A number of folboats and fifteen one-man submersible canoes, called ‘Sleeping Beauties’ (SBs) were to be deployed from the junks.
‘Sleeping Beauties’ were the adopted codename, they were Motor Submersible Canoes (MSC's) electrically propelled but could be sailed or paddled.
[2] With the preparation for Hornbill and future Australian based raids, three other small portable craft designs were submitted to the army, namely by Slazengers, Webb and Barr, but all were rejected mainly for poor seaworthiness and lack of manoeuvrability.
Serviceman Sapper Webb's 'collapsible canoe', of which 20 were built by Hedleys Folboat section for army testing, were found to be extremely unstable in any but flat water and also infringed Hoehn's patent.
[3][4] ‘Special Operations Executive’ (SOE), the British clandestine warfare agency, was behind Ivan Lyon's scheme, but because of the shortage of required submarines to help reconnoiter and deploy the small craft, and the growing complexity of the plan, the project was eventually shelved.