A US submarine called into Bermuda this week to drop off a sailor so they could fly him home.

The vessel cruised into the Deep Draught Position around three miles east of the island on Thursday morning.

The Pilot Boat St George sailed out to the submarine where the US Navy sailor was taken on board. The sailor was then brought ashore and taken to the airport.

A spokesperson for Bermuda Radio said: “The submarine calls to conduct a crew member transfer on humanitarian grounds. Bermuda Radio coordinates the transfer of the crewman from the Navy vessel to the Pilot Boat St George.

“A waiting taxi at Ordnance island in St George’s takes the US Navy sailor to the Airport.”

Although the sight of submarines in Bermuda is a rarity today, it was once quite commonplace. These boats first started coming into the island in the 1920s after the First World War.

They would often dock at the Knuckles up in Dockyard, but there is also photographic evidence that suggests they sailed all the way into Hamilton too. The North Channel was specifically built to help submarines access the Naval Operating Base (NOB) at Morgan’s Point during the Second World War. The Allies also used St George’s Harbour as a stop-off point for their submarines during the conflict.

It was only in 1995, when the US Bases were closed, that submarines became a rarer commodity in Bermuda.