By Associated Press, 08/22/02

NEWPORT, Maine -- That white tube poking above the surface of Sebasticook Lake in central Maine actually is a periscope -- from a real submarine.

It rises from the midsection of a 26-foot-long underwater craft built by Tom Hart. Nessie, as Hart calls it, weighs 3,000 pounds, can dive 100 feet and has a top speed of 7 mph. And the periscope, made of plastic tubing topped by a plastic bottle that protects a camera, actually works.

Which all begs the question, why?

"Just because I can," a grinning Hart said. Upon further reflection, the former jet pilot admitted, "I miss flying."

The idea is rooted in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. While Hart was spending the winter in Florida, he salvaged two 23-foot pontoons that had broken loose from their moorings and sunk. The fiberglass pontoons sat untouched in his yard in Maine for several years.

"But every time I walked by them, I said to myself, 'Those look like a submarine in the bushes,"' said Hart, of East Newport. Soon, he was obsessed with the idea of building his own sub.

"I probably could have looked it all up on the Internet, but the part I liked best was figuring it out by myself," said Hart.