Seeing Matthew Gavin Frank Live
When I was a really little kid, I went on a submarine once. It was in the Saint Lawrence River, so not exactly the Mariana’s Trench. I am not sure what company provided the service, or if they are even still around. I was in the thing for like a half hour, less probably. I don’t really remember much more about it. There were portholes and lights to attract fish. That’s about it. But I was, however briefly, in a real submarine. I am a submariner, I think. I’m not sure what the title actually means.
By Adam Faraca, who has a ship captain’s license and was once a submariner
6/18/20252 min read
Rich people and or eccentric inventors love to build amateur submarines. Sometimes they implode, or sink, or whatever happens when disaster strikes. Sometimes the owners and developers (notice I did not use the word engineer) murder each other. Maybe often. Seemingly often. I dunno. I haven’t had a chance to read the book yet.
Professor Frank is the head of creative writing at Northern Michigan. He had a captivated audience, as Milwaukee seems to have a thriving community of submarine enthusiasts. Everybody there was on the edge of their seat, wire to wire. Some people were nautical history buffs. Others had a passion for exploring the depths. I think a few of them were there for the murder aspect. People love true crime. It was a lively crowd.
In 2006 there was a submarine designed by UWM students that won an award of some kind and was displayed at the science building. I think it might even still be there. I have a half memory that at least one UWM Triangle Fraternity member might have been involved? Or at a minimum engineering students were involved? If anyone was involved or knows if the sub is still there, please reach out to me. I asked about it, and I got kind of a dull murmur and interest in locating it, if for no other reason than the sake of curiosity. I think it is still there, if it is not, it wasn’t that long ago, and somebody must know what happened to it.
Professor Frank steered the discussion away from murder, despite the word appearing in the title of the book. I think this was a great marketing move. Why give it away for free? Lots of people want to hear about or read about murder. You want to know about rich people killing each other? You gotta buy the book. He did mention several people who seemed to be walking that fine line between genius and madness, and I’d wager at least one of them turns out to be a murderer. That’s enticing. I bet one or two of them are also red herrings. All laced into a lecture, mostly about unregulated submersibles.
Creative writers writing about nonfiction topics that are interesting or violent has sort of become my wheel house as of late. It was great to hear somebody who is broadly in the same niche speak, and speak well. It was not a particularly long lecture, and the audience Q and A had like ten questions. The whole thing was entertaining and informative. Even after the Titan implosion, I am not sure how much interest there is in submarines, but the book is worth your time. I haven’t checked, but I bet there must be some YouTube clips related to the book. It would be worth it to watch those, too. Great speaker.