This historic film dates to September 1955, and shows the launch of the 41′ foot long civilian submarine “Cetacean”. The craft was launched in Long Beach, California. The midget submarine was designed by Edmund Martine, who previously designed a series of diving bells for his San Diego business Martine Diving Belles,. Cetacean was intended for undersea exploration and photography. The boat had a three-man crew which included Ed Zender, but we’ve been unable to learn much about its career. Martine told local press at the time of the boat’s launch that it could withstand pressures up to five miles underwater. Another craft built by Martine in 1956 (possibly a modified version of Cetacean?) the Submanaut was featured in MGM’s “Around the World Underwater” and cruised from Miami to the Bahamas, Cuba and Italy under its own diesel/electric propulsion. The Cetacean supposedly had a range of 35 miles and weighed 50 tons.

The film also contains footage of scuba divers filming underwater with waterproof camera housings.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com