''Antipodes'' is a five-person crewed

submersible A submersible is an underwater vehicle which needs to be transported and supported by a larger ship, watercraft or dock, platform. This distinguishes submersibles from submarines, which are self-supporting and capable of prolonged independent ope ...

. ''Antipodes'' is certified by the

American Bureau of Shipping The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) is an American maritime classification society established in 1862. Its stated mission is to promote the security of life, property, and the natural environment, primarily through the development and verific ...

(ABS) and has completed more than 1,300 dives in a variety of sea conditions.

History

Origins

''Antipodes'' started as the ''PC-1501'' submersible originally built in 1973 by the Perry Submarine Company as a diver lock-out vehicle, similar in concept to ''

Deep Diver ''Deep Diver'' was the name of a deep-sea scientific research submersible designed by Edwin Albert Link. ''Deep Diver'' was the first small submersible designed for lockout diving, allowing divers to leave and enter the craft while underwater. I ...

'' (1966). It spent several years operating in the

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

fields as a ferry for

commercial diver Commercial diving may be considered an application of professional diving where the diver engages in underwater work for industrial, construction, engineering, maintenance or other commercial purposes which are similar to work done out of the wate ...

s. In 1988, Hoffmann Yacht Sales purchased ''PC-1501'' and hired Marlin Submarines in 1994 to manage the conversion of the craft. The pilot compartment from ''PC-1501'' was reused and modified by installing domed, windows encompassing a 150° arc and window seat forgings at each end of the hull. The conning tower was fitted with seven windows with a conical

frustum In geometry, a ; (: frusta or frustums) is the portion of a polyhedron, solid (normally a pyramid (geometry), pyramid or a cone (geometry), cone) that lies between two parallel planes cutting the solid. In the case of a pyramid, the base faces a ...

cross-section. The modified hull and battery pods were pressure tested to and certified to

(ABS) standards; ABS surveyors attended the tests and certification dives. When the modifications were completed in 1997, the submersible was renamed ''XPC15'' and adapted for private recreational use with a dive time of three hours and a depth rating of . It was installed and operated around the world aboard the ''Mystere'', a 200-foot yacht.

New Zealand operation

In 1999 Submarine Adventures Ltd purchased the ''XPC-1501'' and refitted it in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

and in

Dunedin, New Zealand Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

to extend its working capabilities and renamed it the ''Antipodes''. All systems were redesigned with tourism and research in mind. The ''Antipodes'' had a maximum depth rating of and an extended bottom time to allow a maximum of eight tourist dives per day, each dive lasting a maximum of 60 minutes. The 1999 refit included installation of two battery pods for greater power capacity, modifications to the propulsion system for improved maneuverability, and upgrades to the life support systems to provide life support for five people for 72 hours. The ''Antipodes'' achieved a Certificate of Classification as a +A1 Manned Submersible from the American Bureau of Shipping on 12 February 2002. The ''Antipodes'' submersible and its support barge were based beside the Milford Sound Underwater Observatory in Harrison Cove,

Milford Sound Milford Sound (, officially gazetted as Milford Sound / Piopiotahi) is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage ...

, New Zealand. Harrison Cove is in the Piopiotahi Marine Reserve. Regular research and tourist dives were undertaken in the vicinity of Harrison Cove and nearby Williamston Point from 2002 to 2003. The Antipodes also undertook dives in

Lake Wakatipu Lake Wakatipu () is an inland lake (finger lake) in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of the Otago region, near its boundary with Southland, New Zealand, Southland. ''Lake Wakatipu'' comes from the original Māori l ...

, near

Queenstown, New Zealand Queenstown () is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is the seat and largest town in the Queenstown-Lakes District. The town located on the northwestern edge of Lake Wakatipu, a long, thin, Z-shaped lake ...

OceanGate operation

''Antipodes'' was offered for sale by Hoffman for US$295,000. In 2009, ''Antipodes'' was purchased by OceanGate, a commercial submersible operating company based in

Everett, Washington Everett (; ) is the county seat and most populous city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the Seattle metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett ...

, US. In August 2018, OceanGate listed ''Antipodes'' for sale.

References

{{reflist Crewed submersibles