On 21 July 1961, U.S. Air Force Captain Virgil I. Grissom made a 15-minute suborbital flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, reaching an altitude of 118 miles in his capsule, the Liberty Bell 7. The craft parachuted down to the sea successfully. A premature blowoff of the hatch cover, however, led to the capsule's flooding and loss. Grissom was picked up by a U.S. Navy helicopter and delivered safely to the carrier Randolph (CVS-15).
One day shy of the 38th anniversary of the flight, 20 July 1999, the capsule was raised from a depth of 15,000 feet, some 90 miles northeast of the Bahamas. The find was made by salvage expert Curt Newport, who spent several years researching the capsule's probable location and raising funds for the search. The Discovery Channel eventually paid for the effort, enabling Newport to hire a salvage craft, two remote-controlled underwater vehicles, and other gear.
Using side-scanning sonar on one of the vehicles, Newport identified 15 likely targets. Investigating the first of the targets with a television camera, the men on one surface ship discovered the Liberty Bell 7. The capsule appeared in good shape, despite its lengthy immersion, and has since been recovered from its three-mile-deep resting place. (A Discovery Channel documentary on the search for and recovery of the Liberty Bell 7 premieres on 12 December 1999 at 2100.)
Much more complex—and tragic—has been the search for the Israeli submarine Dakar. Just after midnight on 25 January 1968, the submarine disappeared with 69 men on board, while en route from Britain to Israel. She had last reported by radio that morning when she was 360 nautical miles west of the coast of Israel (between Crete and Cyprus).
The former British submarine Totem, launched in 1943, the Dakar had just completed an extensive overhaul at Portsmouth. She passed her sea and dive trials under the supervision of Royal Navy experts, and on 9 January 1968 she left Portsmouth for Gibraltar. After a brief visit, the Dakar continued on to Israel. She reported her progress by radio on a regular basis.
When it was determined that the submarine had missed a radio call, the Israelis launched an extensive air and surface search—hoping that the submarine had suffered a radio failure. But no word was heard from the Dakar until 13 months later, when one of her radio-rescue buoys washed up on a beach near El-Arish in the Sinai desert. Could the captain of the Dakar—without approval—have sailed south toward Egypt, possibly for a clandestine reconnaissance foray? Could Egyptian forces have sighted and sunk the submarine? (The two nations had fought a war in 1967.) No, said the Israelis. The captain, Lieutenant Commander Ya'acov Ra'anan, was an outstanding officer who never would have undertaken such an unauthorized effort. Then, marine biology experts identified the growth on the buoy as being from the central Mediterranean.
Thus, for more than 31 years the Israelis searched the floor of the eastern Mediterranean for the remains of the Dakar and her crew. From June to August 1997, even the U.S. nuclear-propelled submersible NR-1 had participated in the search.
Finally, the Dakar was found on 28 May 1999—close to her planned track, near Crete and 270 nautical miles west of Haifa. The success was the result of a committee formed the year before by U.S. and Israeli specialists to use a structured analytical approach. The committee included two representatives of the Nauticos Corporation, with the firm's Tom Dettweiler leading the search effort. Using the remote-controlled AMS-60 search vehicle and technical support from the Israelis and the U.S. Navy's Deep Submergence Unit and oceanographic activities, the wreckage was found at a depth of 9,500 feet.
The sail structure was broken off and lying on its side; all periscopes and masts but one were bent 90 degrees; and the hull—lying upright—was broken into two pieces aft of the sail, the hulk pointing away from Haifa. The bridge gyro repeater was seen eerily indicating the final course set on the Dakar's underwater voyage across the Mediterranean. Scratches on the sail and the suddenness of her loss indicate that the Dakar was struck by a large merchant ship whose crew obviously did not realize what had occurred.
While the hulk cannot be salvaged intact, the separate sections could be raised—albeit at considerable effort and cost. In Israel a debate is under way, as some persons wish any remains that may be found be brought home and buried; others believe that the ocean depths are the appropriate final resting place for the long-lost crew of the Dakar.
Deep Secrets Revealed
The seas recently have given up two secrets—at least partially so. After lengthy searches, the Mercury capsule flown by the second American to fly in space and an Israeli submarine lost with all hands have been located on the ocean floor.
By Norman Polmar