Philip "Duke" Riley
Submarine Invades New York Harbor Near Queen Mary 2
August 3, 2007
Philip Riley
Event Date: August 3, 2007
Bruise: Marine Mischief
Bruise Location: New York
Home Town: Brooklyn, New York
Age: 35
Details:
Law enforcement scrambled for a potential terrorist threat, in New York Harbor when three
men had floated a historic submarine replica within about 25 yards of the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship moored off a Brooklyn pier.
State Deputy Public Safety Secretary Michael Balboni, who in a helicopter examining the port for vulmerabilities, when the spotted the submarine nearing the Queen Mary 2.
New York police and the U.S. Coast Guard pounced on the rubbery raft towing the submarine, and arrested three men in connection with the harbor invasion. The men has some serious questions to answer, as to why they were in a restricted water zone without authorization.
"They appear to have put the sub in the water at Red Hook to see if it would float, and it got carried within the secured area by the current.", Balboni said.
The Coast Guard responded to a report of a "semi-submersible device" in the water near the luxury liner off Pier 41, said Petty Officer Seth Johnson.
The submarine, called the Acorn is an 8-foot replica of the 1776 submersible known as the Turtle, said Johnson. It was equipped with oxygen tanks.
It is a handmade, 8 foot by 4 foot, one man vessel, a replica of a civil war vessel, made from wood and fiberglass, at the end of a tow rope tied to an inflatable boat.
The Connecticut River Museum claims to own the only working, full-scale model of the submarine. The one-man, hand-propelled vessel was used in September 1776 in a failed attempt to attach a bomb to the hull of a British warship.
The owner of the sub is Philip Riley, of Brooklyn.
Riley is a sculptor and performance artist whose work "addresses the prospect of residual but forgotten unclaimed frontiers on the edge and inside overdeveloped urban areas, and their unsuspected autonomy," according to his Web site. This sub was an artistic expression.
Philip Riley is an English artist based in New York. In the past works have been exhibited at the Lisson gallery, London, the ICA, London, Gio' Marconi, Milan and The Second Gramercy Park Art Fair in New York. He most recently took part in the Paris Brooklyn/Brooklyn a Paris exchange where he executed a wall drawing at the Eric Dupont Gallery in Paris. Works are also permanently on display at the London School of Economics.
Riley wanted to float north in the Buttermilk Channel to stage an incursion against the Queen Mary 2, which had just docked in Red Hook, the mission objective mostly just to get close enough to the ship to videotape himself against its immensity for an upcoming gallery show.
The Coast Guard cited Riley for having an unsafe vessel and for violating a security zone.
Two Rhode Island men, Jesse Bushnell and Mike Cushing who were in the inflatable rubber boat were detained and questioned.
One Rhode Island man said he was descendant of David Bushnell, the builder of the original Turtle.
On the night of July 7, 1776 Bushnell put his submarine to work in New York harbor against British Admiral Howe's flagship, HMS Eagle.
It was armed with one gunpowder torpedo, which could be attached to the hull of a ship using a drill.
The gunpowder torpedo did not attach correctly and only disturbed the Eagle.
Bushnell took the Turtle up to Fort Lee, where Washington's army was quartered. There, Bushnell's Turtle made another unsuccessful attempt to sink a British frigate. Another boat spotted the Turtle. The torpedo was released and exploded scarring the boat away. Washington encouraged Bushnell to use the Turtle again, but he decided not to.
For Riley, his dealers, Alberto Magnan and Dara Metz, said they planned to display the submarine in a show soon at their Chelsea gallery. And to post Mr. Riley’s bail, if needed.
