A man in a Revolutionary War-era submarine was cited by the U.S. Coast Guard for drifting into a security zone and for unsafe sailing in New York’s East River near the Queen Mary 2 luxury liner, ABC News reported Aug. 3, the day of the incident.
The Coast Guard identified the man in the vessel as 35-year-old Philip “Duke” Riley of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Authorities said it was the second time Riley had floated the vessel near the cruise ship. The submarine, which reportedly did not have a mechanical propulsion system, was being towed by two other men in a rowboat.
“A makeshift submarine discovered at about 10:30 this morning by an NYPD Intelligence detective onboard the Queen Mary 2 in New York Harbor is the creative craft of three adventuresome individuals,” NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced that afternoon. “It does not pose any terrorist threat.”
Kelly said the Queen Mary 2 will be inspected to ensure the boat’s integrity. While Riley and the two other men could further face NYPD charges, Kelly called the incident a case of “marine mischief.”
ABC also reports that Riley was questioned by police after a guard on the Queen Mary 2 spotted the 8-by-4-foot fiberglass and wood submarine, a replica of a 1775 model called the “Turtle,” within 200 feet of the ship. The U.S. Coast Guard also responded to the scene.
No threatening devices or materials were found onboard.
The “Turtle,” invented in Connecticut by David Bushnell, was the first combat submarine designed to plant explosives on the sides of ships, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
A photo gallery posted July 17, 2007, on the photo-sharing Web site flickr.com titled “Adventures With an Egg” shows a “Turtle” submarine making a test run in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, near the spot where Riley was apprehended by authorities today.
The photo slideshow also links to the Web site www.dukeriley.info, On that site, Riley describes himself as an “artist” and “patriot,” who combines “populist myths and reinvented historical obscurities with contemporary social dilemmas.”
