It was a few years after the Argonaut Junior was built in Atlantic Highlands that local youth Albert Loux, right, and Raymond Stryker, center, decided they should rest atop the submarine while swimming in Sandy Hook Bay.
The Argonaut Junior sub was built in 1894, was 14 feet wide and 4.5 feet wide, with a depth of five feet. The boat was built by Simon Lake as a prototype after he was denied a contract from the US Navy.
Made of yellow pine, it included three wheels to prevent it from getting stuck in the sea bottom. It was moved by one of two men cranking the axle of two driving wheels. There was sufficient air pressure in the cabin, so an air lock door could be opened on the sea floor without water coming into the cabin. The men, wearing boots, could then walk on the sea floor pulling the boat along while they searched for objects.
The submarine was featured in The Boys Book of Inventions written by Raymond Stannard Baker and published by Doubleday & McClure Co. in 1899.
