Life beneath the waves in a yellow submarine

LONDON - It is the must-have toy for the person who has everything - including £500,000 ($1.4 million) to spare.

Forget the yacht, mansion and private jet. This is the Gemini, the family submarine described by inventor Robert Leeds as the world's first underwater sports car.

With a top speed of just five knots (9.3km/h) and the ability to stand still, tilt, rise and fall, the Gemini is more like an underwater helicopter than a high-performance adrenalin-inducer.

"Under the ocean is the last unexplored place on earth, and certainly the last place where there are no personal vehicles," said Leeds as his bright yellow invention went on show this week at London's Science Museum.

In commercial production, the submarine would take three people in cramped bucket seats to depths of 50m for up to three days at a time.

It was designed mainly as a plaything for the rich.

"We have had a lot of inquiries from high-profile people in the Middle East - although none, as yet, from any celebrities elsewhere," Leeds said.

His company Subeo - which is offering a variety of different specifications for uses from research to special forces - was also getting interest from marine research institutes in France and the police in Spain.

"We did have interest from the Spanish police for underwater terrorism detection, searching ships' hulls," said Leeds' colleague, Frank Barker. He gave no further details.

- REUTERS

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/marine