Rob:
The "Four Daughters" sunk on it's maiden voyage in January '03. It was a 3 million dollar clam boat. The underwriter of the insurance policy hired a salvage company to locate and attempt to raise the vessel. After spending a month and a half million dollars in an attempt during the winter to raise her, the insurance company threw in the towel and wrote her off as a total loss. She was turtled, with 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and she was bouncing along the sand. She moved from her last known GPS numbers, but we had them to work with and we did a search pattern and within a couple hours had her on our depth finder. She had moved over a mile from the last known numbers. Several other captains claimed to have the numbers from the salvage company, but those are not correct. We set out with three divers and the captain in September 2005, two of us dove the wreck twice once we anchored on her. I shot video the first dive in and attempt to document the "Four Daughters", and the second dive I located and salvaged a life ring with the name inscribed as a positive ID. I sent a copy of the video to the ship builder, and they also confirmed it was the one they just built. Now the wreck has settled deeper in the sand, and there is no direct access to the wheelhouse any longer, but you can get into the galley and there you can move to other parts of the clam boat, but it is tight passage.
Since it was my first virgin wreck, it is special to me, and I have visited her eight times over the years, on every trip made to her. My buddy from the first dive to her, Doug Card, has gone with me seven times. Videos on Utube are available to see, just key in my username wcs563, and then you will see some 15 videos I have uploaded, and the "Four D's" appear twice, one is the first dive to her, the second video is from the seventh.
Thanks for you interest.....
-Dan

Rob
Martini pretty much nailed it. Unknown wrecks and there are plenty haven't been identified as to their true identity, However even the unknown wrecks have been given a name, mostly by fisherman and some by the late George Hoffman. So even an unknown wreck is given a "name" to identify it.

I'm sure the unknown wreck Martini talks about that the Indy dove was given a name, even if that name is not shared with others.

Rob, lots of boats visit new or unknown sites on a somewhat regualar basis, it's just that you don't usually here about them. 9 times out of 10 they turn out to be nothing of interest other than a good hunting spot which most Captains arent going to want to give up, let alone if it is actually something "good". The reason you dont see more numbers running charters is the sad fact that while lots of folks "say" they want to dive a virgin wreck, very few are willing to put the time and expense in to actually find one. It usually involves long hours spent watching the bottom machine with no guarantee of finding anything let along something good when you finally get to dive. The vast majority of divers would rather pay their $100 for the sure thing.

Rob:
Generally not. Charter boats go to well documented wrecks usually. Other dive vessels go to their own "secret" spots that are good for hunters, but not artifact, photography or history buffs such as myself. It's the private boats that search for the unknown wreck sites, taking chances on coming up empty, but sometimes hitting the mother load. There are plenty of great wrecks that are normally visited, such as the Arundo, Resor, Stolt and Algol come to mind. These are frequented by such vessels as the Gypsy Blood, John Jack, Independence, and the Ol Salty II.

I love your videos and exploring new sites.!

Is that helmet light camera set up your invention or a commercially sold unit?

What was the fish with the double dorsal fin?

As barges go the "BIG ASS BARGE" was pretty interesting.

Keep up the good work!!! I feel like I am exploring the "deeper" stuff with you guys when I watch" Thanks for sharing with us!!!