The Sub Marine Explorer
The Sub Marine Explorer suffered a story even more tragic than the others on the list. It was completed by a German inventor by the name of Julius H. Kroehl and an American inventor named Ariel Patterson. It was one of the first underwater crafts and the very first submersible that could go below 100 feet for hours. Six crew members could fit inside the Explorer. It was actually developed for the Brooklyn-based Pacific Pearl Company and not for military use! Unfortunately, the inventors were not aware of the way decompression affected the human body, so it ended in disaster. Crew members suffered “the bends” and died. Kroehl himself was the first of them to die after doing trial runs. They eventually abandoned the vessel because of the condition it induced as well as the overfishing of the pearl beds. Archaeologist James Delgado was the one who discovered it decaying in Panama.
The Sub Marine Explorer
German Submarine U-352
The German Submarine U-352 is also known as a Type VIIC U-boat. It began its military career back in 1942 under the Wolfpack as part of the Kriegsmarine in the Battle of the Atlantic. It later made it to North Carolina where it attempted to down the SS Freden to no avail. It ran out of luck on April 7, 1942, when it fired at a U.S. Coast Guard cutter after confusing it for a merchant ship. The submarine did not have a chance and ended up singing to the depths of the ocean after it was fired at. The spot of the submarine wreck is still a popular scuba diving spot thanks to the artificial reef and colorful fish. The tragedy was survived by Heinz Karl Richter, who told Discovery Channel that Captain Rathke’s obsession with getting a Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross medal made him want to sink as many ships as possible. Some of the recovered artifacts can be found at the North Carolina Aquarium.
German Submarine U-352
