Yeah, it's a little long, but we had fun
O.K....what an awesome weekend that was planned by none other than our good friend jbd here on the board. A total of 6 of us met up in MI and dove 4 wrecks over two days. Those in attendance were jbd, Diving Gal, wrecNcaver, ckahrlan66, myself, and my buddy (bhumm if he ever posts).
Dive #1
The WILLIAM YOUNG
Not much was known about this wreck until I got home and did a little research on her, and this is what I found. It is a bit long, so I didn't cross-post it...but I'll give you the essentials.
http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/stories/index.phtml?artid=59
She was a 139' wooden schooner barge that. She weighed 325 metric tons, and was carrying 600 tons of coal when she went down on Oct. 5, 1891. She sits in about 118' of water upright and intact.
As this was the first dive of our trip, we were all eagerly waiting to hit the water. We went down as a group and hit the deck where the line was attached at around 90'. The three teams (jbd & ckharlan, myself & Brian, Diving gal & wrecNcaver) went their own ways. We took a quick lap down the starburd side, then descended down to check out the rutter at 110'. She is a little deeper in the dirt, but still a prettty cool wreck. We came up the port side, and I got to shoot the wheel which still lays on the deck at about 92'. We continued up the port side (as I manged to get my gear all tangled together). I snapped a few more shots, and after about 18 minutes in the 43 degree water, we were both ready to head topside. To be totally honest, I was pretty narc'd on this dive and hope the pics I took jog a little more of my memory than what I've written.
Dive #2
The SANDUSKY
This was another wooden schooner and was only 8 years old when she went down in 1856 at the hands of a violent storm. This is one of the only wrecks in the lakes that still has a figure head on the bow, but it is a replica due to the attempts that were made to steal the original. She sits upright in about 85' of water, and very much of her is still intact.
So again, we all hopped in the water and headed down to what I think was just an awesome wreck. The first thing I was the long bow and right on the starburd side of the bow was an enormous anchor. We continued down the starburd side, snapped off shots of the weel, a few capstans, some takle used for raising and loweris the sails and masts. As we continued around top the port side, and made our way back to the bow, we saw an old boot just laying right on the back of the boat. I don't know how old it is, but it was pretty cool, so I shot a pic. We got to see one of the winches that was used for raising and lowering the large anchor found on the starburd side of the bow. By now we've made our way back at the bow, and I was getting excited about seeing the figure head. Super cool, I think I took like 10 pics of it from different angles and light.
We went back down the middle of the deck just to make another pass on the wreck (and by now, I have shot the roll). Amazing just to see so much stuff on a wreck. I would spend like hours on this wreck.
This dive concluded day 1. We went to dinner all excited about day 2. I got to speak a little with Mike Wood & his father (who might be lost yooper, I don't know). Mike was one of the "crew" on our boat for the day, but he was therer more to dive with us than anything else. He was a pretty nice guy, and he pointd out a few things on the wrecks to us. He made the dive just a little more enjoyable. They were not around for day 2, which started a little earler than planned. Yes, someone in my room set the alarm clock, but inadvertantly bumped the clock ahead an hour, so as opposed to getting up at 5:30, we got up at 4:30 and didn't catch on until after we were all packed and ready to head out....but hey it gave us plenty of time for breakfast.
Anyway, Day 2 was a little foggy, and a little cooler than day 1 which was sunny and gorgeous. We met the boat after breakfast, got loaded, and out we went. Today we were going to dive the Cedarville, and make a decsion from there.
Dive #3
The CEDARVILLE
The Cedarville is a 588 foot freighter that was carrying iron ore when she met the bottom of the straits. She collided with the Topdalsfjord on May 7, 1965 in heavy fog as the two boats were travelling the straits. There are three markers on the boat, bow, stern, and middle (where the collision is evident)
She lies in 105' of water, but b/c of her size, there are diveable portions at 45'. She lies almost completely upside down, so most of the cabin structore and deck is around 90'. The only railing on the boat is the port side which sits around 80' where we were tied in at the stern. We dropped in (this time, with only 5 as wrecNcaver was having suinus problems) and headed down to the frigid 43 degree bottom temps. The first thing we noticed was that the ship was almost completely upside down, and this thing is HUGE!!. Brian and I headed toward the middle of the wreck, first following the railing, then dropping down to check out the deck. Super cool, I was snapping pics all along the way, but got a little upset when I saw that the 43 degree water had fogged the lens....oh well. Tons to see on this wreck. Stariwells, deck equipment, iron ore that had spilled over, huge chains used for god knows what. as we made our way to the "crack" the collision evidence was significant. Sheets of 3" thick Irong that held the ship together were torn like paper. Huge gaps all over this area that could make for some interesting penetration, but not for me at this time. We made our way back along the top of the wreck (which was the port side really) and saw numerous portholes. As we were getting ready to complete the dive, we checked out the enormous rutter at the rear of the boat, but didn't get too far into the investigation before we decided that we were frozen and headed back to the up-line to get topside. Tons of stuff to see on this wreck, and I would definetly dive her again and again.
