It's been waiting for some tender loving care for 145 years - but while the platypus will probably never be seaworthy, funding from a mining firm and Heritage New Zealand has kick-started a project to make it more presentable.
New Zealand's only submarine, which sits in the open outside the Middlemarch Museum, was created for use in the mining industry, but abandoned due to safety reasons after being tested three times.
Built in 1873 by Thomas and Sparrow, of Dunedin, it is one of the earliest surviving examples of a submarine in the world.
The $27,500 the Strath Taieri Historical Society has received from Heritage New Zealand and Oceana Gold (NZ) Ltd would go towards a covered structure outside the museum for the submarine, plus basic conservation work on the vessel.
The society has also received a separate $7500 to tell the story of Maori interaction with the landscape at the gold mining settlements of Macraes and Nenthron before the arrival of Pakeha.
Submarine committee chairman Pete Sparrow said the society was ''delighted'' to get the funding to help educate the public and promote the submarine.
The first time it was tested, in Otago Harbour, the submarine had to be towed out of the water. The second time, it appeared to work well, and the occupants managed to collect material from the harbour floor, but the third time the passengers again needed to be hauled back up.
Mr Sparrow, whose great-grandfather built the submarine along with his business partner, said the third time a note floated to the surface, saying ''We are prepared to meet our maker''.
''They lassoed [the sub] with a little paddle steamer they had there [and] towed it round to the mud flats.''
After the failure of the third test, investors lost interest - and the submarine sat on the side of Lake Logan, from 1874 until it was removed due to the arrival of the South Seas Exhibition in 1924.
It was then bought for £10 by a man from the Barewood Reefs goldmining area, near Middlemarch, and turned into a water tank.
The middle, 3m segment of the submarine went missing while the submarine was on the lake shore - but the society had not given up hope it would turn up.
Heritage NZ Otago-Southland senior archaeologist Dr Matthew Schmidt and Oceana Gold (NZ) Ltd senior environmental adviser Debbie Clarke formally presented the funding yesterday.
