Winnipesaukee Forum - View Single Post

Rattlesnake Guy · 09-20-2009, 09:05 PM

Both Dave and his wife Joan went down into the tube and Dave said, “The fish would come right up to the beam!” Joan’s surprise was all the plankton in the lake she said, “but we were told it keeps the lake clean!” Joan added, “Those poor divers, they all ended up getting sick or getting pneumonia. Every year five or six of them were sick…working in the cold water for hours at a time, and all done in the night.” This program of research on underwater lighting by submerged light sources, including the underwater laser experiments, were made on Diamond Island in 1964 through 1966.

As for that metal laser track, it is still visible today. Underwater divers have long speculated as to its purpose. Joan recalls that the experiment site drew so much attention that long after the experiments ended, “Scuba divers were out there all the time. We couldn’t even get out of the boathouse to go to the mainland some of the time and Dave would have to get them to move. And sometimes the divers lit up the lake like Times Square at night.” In his “Lake Winnipesaukee Cruising Guide” published in 1984, author David Buckman notes that in Blaisdell’s “Three Centuries on Winnipesaukee” published in 1936, the work near Diamond Island was recorded as “light diffusion experiments.” He also made note of local barges reportedly hauling some “strange looking devices” to the island, sparking much curiosity about the nature of the experiments. Buckman further noted, “Local divers report that a railway lies along the steeply sloping bottom.” Buckman ends his excerpt on Diamond Island with a warning for boaters to heed the “Keep Out” signs posted on the northwestern tip of the island.

09-20-2009, 09:05 PM	#3
Rattlesnake Guy Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,254 Thanks: 423 Thanked 366 Times in 175 Posts	More clues Both Dave and his wife Joan went down into the tube and Dave said, “The fish would come right up to the beam!” Joan’s surprise was all the plankton in the lake she said, “but we were told it keeps the lake clean!” Joan added, “Those poor divers, they all ended up getting sick or getting pneumonia. Every year five or six of them were sick…working in the cold water for hours at a time, and all done in the night.” This program of research on underwater lighting by submerged light sources, including the underwater laser experiments, were made on Diamond Island in 1964 through 1966. As for that metal laser track, it is still visible today. Underwater divers have long speculated as to its purpose. Joan recalls that the experiment site drew so much attention that long after the experiments ended, “Scuba divers were out there all the time. We couldn’t even get out of the boathouse to go to the mainland some of the time and Dave would have to get them to move. And sometimes the divers lit up the lake like Times Square at night.” In his “Lake Winnipesaukee Cruising Guide” published in 1984, author David Buckman notes that in Blaisdell’s “Three Centuries on Winnipesaukee” published in 1936, the work near Diamond Island was recorded as “light diffusion experiments.” He also made note of local barges reportedly hauling some “strange looking devices” to the island, sparking much curiosity about the nature of the experiments. Buckman further noted, “Local divers report that a railway lies along the steeply sloping bottom.” Buckman ends his excerpt on Diamond Island with a warning for boaters to heed the “Keep Out” signs posted on the northwestern tip of the island.