The Cayman Islands yellow submarine, the Subcat Catalonia, has been involved in two incidents this past month involving dive boats.
There first was a collision, while the second incident involved a boat captain cutting the VHF cable between the submarine and a towed surface buoy.
The first incident saw the submarine make an uncontrolled ascent below a liveaboard moored at the Doc Poulson artificial reef site in Grand Cayman’s West Bay. The submarine made contact with the boat, although nobody was reported injured. A later inspection by scuba divers has shown that the damage appears to be limited to superficial scratches.
The accident has been attributed to the sub being underweight. Typically, the sub can carry up to 28 passengers and two crew members, but requires a minimum of 12 passengers for stability. On the day of the incident, there were five passengers, with sandbags being used to make up the weight.
The second incident involved Shaggy’s Personalised Diving, a catamaran operated by James “Shaggy” Thomson. The float with the cable was approaching the stern of his vessel, with a risk of entanglement in the engine.
According to Thomson:
“I was concerned for the safety of my boat and customers, so I didn’t hesitate…I wasn’t going to allow my boat to be dragged underwater by a 62ft submarine that weighs over 60 tons, so I cut the cable.”
