2012-04-22

Urban Spelunk: The Quester Wreck (Episode 1)

The Quester I is a 45-foot submarine built by Jerry Bianco, a shipyard worker in Brooklyn, NY in 1967. Using salvaged metal, Bianco built the submarine in order to raise the wreck of the passenger ship SS Andrea Doria. It was painted yellow since that color paint was the cheapest available to Bianco, and is known colloquially as the Yellow Submarine; but a connection to the Beatles' song of the same name can not be verified. The submarine was launched unsuccessfully in 1970 when it tipped sideways (listed,) became stuck in the mud, and could not be relaunched. After that financial backing dried up and the salvage mission could not continue. In 1981 bad weather broke the sub free of its moorings and marooned it in the mud in Coney Island Creek where it remains abandoned and in ruin to this day.

The wreck has been an object of curiosity for residents of the area, users of the waterway, and historians for decades. Sometimes neophyte urban spelunkers get up early in the morning, bring inflatable boats, and paddle out to get a hands-on look at the rusting wreck:

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