Connecticut Divers Uncover Wreckage of 1907 Experimental Submarine, the Defender

Connecticut divers have discovered the wreckage of an experimental submarine that was built in 1907 and later scuttled in Long Island Sound. The 92-foot-long vessel, known as the Defender, was found Sunday by a team led by Richard Simon, a commercial diver from Coventry, Connecticut.

The Defender was built by Simon Lake, the grandson of one of the founders of Atlantic City and a fan of Jules Verne’s epic “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.” Lake registered new inventions such as the periscope and foils used to keep submarines level as they descended and ascended.

Simon spent months going over known sonar and underwater mapping surveys of the bottom of the sound, as well as government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, to identify any anomaly that fit the size of the Defender.

While acknowledging it was no Titanic, Simon noted the vessel’s role as a step in the evolution of American submarines in the decades before they would become crucial to some U.S. military victories on the high seas. The Defender was overshadowed by the USS Holland, John Philip Holland’s vessel that is widely said to be the U.S. Navy’s first modern submarine.

The discovery of the Defender is an exciting moment for the submarine community. It is a reminder of the ingenuity and innovation of the early submarine designers, and a testament to the power of research and exploration.