This is actually really cool. These guys would have probably been fine had they not floated their replica submarine a bit close to the QEII--which made the police panic a bit.

Authorities arrested three people Friday after detectives saw a replica of a Revolutionary War submarine floating near the dock of the Queen Mary II.

The vessel is an 8-foot replica of the 1776 submersible known as the Turtle, said Petty Officer Seth Johnson of the U.S. Coast Guard. It was unclear what the people were doing, but there was no indication of any connection to terrorism, he said.

The vessel "is the creative craft of three adventuresome individuals," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement, according to WABC-TV. "We can best summarize today's incident as marine mischief."

Initially the men were going to be charged on a number of violations, but as of Friday afternoon, it was unclear if any charges would be brought forward.

The odd-looking submarine appears to be a hobby of one of those arrested -- Philip Riley, 35, of Brooklyn, Johnson said.

Police said one of the men claimed to be a descendant of David Bushnell, the inventor of the original Turtle, WABC reported.

That's pretty cool. I remember reading about the Turtle. The design was originally developed to place explosives on British ships in harbor, and it was close to the QEII, no one can really say the police were not correct in acting on the folks operating it. In the end, this is really funny as hell. :)

Hopefully they just don't move forward with the charges..