Maritime Museum documentary wins three Midwest Emmys

Lakeshore Chronicle

MANITOWOC — "Lost and Found: Legacy of USS Lagarto," a one-hour documentary produced by the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, has won three Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards.

The awards, presented recently in Chicago, included Outstanding Achievement for Documentary Programs: Documentary of Historic Significance; Outstanding Achievement for Individual Excellence Off Camera: Music Composition/Arrangement; and Outstanding Achievement for Individual Excellence Off Camera: Writing.

The Emmys are hosted annually by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding television productions.

"It's such an important and compelling story about our area's maritime history and the impact World War II had on families around the country," said Norma Bishop, executive director of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.

The USS Lagarto, built in Manitowoc during World War II, was the first sunken U.S. submarine found since the end of World War II. For 60 years, Lagarto, which sank carrying a crew of 86 men, was lost in the Pacific Ocean, its final resting place unknown.

"Lost and Found: Legacy of USS Lagarto" reveals how Wisconsin dairy farmers and cherry pickers pulled the community of Manitowoc out of the Great Depression by building 28 submarines (the most complex vessel in the Navy) in a small Midwestern shipyard that had never before built a sub.

In addition to more than a dozen interviews with shipyard workers, submariners and relatives of Lagarto's crew, the documentary features rarely seen archive footage of the World War II submarine training program.

The documentary also features high-definition underwater footage of Lagarto's resting place. In an expedition to the Gulf of Thailand, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler (profiled in the bestseller "Shadow Divers" and hosts of History Channel's "Deep Sea Detectives") surveyed the wreck and filmed it.

The underwater team conducted a series of dives to determine what caused Lagarto's demise in an attempt to answer why none of the crewmen tried to escape in the relatively shallow water where the submarine was found. Evidence points to split-second decisions made during a high seas battle.

An interview with one of the last living World War II submarine commanders (now deceased) details the stealth it took to stalk enemy convoys in dangerously shallow waters half a world away from Wisconsin.

The documentary tells a fascinating and emotional story that portrays the strong sense of pride felt by both a small Wisconsin town and the families of the men who served aboard Lagarto.

The documentary DVD is available for sale at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum gift shop, and online at www .wisconsinmaritime.org, for $19.95.

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