As we made our way to dive 4 ckharlan bowed out as he wanted to be able to make the 11 hour journey home to KY.
Dive #4
The BARNUM
This is a 200 foot wooden steam ship that sunk in 1894. She was discovered in 1963 when artifacts were free for the taking, but a majority of the ship and hull are still very much instact. she is filled with crawdads, and sits upright in about 75' of water.
Well, last dive of the trip...we descend down and begin out journey around the starburd side of the boat. About 8 minutes into the dive, peering into the portholes and just getting a feel for the wreck, I say to myself "I haven't put any air in my BC"....I feel for my weight belt....ummm...not there...I think back to the descent....hmm, it was harder than usual for me to get down....5H!T, my belt is on the boat, but my bouyancy at depth is fine, and I'm not having a problem. So, I tell my buddy I don't have my belt...he thinks I'm a little nuts, but due to the fact we're into the dive, and I don't have any problems (other than the psychological one at this point) we continue the dive. We got some good pics of the deck of the ship which has collapsed on itself. We found the big steam enging cylinder, and what is left of the wheel house. We even got to shoot a fish that was swimming around on the bottom of the wreck. All together, we spent 20 minutes on the wreck before I began to experience any bouyancy issues at 65'. At that point I thumbed the dive....and thank god for the upline, or I would have taken off at abot 15'. At any rate, a great trip, and a few lessons learned.
alright, that has been long enough. Talk to you all later.
-T
O.K....what an awesome weekend that was planned by none other than our good friend jbd here on the board. A total of 6 of us met up in MI and dove 4 wrecks over two days. Those in attendance were jbd, Diving Gal, wrecNcaver, ckahrlan66, myself, and my buddy (bhumm if he ever posts).
Dive #1
The WILLIAM YOUNG
Not much was known about this wreck until I got home and did a little research on her, and this is what I found. It is a bit long, so I didn't cross-post it...but I'll give you the essentials.
http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/stories/index.phtml?artid=59
She was a 139' wooden schooner barge that. She weighed 325 metric tons, and was carrying 600 tons of coal when she went down on Oct. 5, 1891. She sits in about 118' of water upright and intact.
As this was the first dive of our trip, we were all eagerly waiting to hit the water. We went down as a group and hit the deck where the line was attached at around 90'. The three teams (jbd & ckharlan, myself & Brian, Diving gal & wrecNcaver) went their own ways. We took a quick lap down the starburd side, then descended down to check out the rutter at 110'. She is a little deeper in the dirt, but still a prettty cool wreck. We came up the port side, and I got to shoot the wheel which still lays on the deck at about 92'. We continued up the port side (as I manged to get my gear all tangled together). I snapped a few more shots, and after about 18 minutes in the 43 degree water, we were both ready to head topside. To be totally honest, I was pretty narc'd on this dive and hope the pics I took jog a little more of my memory than what I've written.
Dive #2
The SANDUSKY
This was another wooden schooner and was only 8 years old when she went down in 1856 at the hands of a violent storm. This is one of the only wrecks in the lakes that still has a figure head on the bow, but it is a replica due to the attempts that were made to steal the original. She sits upright in about 85' of water, and very much of her is still intact.
So again, we all hopped in the water and headed down to what I think was just an awesome wreck. The first thing I was the long bow and right on the starburd side of the bow was an enormous anchor. We continued down the starburd side, snapped off shots of the weel, a few capstans, some takle used for raising and loweris the sails and masts. As we continued around top the port side, and made our way back to the bow, we saw an old boot just laying right on the back of the boat. I don't know how old it is, but it was pretty cool, so I shot a pic. We got to see one of the winches that was used for raising and lowering the large anchor found on the starburd side of the bow. By now we've made our way back at the bow, and I was getting excited about seeing the figure head. Super cool, I think I took like 10 pics of it from different angles and light.
