Just as DIVER Magazine was going to press, the Stephen Leacock Museum in Orillia, Ontario announced that the wreck of the Mariposa Belle had been discovered in Lake Simcoe by underwater explorer Scott Williamson. Lost for decades, the remains of the Mariposa Belle were found near Sibbald Point near the town of Orillia.
Mariposa Belle, the fabled steamship of Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town plied the waters of Lake Simcoe60 kms north of the city of Torontoat the turn of the century. Originally built as the schooner Enterprise in 1868, she was converted to a dual-engine steam powered ship in 1883 and was a popular fixture on the lake. She first sank in 1903 at the Mulcaster wharf in the city of Barrie. She was refloated, and sailed to the Orillia area where she was stripped and allowed to sink to the bottom of the lake.
"The Enterprise became the Mariposa Belle for Stephen Leacock and the international reading public in 1912 when he transformed her actual demise in the mythic "Marine Excursion of the Knights of Pythis" in Sunshine Sketches Of A Little Town," explained Daphne Mainprize, curator of the Stephen Leacock Museum. "As a result Leacock gave birth to one of the Great Moments of Canadian literature."
According to a press release issued by the museum, curator Mainprize applauds Scott Williamson's discovery and describes it as "one of the most exciting finds of Leacockiana in nearly a century". She also describes the find as being "a complement to the National Historic Site and significant addition to the Museum's interpretive programming."
Efforts will be initiated by the Museum to have the shipwreck recognized and protected.
Scott Williamson is a diver long respected for his knowledge of Lake Simcoe. He was credited recently with saving, from destruction by the local municipality, the sunken remains of the Lake Simcoe Steamship Railway at Jackson's Point (on Lake Simcoe near Orillia).
The Mariposa Belle, aka the Enterprise . Picture courtesy of the Stephen Leacock Museum.
New Shop
The city of Peterborough has a new dive shop. Tam Dive, a popular Toronto based commercial and sport dive business has established an associate shop in Peterborough.
Tam Dive Peterborough is located on Lansdowne Street on the western edge of the city. Peterborough, situated in the heart of the Kawartha Lakes district is a popular dive destination. The city's dive community hosts the annual Ice Flow Races along the Trent Canal and there are many popular river and lake dive sites close by.
Tam Dive Peterborough's address is 1913 Lansdowne Street West. Their phone number is (705) 748-DIVE.
Phil Nuytten at Underwater Canada
The Henry Ford of submarines shows vision of tomorrow, today.
The last mask has been sold, the pool has been emptied and the sun has set on yet another Underwater Canada. And while Ontario divers have probably put all thoughts of the Toronto trade show out of their heads, one of the video presentations made at the Saturday Night International Film Festival will have a profound effect on the sport of diving in the very near future.
Phil Nuytten, inventor, carver, diver and story teller extrordinaire, whizzed into Toronto for a very brief but important appearance at Underwater Canada. The 
British Columbia inventor of the Newt Suit came to the "Big Smoke" to take part in a number of meetings and to MC the Saturday Night Underwater Canada film festival. In between introducing the likes of film
makers Jim Kozmik and Cathy Kinsman, Phil showed two videos of his own outlining his newest productthe fully pressurised Newtsub Deep Worker 2000.
The Deep Worker is a one-person submarine that is lightweight (the cabin is only slightly bigger than an airplane seat), versatile and, as submarines go, inexpensive. Small enough to fit onto the back of a fishing trawler, this battery driven sub can actually hit depths of 2,000 feet.
Built one at time, the secret of Deep Worker 2000 is the milling process which gives Nuytten the ability to precisely build a very compact lightweight sub that is capable of withstanding the pressures of hitting great depths. The scientific and military communities are currently his market targetfor now.
The day is not far off when the economies of scale come into play and production of this deepwater technology comes at a lower price. With demand and mass production looming, you may be able to get Phil's sub in any colour you want, as long as it is black.
Be it a Canadian design or one from an American competitor it won't be that long before people like you and me will be free to purchase a Deep Worker 2000 style submarine and launch it off the boat of our choice. When this happens we will all have the ability to go where we want underwaterbe it to visit the Edmund Fitzgerald, photograph Beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River or look for missing cod stocks along the edge of the Grand Banks.
As it stands now in Canada there are very few Federal statutes in place to govern underwater boating. I would hazard a guess that there are more regulations governing the purchase and use of Nitrox than there is in going for a ride in Deep Worker 2000. There were new laws announced at another Toronto show earlier this yearthe 1999 Toronto Boat Showthat are putting licensing and age restrictions into the sport of boating, but, none of the new laws will affect submarining; except for those submariners under the age of 16.
When the Wright brothers invented the sport of flying, governments had years to bring regulations into play to control who got to fly before planes became available to the general public. Regulate they did. Although it is easier to get a private pilot's licence in Canada then it is in Europe, earning your wings is an expensive and time consuming process. Will the same happen in Canada for people and clubs wanting to own submarines?
Laws that currently govern the sanctuary of Great Lakes shipwrecks like the Hamilton, Scourge, Edmund Fitzgerald and Atlantic are vague and open to legal challenge. Given the laws now in place it is probably illegal to land a sub on the deck of any of the aforementioned wrecks, but, one could probably pilot a Deep Worker 2000 beside or directly above these historic treasure chests without fear of censure.
There are other legal issues at stake as well. Although Deep Worker is basically non-polluting, it could be used to the detriment of the environment. Policing (the new way to shuffle off to Buffalo), Prospecting and Search and Rescue will have to take into consideration the use of compact submarines in our patrimonial waters.
Technology will force governments in Canada to seriously think about bottomslake, river and ocean bottoms that is! Deep Worker 2000 and Phil Nuytten will soon let us see sights never seen before. Will our governments keep up with progress?
Real Scuba. Real TV. Real Money. Really!
Real TV is looking for Real underwater videos. Had a shark bite your video camera lately. Ever jumped into the water had your tank fall out? The producers of the syndicated news/entertainment program Real TV are looking for your video stories. And, since they are a US show they pay in Real Money too.
Michael Burns, a Real TV researcher told DIVER Magazine that any Canadian underwater videographer interested in supplying images must contact the show through the internet to arrange for submission delivery. Burns can be reached at: mburns@realtv1.com.
Real TV is seen in most of Canada but is currently not carried by any Ontario networks. However, viewers in the Greater Toronto Area watch the show on Buffalo New York's WUTV Monday to Fridays at 11 a.m.