PORT TOWNSEND — Perhaps only in Port Townsend could a yellow submarine floating around in Point Hudson Marina turn out to be a true story.
Are you flashing back to 1968 and the Fab Four yet?
Indeed, a 17-foot yellow, three-seat submarine owned by Jeff Hammers, a Port Orchard old-car buyer and seller, was launched Monday morning into the marina so Grant Ausk, owner of Townsend Bay Dive, could test-run it with two other divers.
“I just wanted to let them try it out,” Hammers said after the divers successfully tested it.
Hammers bought the battery-powered, all-aluminum 1993 Curtiss submarine for $850 at a Port Orchard auction two weeks ago.
Others at the Stokes Auction were joking about it, but Hammers said he saw a pretty good deal.
“I’m into weird stuff, so I bought it,” Hammers said. “I just wanted to see how it works.”
After fitting two new batteries to power the electric motor built into the propeller tail, Hammers said he was ready to take the 400-pound yellow submarine on the road.
Since he doesn’t dive himself, he decided to come to Port Townsend and find a dive shop where he figured he might find an interested party.
Or maybe Beatles fans.
“It intrigued me a lot, so I thought we’d give it a try,” said Ausk, recalling when Hammers pulled up to the shop at 2200 Washington St. with the torpedo-like watercraft in tow.
“I hadn’t seen one before he brought it by the shop.”
The “preliminary run” in the marina, as Ausk called it, could lead to a longer, stranger underwater trip into Port Townsend Bay.
“Hopefully, we can try it again,” Ausk said of the sub, which created a bit of a spectacle at Point Hudson Marina, home of the annual Wooden Boat Festival, as it drew a small crown of onlookers.
No doubt a certain Beatles tune, a hit 40 years ago this year, danced through a head or two at Point Hudson:
“Sky of blue, sea of green, in my yellow submarine . . .”
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladaily news.com.
