique BenÃtez’ consuming obsession.
“I’ve put everything else aside,†said BenÃtez, a wild-haired, middle-aged man with a real flair for story telling. “It’s been like an addiction. A drug. I feel like this is something very important, although since it’s been there so long, 140 years, nobody believed me at first.â€
The addiction, Benitez’ “drug,†is a one-of-a-kind submarine, the first ever designed and built in Latin America. In 1866, just days after its unveiling, the prototypical sub sank precipitously to the ocean floor. Aboard the vessel were its designer, a German immigrant to Chile named Karl Flach, his 11-year-old son and nine other crew members – all of whom were condemned for nearly a century-and-a-half to Davey Jones’ proverbial locker.
For the past year BenÃtez has worked feverishly with one clear goal in mind, to find the lost submarine and rescue it not only from the depths of Valparaiso Bay, but also, as he claims, from historical obscurity. It appears he’s now closing in on that goal.
Earlier this month, after spending more than a year on detailed preparations, BenÃtez and his collaborators finally took their search to the water. Those collaborators include maritime historians, a group of highly trained Navy divers and academics from the Santiago-based Universidad Internacional SEK, which happens to have a department dedicated exclusively to sub-aquatic archeology.
Over the course of four days the team scoured Valparaiso harbor using state-of-the-art equipment]benwitte@santiagotimes.cl[/url])
Tim
THE HUNT FOR CHILE’S FIRST SUBMARINE
Sub Seekers Narrow In On Lost 1866 Prototype
(December 15, 2006) Somewhere below the surface of Valapariso Bay, hidden in the harbor’s dark, frigid waters and half-buried in murky sludge, is a unique 140-year-old object that, for more than a year now, has been filmmaker Juan Enrique BenÃtez’ consuming obsession.
“I’ve put everything else aside,†said BenÃtez, a wild-haired, middle-aged man with a real flair for story telling. “It’s been like an addiction. A drug. I feel like this is something very important, although since it’s been there so long, 140 years, nobody believed me at first.â€
The addiction, Benitez’ “drug,†is a one-of-a-kind submarine, the first ever designed and built in Latin America. In 1866, just days after its unveiling, the prototypical sub sank precipitously to the ocean floor. Aboard the vessel were its designer, a German immigrant to Chile named Karl Flach, his 11-year-old son and nine other crew members – all of whom were condemned for nearly a century-and-a-half to Davey Jones’ proverbial locker.
For the past year BenÃtez has worked feverishly with one clear goal in mind, to find the lost submarine and rescue it not only from the depths of Valparaiso Bay, but also, as he claims, from historical obscurity. It appears he’s now closing in on that goal.
Earlier this month, after spending more than a year on detailed preparations, BenÃtez and his collaborators finally took their search to the water. Those collaborators include maritime historians, a group of highly trained Navy divers and academics from the Santiago-based Universidad Internacional SEK, which happens to have a department dedicated exclusively to sub-aquatic archeology.
Over the course of four days the team scoured Valparaiso harbor using state-of-the-art equipment]benwitte@santiagotimes.cl[/url])