Unknown shipwreck located by "Depth Charge" 8/4/12
Posted by Dan Wright on 8/7/2012, 8:45 am
On Saturday August 4th 2012, the dive vessel: "Depth Charge" drove out 80 miles miles in search of a set of GPS numbers on an exploratory venture. After a five hour run in great weather, we arrived on site and began a search pattern. Quickly a profile emerged from the bottom, and it didn't appear to be a barge. Sherwood and I were tapped to investigate, if we deemed it worthwhile, tie in and send up a styrofoam cup as a signal, if not, simply come back up the anchor line. When we dropped down the line, the water temps dropped to mid forties, and it was dark, but clear. Vis was actually very good at depth and no current. The wreck sat upright and the anchor line shot weight (cinderblock) was plunked off the port side about 15' off the wreck. After initially tieing in off a rail, Sherwood and I moved the line higher on top of the wheelhouse, scrambled around a bit, never finding anything more secure to tie off to, so I ended up right back at the first position, dealing with lots of nets and monofilament lines. My buddy and I then took a tour around the wreck, and I found something in the debris field right away off of starboard. As you can see in the video, it had the classic look of a ship's bell half sunk in the sand. It turned out to be a loudspeaker horn, and I knew right away it wasn't the bell, because of the thin walls and being chromed. It served a purpose, we named the wreck after it! Anyway, Captain Cleary believes the wreck has been visited before, as most of the bridge equipment is missing. He describes it as a trawler with a raised focsle and well deck with a wheel house just aft of the amidship and a covered deck aft. The stern was round backed. The wreck should have had outriggers but we all saw none There were several turns of a 6" or 8" clam hose aft of the starboard side heading into the sand. This hose is used to agitate the sand for clams, but there were no clam cages nor a clam dredge or a ramp for a clam dredge. It was a strange sight, and if anyone knows of such a wreck from looking at the footage or our description, let us know! Sherwood and I did 40 minutes on the bottom at just over 200', we were followed by Ken and Tony and finally Captain Cleary brought up the rear. Several bugs were brought back up, but again, this exploration wasn't about grabbing lobster or gathering scallops. Not satisfied with re visiting well known wrecks, this vessel is attempting to find and document new wreck sites. If we come back with a porthole (or bell), that is nice, but it's the adventure and seeking out new wrecks which drive us. Be safe out there above all... -Dan
Dan, Your videos and I learn so much, when being down that deep do you use the scooters or do you just swim and when your finding the wrecks are you using loran or gps numbers. Dont worry you will find a bell with all those unknown and secret wrecks you dive I am really suprised you havent found one yet but good things take time. Keep the videos coming they are inspiration for us beginer divers. Have you ever considered diving that boat that sank our of capemay a few years ago, I think it was called the lady mary.
Rob
Re: Unknown shipwreck located by "Depth Charge" 8/4/12
Rob: we use scooters sometimes, depends on the situation. We did not here because it was a small wreck and no current. We used GPS numbers in this case, but sometimes have to convert old Loran C numbers, which can be tricky. As for the bell, am not worried about it, some fixate on artifacts and trophies such as a portholes (which I have found, recovered and restored), but it's not my focus really. Our drive is the adventure of finding those new marks, Cape May is on our radar, yes! -Dan
Posted by Dan Wright on 8/7/2012, 1:40 pm, in reply to "nice reaction..."
Actually I said, "Are you kidding me?!" Especially when I touched it and felt it was thin walled, but very heavy because of the magnets in the base. I also said to Sherwood: "It's not the bell, but I'm keeping it." I saw wiring on the inside, and was pulling it out in the video, at first I thought it was some kind of light fixture, certainly the most fancy loudspeaker horn I have seen... The reactions from my fellow divers while we were hanging on the deco line were priceless.......
Re: Unknown shipwreck located by "Depth Charge" 8/4/12
We were aware by the bottom finder that there were lots of nets, so Sherwood and I each had three cutting devices ready, placed in different positions on suits and rig, so we could reach something at any time. I had a pair of trama shears, a z-knife and trilobite cutters, I only used the z-knife for some fishing line. As for fun, we counted the minutes until we hit the warm thermocline and I placed the goody bag on my gear line and watched as the other divers swam over and checked out the "bell", good for a laugh! Be safe out there!
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on 8/7/2012, 8:45 am
