Today while waiting for Lulu's plane from Houston - I spent some time in the Man in the Sea Museum. It is along the highway and is certainly worth the $4.50 admission fee. I used to teach a 9 week unit on Oceanography in my Earth and Space Science Classes - and it was fun seeing many of the tools I taught about.
Sealab was an underwater home that was anchored of the coast of Bermuda about 200 feet down. Divers used to live there for 10 day stints. They were trying to prove that extended time under sea pressure had no ill effects on the divers - if they were properly decompressed when they surfaced. My Prius is in the picture to compare size.
This is a mine sweeper. It was towed from a helicopter and used to find explosive mines in the water after a military conflict.
This sub could go down as far as 600 feet and stay there for 6 hours. It was used when we lost an atomic bomb off the coast of Spain in 1966. It found the bomb - and safely brought it to the surface.
This guy was talking about German submarines off the coast of Panama City FL in 1942. He claimed there was a tavern along the harbor coast that would use the venetian blinds to signal the Germans in the subs. After midnight - they would come into the bar to drink beer. You recall in 1942 my grandfather Roy Everhart was killed when a German sub sunk the USS Norlandia off the coast of Haiti in July 1942. Who knows - maybe the Germans that killed him drank in this tavern.
The Beaver Mark IV was capable of diving down to 2000 feet. It had a 30 inch diameter port hole on the front.
There are tons of diving suits at the museum. This one could go down to 1000 feet. It is called a rigid suit.
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