Odd-Looking Submersible Found Floating Near Queen Mary II
It's not terrorism. It was just three guys in a replica antique submersible vessel who floated off in the wrong direction.
For a few moments, it looked like a terror plot unfolding before officials' eyes. Three men had floated a historic submarine replica within about 25 yards of the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship moored off a Brooklyn pier.
"It looked like a big sea buoy bobbing in the water. It was about 25 yards from the stern of the Queen Mary," said State Deputy Public Safety Secretary Michael Balboni, who watched the incident unfold from a helicopter directly overhead as he examined port vulnerabilities.
Coast Guard and New York police department boats moved in immediately, and the men were taken into custody.In the end, it turned out to be just a couple of guys fooling around with a historic replica - no link to terrorism whatsoever.
"File it under weird," Balboni said. "They appear to have put the sub in the water at Red Hook to see if it would float, and it got carried within the secured area by the current."
The Coast Guard responded to a report of a "semi-submersible device" in the water near the luxury liner off Pier 41 late Friday morning, said Petty Officer Seth Johnson.
The pedal-powered "turtle", a replica of a historic submersible vessel, was being towed by people in an inflatable rowboat.