We went back down the middle of the deck just to make another pass on the wreck (and by now, I have shot the roll). Amazing just to see so much stuff on a wreck. I would spend like hours on this wreck.
This dive concluded day 1. We went to dinner all excited about day 2. I got to speak a little with Mike Wood & his father (who might be lost yooper, I don't know). Mike was one of the "crew" on our boat for the day, but he was therer more to dive with us than anything else. He was a pretty nice guy, and he pointd out a few things on the wrecks to us. He made the dive just a little more enjoyable. They were not around for day 2, which started a little earler than planned. Yes, someone in my room set the alarm clock, but inadvertantly bumped the clock ahead an hour, so as opposed to getting up at 5:30, we got up at 4:30 and didn't catch on until after we were all packed and ready to head out....but hey it gave us plenty of time for breakfast.
Anyway, Day 2 was a little foggy, and a little cooler than day 1 which was sunny and gorgeous. We met the boat after breakfast, got loaded, and out we went. Today we were going to dive the Cedarville, and make a decsion from there.
Dive #3
The CEDARVILLE
The Cedarville is a 588 foot freighter that was carrying iron ore when she met the bottom of the straits. She collided with the Topdalsfjord on May 7, 1965 in heavy fog as the two boats were travelling the straits. There are three markers on the boat, bow, stern, and middle (where the collision is evident)
She lies in 105' of water, but b/c of her size, there are diveable portions at 45'. She lies almost completely upside down, so most of the cabin structore and deck is around 90'. The only railing on the boat is the port side which sits around 80' where we were tied in at the stern. We dropped in (this time, with only 5 as wrecNcaver was having suinus problems) and headed down to the frigid 43 degree bottom temps. The first thing we noticed was that the ship was almost completely upside down, and this thing is HUGE!!. Brian and I headed toward the middle of the wreck, first following the railing, then dropping down to check out the deck. Super cool, I was snapping pics all along the way, but got a little upset when I saw that the 43 degree water had fogged the lens....oh well. Tons to see on this wreck. Stariwells, deck equipment, iron ore that had spilled over, huge chains used for god knows what. as we made our way to the "crack" the collision evidence was significant. Sheets of 3" thick Irong that held the ship together were torn like paper. Huge gaps all over this area that could make for some interesting penetration, but not for me at this time. We made our way back along the top of the wreck (which was the port side really) and saw numerous portholes. As we were getting ready to complete the dive, we checked out the enormous rutter at the rear of the boat, but didn't get too far into the investigation before we decided that we were frozen and headed back to the up-line to get topside. Tons of stuff to see on this wreck, and I would definetly dive her again and again.
As we made our way to dive 4 ckharlan bowed out as he wanted to be able to make the 11 hour journey home to KY.
Dive #4
The BARNUM
This is a 200 foot wooden steam ship that sunk in 1894. She was discovered in 1963 when artifacts were free for the taking, but a majority of the ship and hull are still very much instact. she is filled with crawdads, and sits upright in about 75' of water.
Well, last dive of the trip...we descend down and begin out journey around the starburd side of the boat. About 8 minutes into the dive, peering into the portholes and just getting a feel for the wreck, I say to myself "I haven't put any air in my BC"....I feel for my weight belt....ummm...not there...I think back to the descent....hmm, it was harder than usual for me to get down....5H!T, my belt is on the boat, but my bouyancy at depth is fine, and I'm not having a problem. So, I tell my buddy I don't have my belt...he thinks I'm a little nuts, but due to the fact we're into the dive, and I don't have any problems (other than the psychological one at this point) we continue the dive. We got some good pics of the deck of the ship which has collapsed on itself. We found the big steam enging cylinder, and what is left of the wheel house. We even got to shoot a fish that was swimming around on the bottom of the wreck. All together, we spent 20 minutes on the wreck before I began to experience any bouyancy issues at 65'. At that point I thumbed the dive....and thank god for the upline, or I would have taken off at abot 15'. At any rate, a great trip, and a few lessons learned.
alright, that has been long enough. Talk to you all later.
-T
