Gary Sniffin to offer EDALHAB underwater habitat talk

WEIRS BEACH — On Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 7 p.m., the Lake Winnipesaukee Museum will host retired Navy engineer and diver Gary Sniffin for his talk on EDALHAB: UNH’s Underwater Habitat at Alton Bay, describing his experience as one of four engineering students who spent 48 hours at the bottom of the lake in University of New Hampshire’s underwater habitat experiment in 1968. This program is free for Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society members, and $5 for non-members. Seating is limited and reservations are recommended.

The EDALHAB project was funded by the Office of Naval Research to test the concept of an underwater habitat that could serve as a place to live while working underwater, without needing a big support vessel. Sniffin and six other UNH undergraduate engineering students started construction on the project in 1967, and all had to be certified divers before the experiment. EDALHAB was transported from Durham and launched at Alton Bay on Friday, April 26, 1968, and Sniffin and three other students entered the experimental habitat on Saturday morning, returning to the surface on Monday midday. Today, EDALHAB is on permanent display at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye.

Programs at the Lake Winnipesaukee Museum are held throughout the summer season at at 503 Endicott St. N. The museum is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., through mid-October. Seats for upcoming lectures may be reserved by emailing lakewinnipesaukeemuseum@gmail.com or calling 603-366-5950.