Me either, until in 2005 my (now deceased) oceanographer husband introduced him to me. Let me give you the Readers Digest version. This explorer is worth attention.
0-12 morphing into Nautilus at Brooklyn Navy Yard
William Randolph Hurst put up money, Lincoln Ellsworth, an American polar explorer lent his name and credibility to the project. Wilkins – Ellsworth TransArctic Submarine Expedition of 1931 was an attempt to re-outfit a WWI decommissioned sub called Nautilus (the O-12), skirt the coast of Norway, reach Spitsbergen (in the Svalbard archipelago) and use that as a jumping off point to sail UNDER the arctic ice pack. To the north pole and beyond.
An explorer before his time Sir Hubert was not successful and scuttled the submarine in 1,000 feet of water off Bergen Norway. In 1931. And there it sat. 2005 my husband hears the story.
Project Nautilus was an expedition by my husband, oceanographer and historian Dr. Stewart B. Nelson to find, document and dive upon the submarine Nautilus; the submarine that is considered the first ever to have gone under Arctic ice.
Planned route for the 1931 Expedition
Stew preparing to dive
Stewart was much more successful that Sir Hubert! Stew not only found the site (thanks to the Norwegian Navy) and dove on it – the mission carried a coveted Explorers Club flag Underwritten by Holland American Line and Thyussen Foundation, Max Planck Institute of Germany brought German research submarine JAGO to the party along with their scientific interest, and Bergen Maritime Museum could not have been more enthusiastic.
This is the story of Nautilus. This is the story of my husband Stewart and of Sir Hubert; of PROJECT NAUTILUS; Sabotage in the Arctic. Fate of the Submarine Nautilus.
