Sunken vessel locator buoy

A sunken vessel locator buoy suitable for being carried in a receptacle attached to the superstructure of a vessel in such manner that said buoy will float free of said vessel in the event of said vessel's sinking,

• wherein said buoy is connected to the superstructure of said vessel by a line stored inside said buoy and paid out from said buoy as said vessel sinks beneath the surface of the water, and
• wherein said buoy is generally spherical in shape and is constructed of an upper hemispherically shaped shell, a lower hemispherically shaped shell, and a circular center plate to which the said upper and lower hemispherically shaped shells are attached in water-tight connection, and
• wherein said upper hemispherically shaped shell is constructed of materials which are transparent to radio frequency transmissions, and
• wherein said upper hemispherically shaped shell is in water-tight connection with said circular center plate forming an interior water-tight compartment for the enclosure of a power supply, a radio transmitter, a radio antenna, and a pull-key switch mechanism, and
• wherein said pull-key switch mechanism is activated by means of the retraction of a pull-key shaft which extends through an orifice in the center plate into the lower hemispherically shaped shell of said buoy, and
• wherein said pull-key shaft is connected by a second line to the superstructure of said vessel, whereby when said second line is pulled taut as said vessel sinks, said pull-key shaft is retracted from said pull-key switch which makes electrical connection between said power supply and said radio transmitter, whereby said radio transmitter is activated and transmits, via said radio antenna, a radio frequency signal which may be homed - in on to locate said buoy and said sunken vessel located beneath the water.