Throughout the USS Triton's secret mission to circumnavigate the world submerged, the only unauthorized individual to spot the submarine during those sixty days was a Filipino man on his canoe, who noticed its periscope. April 1, 1960.

The Captain, Edward Beach, later wrote in his log:

"It is a ludicrous situation: On one hand an impassive Asian, staring with curious concentration at an unusual object in the water; on the other, a U.S. Navy officer, equipped with all technical devices money and science can procure, looking back with equally studied concentration. On one end of the periscope, an outrigger canoe propelled by the brawny arms of its builder; on the other end, a $100,000,000 submarine, the newest, biggest, most powerful in the world, on a history-making voyage. What an abyss — what centuries of scientific development — lie between me and him!"