The frequently used expression, “light at the end of the tunnel,” means one has hope for the future after a difficult period. That could have been what area scuba diver Bob Kahn felt in 1957 during a lake dive.
According to a newspaper report, Kahn had already made several scuba forays into Lake George searching for a recently sunk vessel. Suddenly he spotted the missing boat’s navigation lights that were still lit in the depths of the waterway’s dark-blue waters.
It was mid-August 1957 and two days earlier a 22-foot-long, 100-horsepower inboard cruiser was motoring on the lake. Without any warning, the watercraft hit an unidentified-floating object, possibly a log.
The forceful impact put a gash into the speedboat’s hull, damaging the vessel. The unlucky-boat pilot and his guest successfully abandoned their sinking vessel before the watercraft sank to the bottom of the waterway. A nearby motorboat quickly rescued the pair, who had been floating in the water for only a short time.
For two days, Bob Kahn, a local-scuba enthusiast who had a house on the road to Bolton, made dives in pursuit of the elusive shipwreck. Finally, his determined efforts paid off.
While swimming along near the lake bottom the neoprene-clad frogman noticed strange lights at a distance of “some 25 feet.” Kahn had spotted the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” as the sunken-speedboat’s lights became beacons that guided him to his quest.
Surprisingly, the boat’s red, green, and white navigation lights and the dash-console illumination were still working after two days submerged in the lake’s chilly waters.
William H. Henderson, operator of the Henderson boat yard in Kattskill Bay, directed the salvage operation of the sunken vessel. His marina was often called upon to undertake boat recoveries and restoration following marine mishaps on Lake George.
The scuba diver added flotation and a line to the two-day-old shipwreck and the crippled craft was raised from the lake floor. The salvage crew then towed the cruiser, with its new flotation, to the Henderson marina in Cleverdale.
After an inspection on shore, Henderson was amazed that the pleasure boat’s running lights, dash lights, and even the starter all worked. The veteran-boating expert noted that it was indeed rare that a watercraft’s lights, all powered by a “normal six-volt automotive type battery,” would still function after 48 hours of immersion in lake water.
A version of this article first appeared on the Lake George Mirror, America’s oldest resort paper, covering Lake George and its surrounding environs. You can subscribe to the Mirror HERE.
Read more about shipwrecks in New York’s waters.
Illustrations, from above: Sketch of a scuba diver in 1957 seeing the sunken vessel with illuminated boat lights by Joseph W. Zarzynski; an advertisement from the July 26, 1957 issue of the Lake George Mirror for the Henderson family marina business (courtesy Lake George Mirror).
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